Prince of Asgard
by Drakenn
Summary: New Mexico was not the first time Asgard came to Earth in modern history, it happened earlier and in the Old World. Now consequences of it start to appear and it might change the history. I don't own HP or Avengers or any other thing used. May contain bad grammar. Contains swearing, blood, violence, alcohol, lemons, slash, dark themes, it's not a nice world, you have been warned.
1. A lost Prince?

**A/N – A plot bunny that appeared after I finished reading Child of the Storm by the fantastic Nimbus Llewelyn.**

 **Assumptions made for plot**

 **Assumption number one – Based on the MCU Avengers movie, Loki was manipulated by some being to attack Earth and was a little mad. He was brought to Asgard and healed. He will be generally good, but he will be also a trickster, think of him as a strong hand of the king, he will do things Thor won't.**

 **Assumption number two – Mutants, wizards, and superheroes know about each other and have at least some data about the other. Thus, the history of the universe will be different than it is in canon, main events will be similar or same, but lesser ones will be changed.**

 **Assumption number three – The timeline, for the sake of me not going mad, and for you to have a good read, will be changed - 2010 is the date of the Battle for New York, Harry is born in 2005, thus starting the story in 2013. Major dates will be kicked forward between twenty and thirty years, depending on how the event fits into the timeline.**

 **Assumption number four – The Æsir, aka, Asgardians. Average Æsir will be much taller and stronger than your average human. In terms of magic, every Æsir will have some sort of magical ability, mainly shape-shifting, usually from one human form to another, as well as of basic runes and magic based on them. Heimdall, Harry, Loki, Frigga, and Odin and several other will have far stronger magic due to various reasons and it will manifest in various ways.**

 **Assumption number five – Harry's character, he will be as easygoing as he is in canon, but he will also have a darker, more ruthless side as well as the ability to command and charisma that will slowly manifest as he matures. Remember, he is brought up as a Prince and potential heir to Asgard, which means learning how to play politics, how to fight, basics of espionage as well as how to control his temper.**

 **Assumption number six – Famous Æsir and their character. Some will be based on Marvel, some on Norse Myths. Speaking about gods or immortals, Norse Pantheons and mythology won't be the only ones featured here. I plan to squeeze Egyptian and Greek mythology in here, as well as either Aztec, Slavic, or Japanese mythology. I will heavily use them when creating various monsters or mythical animal.**

 **Assumption number seven – Technological level of Asgard - if they can forge weapons in the heart of a star, have robots the size of a house, force fields, Bifrost and many other things. We can assume they also have rifles/vehicles/assault crafts/fighters and so on. They just do not show they have them and keep them for serious war. The last serious war they fought was against frost giants eleven hundred years ago, and before that Dark Elves, five thousand years ago. We only saw glimpses of those wars, we can assume they have more advanced tech than fancy swords and shields.**

 **o-0-o**

It was a peaceful and normal day in Little Whinging, Surrey, when pitch black clouds appeared out of nowhere, as if created by some unnatural force. They were swarming around one normal house under the address of Four Privet Drive.

As terrifying as it sounded, it was only an introduction to the true storm that soon started with lightning bolts flashing and thunder constantly rumbling, it also started to spread in all directions. They expected a usual day and instead, they had a freakish storm that came out of nowhere and was raging above their heads.

Sharp observers would be able to see that the eye of the storm was just in front of Four Privet Drive as the reason for the storm was calling that place home, yet it wasn't the cause of the storm. The cause of the storm was from a completely different world, where he was a deity and a rather pissed off one at that point; and he wanted to break some bones or smash some heads.

A bright beam of light formed on the front lawn of Privet Drive Four, and from it stepped four people. When they had arguments, the whole realm hid in fear. The moment they stepped out of it, nearby cars exploded in majestic fireballs, followed by postboxes that were nearby.

"I will kill those mortals for what they have done to my son," one of them growled, a giant warhammer in his hand. He was a hulking person that could intimidate, despite his long blond hair.

"Thor, calm yourself," a woman said from behind him. She gently placed a hand on her son's shoulder. "We all ache for what has been done, but this is neither the time, nor the place for a fight. Let your father deal with the mortals."

"Wise words, mother," added her second son as he looked at her and Thor. His brother clenched his fists as he tried to control his anger, which was on the verge of snapping into Berserker Rage.

The oldest member of the group with a golden crown on his head, armor covering his body, an eyepatch over one of his eyes, and a spear in his hand, stepped forward and opened doors into the house. He wasn't in the mood for talking. If not for the fact he didn't want to scare his grandson, he would have entered the building with his guards.

"Get out of my sight, freak!" He heard a woman's voice and saw a small child running out of the room. Odin easily recognized signs of the boy being an Æsir. He was malnourished and small for his age, especially for a child from the Royal Family of Asgard, but he was definitely his grandson. The woman quickly walked out of the room and stopped when she saw him standing in the corridor. Odin ignored her, and instead his lone eye landed on his grandson.

"Get out of my house, now!" she shouted at him. At the same time, two wolves came from behind Odin and started protectively circling the boy as they snarled at her.

"Freki, Geri, calm yourselves," Odin said, in a voice that commanded armies and caused fear in hearts of his enemies. "Are you aware who you just insulted? Your next words might be rather crucial for you, as I do not like people insulting my family, including my grandson."

"Vernon! Come here!" she shouted, and a man that looked more like a walrus barreled in.

"What is it, Pet?" he asked as he looked around, and his eyes landed on Odin standing in the hall, spear in hand, crown on his head. One that seemed relaxed, yet ready to strike, like a coiled viper. "What are you doing here?"

"Those freaks barreled in and threatened me without a reason! This man with that stick calls the boy his grandson." She explained looking at Harry and the man standing behind him with disdain and fear she tried to conceal.

"He is my grandson. I am Odin, Allfather and King of Asgard, and that boy is Harald James Thorson, son of my heir. As I have said, I will not tolerate further insult. I have struck down those guilty of lesser crimes." As he spoke, wind barreled through the house. He looked behind at his wife. "Frigga, if you would."

"Of course." She nodded, and for the first time, the Dursleys could see her as well. She had the same grace and power as Odin. While his power was war and destructive magic, hers was wisdom and healing magic. She gently placed her hand on Harry and pushed her magic to calm him down and see how badly he was damaged, physically and mentally.

Harry, feeling weird, yet friendly warmth, let Frigga guide him out. He trusted her because she felt calm and warm and familiar . He trusted she wouldn't harm him, but protect him from harm.

o-0-o

"Now that my grandson is out of the way, let's speak," Odin said grimly as he looked at the Dursley's. His wolves snarled at them, showing their displeasure. "I've killed men, giants, even gods for lesser crimes than the mistreatment of my grandson, who is second in line of succession to the throne of Asgard after his father, Thor."

"You are nothing but a myth," Vernon yelled, somehow finding shotgun and pointing it at Odin.

"Am I?" Odin mused loudly as his eye landed on the shotgun. He snapped his fingers, and it was turned into a large tuna, which Vernon dropped onto the ground in fear. Shape-shifting was mainly Loki's forte, but Odin wasn't bad at it. "I think that proves my existence, and I suggest you believe it, before you dig yourself a much deeper grave."

"Hold on!" Vernon said as his shock wore off. "I did not invite you, so get out of my house and get your freakish grandson."

"Enough!" Odin yelled, slamming his spear into the floor of the room, bolts of energy circling it. "I have tolerated your useless bickering, but I have had enough of it. Loki, remove our presence from their minds."

"Of course, Father," Loki said, a large glaive in his hand and impressive horned helmet on his head. He looked as dangerous as Odin, but in different way. While Odin was brute strength, Loki was a cunning player, one that waited patiently and attacked when the time was right. He looked at the Dursleys, looking into their eyes and started muttering in the language of the Aesir as he glowed gold. There was a brief rush of air and it was done. They lost consciousness and dropped to the ground.

o-0-o

Frigga looked at Harry's small form. He calmed down in her presence, as if he had found warmth and comfort in her, which was possible as she was a Goddess of Family.

While she let him cling to her, she also gently looked through his memories. When she had, she wanted to murder those mortals. She never could imagine such an abusive home, and she was angry it took them so long to come down here, without causing an uproar from the other Pantheons. They still didn't like it, but at least they accepted it, as they knew an agitated Thor wasn't the best for business. The Greeks mumbled and protested viciously, but they had only small influence on Midgard.

She knew from the moment she touched him that he was a half-blood Æsir with a lot of Midgardian magic in the mix. Which meant a lot of interesting things could happen. Also for the first time in ages, the line of succession was clear which meant a lot of people were reevaluating their strategies.

"It is done," Odin said quietly as he walked out of the building and looked at Harry. "There is much of his father in him."

"Yes, though he has his mother's bearing as well," she agreed. "She gave him magic, while Thor gave him the strength of mind and body of the Æsir."

"Indeed." Odin nodded as he looked into the sky. "Heimdall, open the bridge! We would return!"

There was a bright beam of light that hit them and whisked them away from Midgard to the Realm of Gods, Asgard. Jewel of the Nine Realms, Seat of Allfather, those were a few of its numerous names and it was one of the most and well defended places in the known universe.

o-0-o

When Harry later remembered traveling through the Bifrost, he had trouble describing it as it was one of the best things he'd ever seen. He could see the birth and death of stars, civilizations and galaxies. He could see past, present and future as his Aesir genes reacted to it and woke up inside of him. He could see Yggdrasil and other worlds as they changed.

"Where are we?" Harry asked weakly as they landed. He looked around and saw that they stood in the middle of a circular room, walls of which were covered in shields made of gold. Near them stood a black man clad in gold and silver armor, impressive swords in his hands.

"You are in Asgard, home of the Æsir," he said, bowing lightly. "I am Heimdall, Guardian of the Bifrost. Welcome home, Your Highness."

"Your Highness?" Harry asked confused.

"You are my grandson," Odin explained as he looked at Harry. "Your father is Thor, though at the time he went by a different name: James Potter."

Harry looked at them, a mix of confusion and shock visible on his face.

"And he needs an attention from a healer or two," Loki said, his gaze slipping over Harry. "Some signs of malnourishment and few other things that need to be healed, including his sight."

"I'm fine," Harry huffed

"Well, we can do it your way," Loki said, and his eyes glowed for a second. Before Harry could say a thing, the spell took effect, and he almost crashed against the ground.

"Loki, you could have been more subtle," Frigga said as she easily grabbed Harry's body before he could fall.

"What do you mean, mother?"

"You know what I meant by my words," she said "That's one more spell to deal with when I heal him."

"Mother, how bad is it and should I know what they have done?" Thor asked.

"It would send you into a rampage" Frigga said, tenderly looking at her son. "Let me do this, for you and my grandson."

o-0-o

Harry woke to sunshine on his face. He blinked a couple of times and curiously looked around. Nothing was blurred and he could see everything down to the smallest detail. He thought that he still had his glasses on. He sat up and took a better look around, and saw he was in the biggest room he had ever seen. The walls of it were covered in all kinds of woods, most of them he couldn't even name. They were decorated with tapestries and paintings with rich, vibrant colors. In one of them, a massive tree was woven with greens and browns of every shade, and from one of its branches, hung the towering man that had called himself Odin. In his hands were stones inscribed with symbols – runes. In another, a picturesque spring landscape was woven with greens, yellows, oranges, blues and browns of every shade, and in the middle of it was a pair of massive wolves playing with each other.

He lightly shook his head and out of habit reached out to the bedside table and didn't find his glasses there.

"I see you are awake," said a woman sitting at his bedside, reading a book. She was beautiful and when he looked at her, he saw warmth and comfort in her blue eyes. It was a look totally opposite to one he so commonly saw in the eyes of his aunt.

"Where am I, and who are you?" he asked, and for the first time in a long time he felt safe and good.

"Asgard, home of the Æsir," she replied, looking at him. "I am Frigga, Goddess of Family. Your father is my son, Thor, but at the time of your birth, he was known as James Potter. As my husband-your grandfather-stated, you are Prince of Asgard."

"What?" Harry asked, looking at her wide-eyed.

"Yes, you are a Prince of Asgard and one of us, an Æsir," Frigga replied. "On the Bifrost, you saw Yggdrasil, the World Tree that connects the Nine Realms. A human would not be able to see it. There have been other signs. Do you remember how you ended up on the roof of a building when escaping?"

"Yes." Harry nodded, remembering when he appeared on the roof while avoiding Dudley.

"That was magic and your Æsir power. Your mother was a witch, quite a powerful one, and through your veins flows the blood of the Æsir. We are faster, stronger, more agile, more intelligent and extremely long living."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, his curiosity piqued.

"We live thousands of years, and while killing one of us is difficult, it is not impossible," Frigga waved her hand and conjured a metal ball. "Try to squeeze it." She handed it to him.

Harry looked at the ball suspiciously, his fingers flexing around it as he tried to squeeze it. He closed his fist around it, and to his surprise, he heard the sound of metal buckling.

"How?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"You're one of us," Frigga said as she looked at him, amusement and warmth flickering in her blue eyes. "A normal human couldn't do that."

"I guess you're right," Harry said slowly as he opened his hand, revealing the squashed piece of metal. "And I can see further and better than before; a lot better."

"Yes." Frigga nodded as she reached out and placed her hand on Harry's shoulder, who flinched at the touch. "You are one of us, child. You have your family."

Harry nodded, mulling over this new information and digesting it.

He reached out and hugged her. She returned the gesture and allowed him to weep out all of his misery and bad memories. He finally felt like he was wanted. It was the opposite of how he felt at the Dursley's, where his every sense screamed danger or threat.

o-0-o

Later that day, Harry got out of bed and explored his room. It definitely looked different than any room that he had seen at Privet Drive. The whole far wall was covered in floor to ceiling windows. There were a pair of French doors that opened onto a balcony and terrazzo alive with blooming flowers and crawling ivy. A large fireplace crackled in the corner of the room, the fire a sharp contrast to surrounding black marble. The floor was covered in warm rugs, and he even spotted a couple of animal furs, resembling some sort of large bear.

There were three sets of doors in the remaining walls, one leading into a bathroom, the second into a library. When he entered it, his attention was immediately drawn to walls covered in shelves for books and scrolls, some already filled, while most were still empty. A massive desk faced the shorter wall, a set of floor to ceiling windows behind it. In the corner he found yet another fireplace, and as he took a better look at the pillars, he saw they were covered in elaborate carvings.

He spent a bit more time exploring the rooms, and he discovered several sets of wardrobes and drawers as well a small table, with a bowl of fruit placed on it, in his main room. He curiously looked at the fruit in the bowl and a moment he decided to give them a try. He picked up one of them that seemed to look like an apple. As he bit it, juices and flavor exploded in his mouth. It was fresh, delicious, and all too soon, it was gone. Hunger sated for now, he walked to the drawers that were standing along one of walls.

The clothes that he found inside were comfortable and light. They felt like they were seeping between his fingers when he grabbed them. His breeches were dark brown, the shirt red with gold embroidery along the shoulders. After he dressed, he found a map on a small table. On it was a message that he could use the map to find whomever he needed. It was written in runes, yet he didn't have a single problem deciphering them.

o-0-o

"When shall we introduce Harry to our nobles?" Thor asked as he looked at his father and brother. He wanted to see his son, but Frigga convinced him to let her explain a few things first.

"Politically, it would be wise to do it as soon as possible," Loki said, "but he needs to heal from what the humans did to him. There are also the duties of the Prince to learn, and appearances to consider."

"You were both introduced when you were eight, but he won't be prepared in two weeks time. Yuletide is six months from now; we could introduce him during the festivities. It would allow time for his power to grow," said Odin as he looked at his sons

"He will be incredibly powerful," Thor said as he looked at them, "He is an Æsir with full access to magic. Lily wasn't weak."

"Yes," Frigga agreed, as she entered with Harry, he seemed to stay close to her, as if he was afraid of his surroundings and unsure of what was going on. He looked around until his eyes landed on Thor. "Yes," she softly said as she looked at Harry and Thor. "That is your father, Thor."

"He looks a lot like I used to look." Thor said and his whole body shimmered for a moment, in place of his blonde hair there were black hair and instead of his electric blue eyes, there were brown ones. Also his body shape changed, gone was a hulking man, in his place was a more lean one.

"Yes," Loki agreed with a smile, "Though, I am surprised you managed to change shape so swiftly. Last time you did, it was far more amusing."

"Could you not embarrass me?" Thor asked with some amusement and got up from where he was sitting with his brother and father. He walked across the chamber to the spot Harry stood with Frigga.

"You may not remember me, but I'm your father," he said kneeling in front of Harry. "We couldn't reach you on Midgard, which forced you to stay with the Dursley's."

Harry nodded, though Thor could see some tears swelling in his eyes, but he also saw in them toughness that he wouldn't expect to see in the eyes of such child. He didn't want to think about what his son had suffered at the hands of those creatures. On Asgard, children were nurtured and protected as they were rare. So for him injuring or abusing a child was a thing that he simply couldn't understand.

He reached out and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder, who flinched and tried to back off, but after a moment he stopped and let him embrace him. He was careful not to crush his bones, as he knew that he could the second he stopped controlling his strength.

"It isn't a dream, is it?" Harry asked after a moment.

"No, it isn't," Thor smiled "We are your family, Harald James Thorson." When he said last words Harry looked up at him. "That's your true name when on Asgard," he explained quietly.

He let Harry out of the embrace and took a better look at him. He could see signs of malnourishment and abuse even magic wasn't able to remove outright. Thunder rumbled above the room, and he saw Harry glance towards the ceiling. Thor smiled lightly when he saw surprise and shock in Harry's eyes rather than fear.

"It was me," he said and Harry looked at him with wide eyes.

"It's cool," Harry said.

"One day you may be able to do the same," Odin added from the side.

"In a distant future," Thor said, "For now I think it best you grow accustomed to being here," he looked at Harry and saw him nod. He slowly stood up and Harry followed him. At first he was a bit reluctant, but after a nod from Frigga, he went more eagerly.

o-0-o

Frigga tried not to glare at her husband as Harry and Thor left. "We should have gone to Midgard sooner." She almost spat out the words.

She could see Odin flinch. She rarely used such a sharp tongue, but when she did, she had good reason for doing so. "We should have, yet it was impossible."

"Impossible for you?" she asked. "For the Skyfather, member of the Council and one of the most powerful rulers in the known universe?"

Odin was silent for a moment, before he turned to look at her. "We both know that even my power is limited, and the Greeks have claimed ownership of Midgard for some time."

"As if you care about Zeus or his opinion," she said, her eyes burning with anger, "What are you hiding from me?"

"Someone managed to obscure Heimdall's vision, and it forced me to use other means to locate where Harald was hidden."

Frigga arched her eyebrow and looked pointedly at Loki. "Could a Midgardian human block Heimdall's sight?" she asked and watched her son's reaction. He knows, she thought, when she saw he didn't even blink.

"While a difficult task to achieve, it would not be impossible," Loki said after a moment, "Their understanding of magic is crude, but they can be clever when they wish. This seems to be one of those bursts of creativity."

"So you had your Ravens, our best trackers, and sources in other pantheons," she said and glared at Odin. "Explain to me why it took so long to check one island, a small one."

"They could not find him, at least at first," Odin admitted. "If I had a choice, I would have joined them, but the Olympians were still a problem. Zeus is not the most reasonable man. He was found by accident by Lord Ullr and Prince Hrimhari."

She nodded, still unhappy. She conjured them a small table and a couple of goblets, full of wine. "His education needs to be discussed, as soon as possible," she said sitting down.

"Of course, mother," Loki smiled slyly and picked up a goblet. "What about his mental health and acceptance of us as his family?"

"He forgave our absence in his life, or at the least he is willing to accept our presence now," Frigga said as she sipped wine and looked at Thor and Harry who stood few paces away, talking quietly. "It allowed him to clear his mind of the venom ."

"He seems to be calmer than he was before. I'm curious how well he'll adapt to being treated with the honors bestowed upon a Prince," Loki mused.

"Children adapt quickly, and he has already shown an ability to adapt greater than most ," she said, "I needed to show him he has our strength and couple of other things. Introducing him to nobles will take some time, but we can do that slowly. Ullr has a son a year or so older than he is. They might be good friends. It may also help him heal wounds in his mind."

"I was planning on talking with Ullr to be one of his tutors," Odin mused, "He has seven children, so he will know how to approach him. He was always a good at explaining things to people."

"What about Heimdall, who was mine and Thor's tutor?" Loki asked

"Heimdall, yes," she said looking at her husband and son. "He needs to start trusting us, and too many might overwhelm him. I will begin his magic tutelage, but he will need to return to Midgard when he turns fourteen."

"Why?" Loki asked. She suspected he knew the reason, but was hiding it well. He was one of few she had trouble reading.

"Hogwarts," Odin said. "They teach a magic different than our own, and he will need their help to harness that power. Our magic, like the rest of wandless magic, is wilder, harder to control, and far more deadly. Magic using wands is more organized, delicate and precise, far more in fact."

"Yet, I am God of Magic," Loki said in protest. "I was the one to create Hogwarts.

"Yes, you were," Frigga agreed, "But he also needs to make friends on Midgard as it is part of him, just as being a frost giant is part of you. He needs to meet people there and make friends inside the magical community there."

Loki flinched at the mention of his giant heritage but nodded. His logical side quickly agreed; he was always one that calculated the odds and thought before making a decision.

"It's still over six years away, and we have more pressing matters to concern ourselves with," Frigga said

"I will teach him the basics of politics and diplomacy," Odin said looking at them, "But I want you Loki to teach him the darker side when he is ready for it."

"Makes sense," Loki said, "I would be best suited, as I am the one responsible for our spies keeping up with our allies, enemies and the neutral realms.

o-0-o

Harry stood on the balcony of the Citadel and looked around, he had troubles believing that the city sprawled below and around it looked so beautiful. In the distance he could see a dome where Bifrost was and the gate to Asgard. From there led a wide alley that ended at the front of the Citadel. Along it were built houses so huge that he had troubles believing that they were real. Yet there were also buildings so tall that as he looked upwards he could see tops of them disappear between clouds, as he looked at one of them he felt a bit dizzy from looking upwards. He shook his head and his gaze once again swept over the city, registering things that he previously missed. Lush green spaces between buildings, a ring of tall snow-capped mountains in the distance and objects in the air. It looked like a paradise, golden material covering buildings and light reflected by them caused it to shine in hundreds of colors and thousands of shades of them.

"All of this will be mine?" He asked, standing near Thor, trying to cope with the fact that he had a family.

"Yes," Thor said as he looked at Harry. "This and more, but that is a distant future. For, now focus on the fact that you have family that cares for you."

"Really?"

"Yes, though you will need to wait thousands of years," Thor said as he looked at his son, "We live longer, much longer. Æsir, as we are called, live for thousands of years, until eighteen or so we grow up physically and after that age of our body freeze."

"What?" Harry asked, not understanding what his father meant.

"I mean that even when two or three thousand years old, you will look as good as you will look when at eighteen," Thor said and frowned. "Though in your case it might be a bit sooner than that."

"Why?"

"Your mum was a witch, a powerful one at that," Thor said, "Given time, she would be a contender for the position of Sorcerer Supreme of Midgard, a sorcerer responsible for keeping evil away from it. The Royal Family of Asgard also tend to grow up a little faster. Mother showed you your true strength?"

"Mother?" Harry frowned, a little confused.

"Your grandmother, Frigga."

"Yes, she gave me a metal ball to squeeze, and I crushed it as if it was a paper."

"Indeed," Thor nodded. "Give it few years, and you will be much stronger. How strong, I know not, as each of us is unique. Think of it as a better version of human, faster, stronger and more agile. As mother probably told you, your mind will expand beyond that of an average human."

"Huh?" Asked Harry looking at his father.

"You will grow to be more intelligent, have perfect recall, and you will learn more quickly than you have until now. Some things will come naturally to you."

"Like what?"

"Physical activities and magic," Thor said. He didn't miss how Harry flinched at the word magic. "Yes, it is real," he said reassuringly, lightly ruffling Harry's hair. Harry tried to duck out from under Thor's gesture but failed miserably. "You should explore the Citadel and try to get as much sleep as possible as tomorrow will start early for you."

"What happens tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"It will be a pleasant surprise." Thor assured him. "One you'll enjoy."

Harry nodded and walked back to his chambers, trying to backtrack his earlier path as well as to memorize as much of a palace as possible. He felt like it was his true home, not that place with Dursley's where he didn't feel safe.

o-0-o

Albus Dumbledore sat in the high backed red chair behind his desk, carefully skimming an ancient text laid out in front of him. As he tried to keep his attention on his task, a high tinkering ring sounded. He glanced up, looking toward the table in the corner. There, his cauldron, bubbled madly, emitting plumes of smoke - red and orange, yellow and green, blues and purples and shimmering golds and silvers that filled the room. As he neared, the cauldron, his deluminator, faux glass and dozens of other instruments all shattered into dozens of shards, sending sparks of energy through the room.

He stood up and walked to them, he tapped them once with his wand and his brows furrowed as the smoke formed a sign he didn't see in several years since he was studying magic runes in Norway. It was the Hammer of Thor written inside of a Triskelion.

"So Asgard and Harry are somehow connected," he muttered to himself. "They were supposed to track down Harry and they can't work." He shook his head and vanished remains that littered the room. "So he is somewhere and I need to find out where, which means research. A lot of it."

He sat down and summoned a book from one of many bookshelves that were lining the walls of the office. It landed in front of him without a sound and as he looked at the cover of it, he noticed it was completely blank leather, without a single sign or letter written on it.

As he looked at it, on the outside he was showing his usual mask of confidence, as well as of knowledge and intelligence. However, inside he was a swirling vortex of emotions. On one hand he felt excitement, the likes of which he hadn't felt for ages. But he also felt fear and shock. He never expected Asgard to come out of their isolation, but after the last battle fought over New York, it was expected to happen, sooner or later.

Fear because he disliked unknown factors appearing in the environment that was familiar to him and if Harry was a son of Thor, they would be taking a lot of interest in the happenings of the UK. It wasn't that he was an evil man, no. At heart he was a good one; a kind one, but he also liked to know what would happen and he liked it to be predictable.

He sighed and cut his musings. Instead he tapped the surface of the book in front of him with the tip of his wand. He muttered "Manifesto!" and watched as lines of symbols written in gold and silver appeared on the leather covering it.

With utmost care he opened it and his eyes darkened for a moment as he glanced at the two lines that were written on the piece of paper that was too young to be an original part of the book. It wasn't destroyed by the flow of time and looked too good to be from the age when this manuscript was written.

" _There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."_

 _We have a feeling that Voldemort gets closer with each day and this cannot fall into his hands, so we hope that you will use it better than we could do so. A quote from Shakespeare fits it, at least in our opinion and we hope that you will enjoy studying this book. Do not reveal what's written on those pages to anybody other than Stephen or Wanda, there are things hidden here, ones that shouldn't be allowed to fall into wrong hands._

— James Potter and Lily Potter on the day of 29th October 2006

As he looked at those lines he had troubles believing that it was so long ago, also he felt sadness that Harry was forced to live where he was living for the time since their death. He should have allowed Warren Worthington Jr take him, or even Fury, as any of them would make sure that he would be growing in a safer and better environment than he was.

Carefully, even tenderly, he turned the page over and the next one was much older than the paper one that was added by James, or at least the handwriting pointed as the one that did it. James' was full of flourishes and the letters were graceful, while Lily had one that was simpler and neater.

The next page looked and felt old, even ancient. It was made out of purple parchment and was covered in the lines of silver and gold letters. Each and every one was written perfectly in Ancient Greek; a language that was almost forgotten on Earth. "No wonder that they or at least James weren't willing to take any chances with this book." He muttered to himself, he felt the power and majesty with which every letter thrummed and he was impressed by it. It wasn't a power from this world.

His gaze landed on the two lines of text that were in the middle of the page. His eyes widened in shock when he translated and understood the meaning of them. "Genealogy of Gods, Family trees of Asgard, Olympus and every other pantheon, written by Lisymachus Ptolemaios, son of Ptolemaios Philadelphos."

As he turned the page over, inside he was filled with glee and excitement, he was a philosopher and researcher at heart. Studying each of books as this one was as exciting for him as was watching each generation leave walls of Hogwarts. The thing that he saw on the next page made his eyes widen in shock and surprise.

It was a massive family tree of all dynasties of gods, his gaze swept over the names that had been spoken with fear, respect and a great deal of reverence, even now not many dared to throw them around without a good reason. He saw 'Zeus', 'Horus', 'Amaterasu' and many more, written there. Lines between them showing their relations to each other, however he didn't focus on them. Instead it swept over to the name of the Helpful Titan, Prometheus.

His finger touched the parchment under the name of that titan and swept downwards towards one of his daughters and from there to Buri, Bør, Odin and finally Thor. The moment he touched the name of the Thunderer, underneath it appeared a flash of gold and new name was present.

"Harald James Thorson, Prince of Blood, Prince of Asgard, Jarl of Södermars and Black Forest," He read it and from the corner of his right eye ran a small tear. Sadness that he felt inside of his heart, disappeared. It meant that Harry was safe and sound, and maybe the most important, away from the Dursley's.

He closed the book and almost at the same time, through the doors leading into his office, charged, in Minerva McGonagall, she seemed to be shocked and afraid of something. "How may I help you?" He asked, curious what was the reason of her shock or fear.

"Harry, it's about Harry," she said, as she tried to catch her breath, it took her a moment before she looked at him. "He is gone from the Book and that shouldn't have happened unless he is dead."

"I know," he said, he saw look of fear appear on her face and he raised his hand "However I know that he is fine." He reassuringly added.

"Than where is he?" She asked as she looked at him, he could feel her eyes attempt to punch a hole through him. He knew her well enough to know that what she had on her face was a finely schooled mask and inside she was boiling.

"Somewhere safe, somewhere where he will be loved and away from Britain."

"Somewhere?" She repeated, as if she wasn't believing him.

"I can't tell you more," he reassuringly said, "But I can assure you that he will be back for Hogwarts when the time for it comes."

She was silent for a moment, but than nodded. "I'll trust you on it."

"Thank you," he said, "Can you not reveal any information about it?"

"So that Fudge won't find out about it?" She arched an eyebrow

"Exactly."

"I can," she said and swept out of his office. Her robes flaring in her wake.

He watched her walk out of the office and the moment she closed the doors, he turned his attention to the book in front of him. "If his father is Thor, it means that he will be half-Æsir," he said to himself, "And that means research." He walked to bookshelves covering the walls, there were hundreds of manuscripts here and he needed to find ones about deities and their powers.

It was going to be a long and tiring process, but be never stayed away from research. He enjoyed every hour spent on it. It reminded him of his work with Nicolas and Perenelle. They spent hours inside of laboratories and libraries, looking for things that only they knew about.

o-0-o

Tony Stark looked at the images of this weird storm front and frowned, there was something missing here. It also looked somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it before. Than it hit him, it was so obvious. "Jarvis, compare them with the images of the storm when Thor arrived to Earth for the first time."

There was a moment of idleness and on the display in front of him appeared image of a much older storm and in a completely different place. If they were natural they were going to be different. "They are identical, sir. There is the same size of the eye and clouds are spinning in the same direction."

"That makes things interesting," he said and muttered "Thor, what the hell you were doing in England?"

"Sir?"

"Nothing, Jarvis, " he said and frowned. He had a feeling that their lives just became much, much more interesting with Asgard appearing in them. He needed to ask Thor or Loki what was going on the moment they were going to appear back on Earth. They tended to be a bringer of surprises and things that nobody expected to happen. From what little Asgard technology he had seen, it was much more advanced than Earth was or would be in the next few centuries, if not millenia.

o-0-o

Thor stood on the balcony overlooking the sea, he was worried. Worried if Harry would accept the fact of who he was and if he was going to be a good father for him. Even the weather reflected his mood quite well with waves crashing against the shore and a line of black clouds building over the horizon. Signs of an incoming storm.

He heard doors onto the balcony slid open and through them entered Jane Foster, his relation to her was a weird one. He loved her, yet he was unsure of marrying her. He knew that she felt almost the same about him. "Worried?" She asked as she walked towards him, she left a peck on his cheek and smiled.

"Yes, " he sighed and glanced at the sea, his electric blue eyes darkening.

"You fear about his reaction and if he accepts you?" She guessed.

"How?" He asked, turning to look at her.

"I'm a woman and it's not that hard to guess about what you are thinking," she said and smiled reassuringly. "He should be fine, if you are anything to go by, he is going to adapt to the fact that you are his father quite quickly."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"As sure as I can be," she said and paused. "He will need to adjust, but children cling to every warmth and safety they can find. If you show that you care for him and love him, he will accept you into his life."

"What about us?" he asked, changing the topic and she looked at him.

"What what about us?" She repeated, arching an eyebrow.

"You know what," he said with a smile, "Our relationship and him."

"I don't plan on breaking it off simply because you had a son with another woman," she said seriously and added, even more seriously "She's dead and it happened, so I won't cry over the spilled milk. Someone needs to keep your temper and moods under control."

"Thank you, Jane," he said quietly. "It means a lot to me."

"No problem," she said and smiled. "It just got a lot more interesting than it had been."

"We will see," he said and looked at the ocean, "When he will turn fourteen he'll need to go to Hogwarts."

"What's that?"

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is one of the many schools of magic that exist on Midgard, or Earth. As James Potter I went there and it was an interesting experience."

"You want him to taste the life on Midgard?" She asked

"Yes." He nodded "He is going to spend a lot of time there and Midgard is important for Asgard."

"It won't be a bad idea and he should enjoy it." She paused and looked at him. "You are going to introduce him to the Avengers?"

"Yes," he said and looked at the ocean, "Probably when he will be around twelve or older."

"Good idea" She smiled and looked at him "But for now, that is enough. Let him live and get used to being here and having a family. A family that doesn't scorn him, but loves and cares for him."

He opened his mouth and stopped before saying anything. Than he nodded and smiled. "You're right."

"I'm always right," she smiled and left a peck on his cheek. "I'll leave you as I see you need time to think."

He nodded and looked at the ocean. Sending a bit of magic towards the coming clouds, he banished them. He still was unsure about the whole thing with Harry, but he somehow knew that she was right on this one. However, only the future would show what would happen. Perhaps it was going to be just fine and all of his fretting over it would be pointless. With those thoughts, he looked at the blue, clear sky.

o-0-o

Odin nodded when a brown-haired and hazel-eyed Æsir dressed in leatherite armor walked into a small audience chamber.

"Your Majesty," the Æsir said, kneeling on one knee in front of Odin. Showing him some respect and waiting for what his liege would say.

"Rise, Ullr," Odin said as he looked at the noble in front of him. "There is a matter that I need to discuss with you. A matter of grave importance to the realm and its future."

"Of course, Your Majesty, how may I be of help to you?"

"My grandson was rescued and he needs a tutor that will educate him about the Realm of Asgard and our customs," Odin said and regarded Ullr with a cool gaze and saw him nod in understanding.

"So you want me to be the one that will educate him about our culture and teach him how to be a Prince of Asgard?"

"Indeed, you are one that taught my sons," Odin said "You also have several children and my grandson needs friends here on Asgard to survive, and to become a Prince that I wouldn't have doubts about passing the crown to."

"It will be an honor, Your Majesty," Ullr said.

"Do not lose my trust."

"I won't, Your Majesty," Ullr said as he lightly bowed and walked out of the room, leaving Odin alone.

o-0-o

Harry looked around the room that was his and had trouble believing that it was his. It was huge. As he looked around it, it seemed to be bigger than the whole ground floor of Privet Drive. He sat down on his bed and pinched his nose, just to be sure that it wasn't a dream.

"It's real," he whispered to himself, the gaze of his bright emerald green eyes running around the room. It seemed to be too beautiful, too nice to be true. Before, he wasn't wanted, wasn't loved or even liked. Here it was opposite of his previous treatment.

He yawned loudly and it made him realize how tired he was. It took him a moment to find where his clothes were in the room. He changed into his pajamas and slipped into his bed. As exhausted as he was, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, eager to see what the future would bring him.


	2. The beginning of training

Harry slept peacefully, until he felt water splashing onto his face. Cold water. That wasn't the most pleasant substance to be hit with, but this wake up call was much better than one that he had a questionable honor of getting when at Privet Drive. He jolted up and looked around to see the sun was slowly rising and his dad was standing in the room with an amused look in his eyes. Initially he had trouble believing in what was going on around him, but somehow his mind managed to realize that it was real.

"What was that?" Harry asked with narrowed eyes as he looked at Thor. Looking at the God of Thunder, he could tell that Thor was not a dream and this huge man really cared about him. This was a strange new phenomena for him, as previously he didn't have a single person to trust or care about him

"Wake up call," was the only reply from smiling God of Thunder. "Get dressed. Today you'll start learning about the Æsir and Asgard. Maybe some training too. I spoke with one of my friends that has son your age and can teach you a great many things."

Upon hearing those words, Harry's eyes gleamed with excitement. Although he wasn't sure if he heard things right. He looked at Thor, who slowly nodded.

"I'm not joking about that and you remind me more and more of your mother."

"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked looking at Thor, always ready to learn more about his parents.

"She had that same gleam in her eyes when she had an opportunity to learn anything new," said Thor and looked at Harry, "Get dressed and I'll show you around."

Harry jumped off his bed excitedly and the moment he saw that Thor was out of the room, he grabbed fresh clothes and walked to the bathroom. The bathroom was the sole room he didn't pay much attention to when he was exploring his rooms. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw how big his bathroom was. He never expected it to be so large.

It looked for him as if it was as large as living room of Privet Drive, if not larger and everything looked too beautiful to be true. It was hard to believe it was his, and his alone. He stripped out of his clothes and when he looked at himself in a mirror he saw something that he thought was impossible. All of those bruises and scars he had thanks to the Dursley's were gone.

"It's impossible," he said as he moved one of the fingers across one of spots where he knew he used to have a scar. His fingers moved over the soft skin and didn't feel any scar tissue. He blinked a couple of times and shook his head, looked at his clothes and started to dress.

o-0-o

Ten minutes later Harry emerged from his chambers in similar clothes to those he'd worn yesterday and looked at Thor, who stood near, his back resting against one of many pillars that supported the ceiling. As Harry looked around, he had trouble believing that this building could be so huge and massive. He walked to where his dad was standing and looked at the wall behind. It was covered with yet another massive painting, this one showing once more wolves.

"What do you remember from myths or stories about Asgard?" Thor asked as he looked at Harry

"Not much," Harry sheepishly admitted and Thor looked at him, "Dursley's never allowed me to watch the TV and I wasn't allowed to read things other than textbooks." There was a small growl from Thor, that almost immediately went away.

"I should have expected that," he sighed "Anyways in short, in the myths that were on Earth, it was described as the Realm of Gods, Seat of the Allfather."

"We are gods?" Harry asked excitement visible in his voice. He looked at his dad, not sure if this was a joke or not.

Thor shook his head and explained. "We aren't gods, we can be killed, we can die and we can fall ill. Although that is far harder to achieve than with a normal human. If I remember correctly, your uncle managed to lose his head and get it back later."

"He did what?" Harry sputtered, clearly shocked by those words.

"It was a bet," Thor said with a smile. "That he could be fine with his head away from the rest of his body. Indeed he was, although it took some time for him to heal from it. By some time, I mean a few years and help from your grandmother Frigga, who is one of our best healers."

"Alright," Harry said carefully, looking at Thor suspiciously. Losing one's head and still being fine was not a thing that seemed plausible to him.

"Here we are," Thor said after a moment of walking as they stopped in front of doors flanked by two guards that kept constant vigil in front of them. They wore golden armor, maille with pieces of plate armor over it, and their heads were covered by horned helmets. In their hands were spears and shields. When they saw Thor approaching, they bowed and looked suspiciously at one that was with him. Thor noticed that and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "He is my son, Prince Harald James Thorsson."

They only nodded and bowed, stepping aside and allowing Thor and Harry passage into the armory. "We didn't know, Your Highness."

"I'm not surprised. Not many do," Thor said moving past them and into the armory. "In due time everybody will learn that he is my son. But not now."

"Of course, Your Highness"

"Your Highness?" Harry asked when they were inside of the room, walls of which were covered in all kinds of weapons and armor. As he looked at them he couldn't name even half of them and he was almost dazzled by an amount of gems and precious materials covering them.

"I'm the Crown Prince and you are my son, thus a Prince. You should get used to it." Thor said as he looked at Harry, "We're here so you can get used to various weapons that are natural for Æsir." At those words Thor indicated shelves and racks full of weapons and some hanging from the walls and some even from the ceiling.

Harry walked forward until his eyes landed on a sword that lay close to Mjolnir. It was a hand-and-a-half sword with pommel shaped to resemble the head of a wolf with two gems set as the eyes of it. The handle was made out of unusual metal and covered in silver and gold wire. Its guard was bent towards the blade and at the end of the guard were the heads of wolves. In the middle of it were set rubies shaped like a some sort of a spiral. The blade wasn't the normal steel gray color; instead it was pale silver with veins of gold in it. A scabbard that was hanging nearby was made out of leather with metal reinforcements and gems set in it. When Harry approached the blade he felt familiar warmth, as if it was supposed to be his.

"Dad?" He asked, "What is that sword?"

"Tyrfing" Thor said as he stopped behind Harry, "A sword forged by dwarves as a gift for your grandfather Odin for his help in saving their King Eitri and their realm from a Giant attack. Try to lift it off the wall."

Harry looked curiously at his father and later at the sword. He reached out with his hand and grabbed it without any problem. It felt nice and comfortable in his hand, like it was supposed to be there. It was so light, it felt like he could lift it without any troubles.

"It feels light," he said after a moment and doing few moves with it. He could feel his hand gripping comfortably handle of the sword, as if he was destined to hold it.

"A normal human your age wouldn't be able to lift it," Thor said as he looked at Harry and saw unasked questions in his eyes, "It's forged from Mithril, an alloy developed by dwarves to make the very best weapons. You'll learn about it one day, and much more. I merely wanted to show you what Æsir use for warfare, now it's time to find Ullr, God of Hunt and Archers."

"He will be one of few responsible for your education, he's one of the advisors of Odin, your grandfather," Thor said as he took the blade from Harry and placed it back on the rack, making a note to speak with his father about it. And to ask Sif for a lesson or two for Harry about swords as he easily saw ease with which he lifted that blade and how he held it. He didn't use swords as his weapon of choice, but it didn't meant that he wasn't able to spot one that would be natural with them and, given time and proper training, be deadly with blade.

o-0-o

Harry looked around the city and tried to remember as much as he could as he followed his father through the streets. He was shocked by how it looked. It was tall and graceful, not like the town in which Dursley's lived. His jaw dropped as he saw objects floating in the air. "What's that?" he asked indicating one of them.

Thor followed his gaze and laughed. "Buildings, Asgard is a place where you'll see a lot of wonders."

Harry shook his head and looked at his father, to see if it was a joke. This was a thing that seemed impossible to him, but after a moment, he accepted it and focused on looking at the city. He could see plenty of green areas and open spaces between buildings.

"Here we are," Thor said after a long walk across the city and into wilder regions beyond it. There were still some of the same types of buildings as there were in the main part of the city, but they were far more sparse and hidden between trees and streams. There were some more primitive ones built from different materials. Harry was panting a bit at the end of a walk and had troubles with keeping up, so he was glad that it ended. He looked at his father for his explanation of where they were. "Nordheim, northern part of Asgard and home as well as the realm of Ullr."

"Your Highness," A man said, emerging from the forests to their right. He was tall with brown hair, hazel eyes, a long beard, leather armor covering his body, a quiver full of arrows on his back and in his hand, there was a bow. As Harry looked at him, he had a feeling that he knew those hazel eyes, but he couldn't place where he had seen them. "I'm Ullr, God of the Hunt and Archers and as your father told you, I will be one of your teachers, Your Highness."

"Yes," Thor said with a nod. "Ullr is a good marksman and teacher. Either he will come to the Citadel or you will come here."

"Good teacher, Your Highness?" Ullr asked looking at Thor, Harry could see amusement in their eyes.

"After all you were the one that taught my brother and I how to fight, how to be a Prince and so on," Thor said as he looked at Harry, who looked at Ullr, mostly curiously. "And now it's a time for you to teach, yet another generation of the Royal Family."

"It certainly will be an enjoyable thing," Ullr said looking at Harry "So son of Thor, your arrival caused quite a stir."

"Sorry?" Harry asked looking at the Æsir standing nearby.

"A new child in Royal Family is a rare thing, you are first new child in it for the past fourteen hundred years. So you've nothing to be sorry about," Ullr said as he looked at Harry "The previous two were your father Thor and your uncle Loki."

"Oh," Harry said as he filed away that information for later use.

"So you know why that is of interest to everyone," Ullr said and took a better look at Harry, he easily could see signs of malnourishment and mistreatment, but he also easily spotted potential for bones and muscles to develop. Especially with access to the best care that Asgard had to offer. Every Æsir was a hulking person, easily being a head or so taller than an average human. "You'll be quite a good archer, probably a warrior. Time will show that though."

"How do you know that?" Harry asked, his gaze switching between Ullr and Thor.

"Experience," Ullr said and Harry looked at him, "A lot of experience and having seven children. One is your age. I can recognize a warrior in the making when I see one. Let's say, did you have any weird situations when your instincts guided you?"

"Few times," Harry said with a frown "I somehow avoided a punch from my cousin and later sent him crashing into the wall."

"Were you angry at that time? Or sad?" Ullr asked gently "Or mix of those emotions?" Harry only nodded at those words. "That was your power flaring up. You lost control of yourself and your body worked on its own," Ullr said "And even if you doubt who you are, I can simply prove that my every word is true."

"How?" Harry asked, not sure where Ullr was going with it.

"Do you see that tree on the other side of the valley?" Ullr asked, indicating a tree as he pulled out arrow and looked at Harry. It was pretty far away, probably four or six hundred yards away from here. For normal human it would be almost impossible to hit it. For one of Æsir, it would be a hard thing, but probable. Certainly more probable than for a human

"Yes" Harry nodded as he looked in direction of that tree, his mind estimating how far it was.

"Try to hit it using a bow," Ullr said as he handed Harry a bow, it was a smaller one than one that Ullr had on his back and when Harry looked at it, he could see rows of runes engraved on the surface of it. "Or somewhere in it's direction."

Harry nodded, grabbed bow given to him, notched an arrow and looked in direction of that tree. He pulled the bowstring and released it. The arrow flew from the bow, soaring through the valley and came to the stop embedding in the tree. "Wow," he gasped when he saw that he hit it.

"Indeed," Ullr said. "Do you want more proof that you are Æsir? A human wouldn't be able to hit a target that was that far away."

"No, I don't think so,"

"Being cautious isn't a bad thing," Ullr looked at Harry, feeling internal turmoil in the mind of the young Prince. "I know a thing or two about your past. While we couldn't find you, as there were many protections placed on you, we watched you. We tried to protect you, you might remember a stranger that stopped your cousin few times."

"It was you?" Harry asked as he remembered tall stranger that looked similar to Ullr that helped him few times.

"Yes," Ullr nodded and shimmered as he changed, he looked almost like a human. He was a little shorter, his wild beard neatly trimmed and his hair shorter than it usually was. He was wearing human clothes and his weapons disappeared. "That was my form on Midgard and it's one of reasons why I was asked to be your teacher. One of many teachers that you'll have, yet for now I'll be your sole teacher," Ullr's shape yet again shimmered and he returned to his normal look.

"What're you going to teach me?" Harry said, eyes gleaming with excitement.

"How to control your power, our culture, how to fight, the very, very basics of magic and the history of Asgard," Ullr said as he looked at Harry, his voice gentle and calm. "Follow me and I'll show you where my house is and you can meet my youngest son. He's about your age."

Harry glanced at Thor, who nodded, and after a moment, Harry jogged after Ullr, who was running quickly, but slow enough for Harry to join him. Harry noticed that his body changed over the night and even previous day he felt stronger than he ever previously felt. All of the scars that he had collected over the years were gone, only one on his forehead remained, he felt like he got a completely new body. Which wasn't completely false as his Æsir genes that were dormant and well hidden, only flaring from time to time, now were fully active and started to change his body and mind.

"As your grandmother and father told you multiple times, you're stronger, faster, more agile, more intelligent and much, much tougher, " Ullr said as they jogged. "But you also need to control those things as they can be dangerous if improperly handled. You need to embrace who you are, but also get some control over it."

"How can I do that?" Harry asked looking at his teacher.

"By training and growing up," Ullr said as he looked at Harry with amusement "As we grow up, we grow in strength, but we also get much better control of it. Until you learn it, you will be punching holes in walls, destroying pieces of furniture and causing chaos. There is a reason why your grandfather's Chancellor makes the repairs and maintenance section of the budget a very important one."

"Why's that?" Harry asked as he felt amusement in his teacher voice.

"Your father and his temper. From what I saw, yours isn't far behind." Ullr said, trying not to laugh as noticed Harry smiling for the first time. This kid suffered enough and Ullr saw enough of Harry to know he would open. Question how soon that would happen and how far he would go. Harry only nodded and focused on following Ullr as they went into wilder parts of Asgard.

o-0-o

After a moment of pleasant jog, Harry was shocked by how much fitter he had gotten over the night. _Wow_ , he thought as he glanced backwards and saw golden spires of the Citadel visible between the trees, _it's impossible_.

"No, it is not," Ullr smiled as if reading Harry's mind. "You're an Æsir. A human your age would have fallen from exhaustion well before the border of the forest."

Harry shook his head as his mind tried to wrap itself around the whole thing. It was something he thought impossible. Previously, he was a freak. Now, he started to understand that he was accepted and that was a completely different kind of emotion. Previously he never felt them and it was strange to him.

He stopped for a moment to take a look around and his jaw almost dropped as he looked at the clearing in front of them. He had never been to a forest before, but he could just feel that this one was ancient and full of power. His gaze darted across it and at the end of it, he saw a massive building.

For him, it looked huge. It was not as tall as the Citadel was. Instead it was quite low and spread over a large surface. He saw it was built out of stone, with plenty of wood, but none of the metal used at the Citadel. The thing that surprised him the most were the trees that seemed to be growing through the building.

"Wow."

Ullr followed Harry's gaze and chuckled. "That's the effect of one of my sons' magic." Harry looked at Ullr curiously. "He is a God of Trees and Forest, so trees around him behave weirdly and this is an example of it."

"O-Okay," Harry nodded and than his gaze switched to a boy that was shooting arrows from a bow. He was a bit taller than Harry was and bigger, while clothes worn by him were similar to ones that Harry wore, though they weren't as richly embroidered as his were.

"That's my son, Ulf," Ullr said and Harry nodded.

"How... How can he shoot so well?"

"Training and experience. You'll learn it as well and given time, you'll be as good as he is," Ullr said and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I think that you two may be good friends." Harry nodded at those words. "Ulf, that's enough for now, you did good. I want you to meet someone."

Ulf shot the last arrow and propped the bow against a nearby tree and then walked to his father and Harry. He glared at Harry, challenge visible on his face, yet it softened when he looked at his father.

"Who's he?" Ulf asked.

"His Highness Prince Harald James Thorson," Ullr said and Ulf's eyes widened in shock. New royalties were a rarity on Asgard. "Yes, he is the lost son of Thor."

Harry felt Ulf's gaze focus on him and he didn't wince when he saw those hazel eyes focus on his own green eyes. He could see in them arrogance and some sort of superiority, as well as a lot of kindness and warmth hidden deep beneath the unpleasant layer. He was a bit surprised when Ulf cut the eye contact and instead extended his hand.

Harry glanced at Ullr who nodded with a smile and he shook offered hand.

"Good," Ullr said and they looked at him, they could see a smile on his lips. "It means that I'll have a lot less brawls to deal with as His Majesty asked me to be a tutor for his grandson. With you two fighting each other, it would be trouble. With the two of you accepting each other's presence, I think it'll be manageable."

o-0-o

"That went better than I expected," Frigga as she stood near clearing, hidden by a layer magic and watched the scene with Thor. "I expected them to fight for dominance, yet Ulf easily accepted that Harald was in charge."

"He didn't accept that, not yet," Thor said, thoughtful expression on his face. "He merely agreed not to be hostile. He'll try to test who is in charge in nearby future. Loki and I did that a couple of times, trying to see who was better." He gathered his thoughts and looked at his mother "I took him earlier to the armory and he chose Tyrfing and while it isn't interesting per se, interesting is the fact that he held it with ease that not many have."

"You plan on speaking to Sif to give him couple of hints and show how to use it?" Frigga guessed and Thor only nodded, causing her to smile. "Yes, that isn't a bad idea, but not now. Ulf and he can be a good friends, Harry needs one so those wounds can fully heal and accept the fact that he has the family and friends. I healed as much as I could, but some wounds..."

"Need time and friends." Thor finished for her "That was one of very first lessons you gave us and very true," he said as he mused about old times.

"Yes," she smiled "He will give you as many headaches as you gave us."

"Mother, can you not mention that?" Thor sighed

"No," she said and looked at Harry, making sure they were concealed from his sight.

o-0-o

"I honestly expected you to fight each other," Ullr said as he looked at Harry and Ulf, which were still sizing each other, but more friendly. Not that one filled with challenge, more like a one with competition.

"Why?" Harry with raised eyebrow and glanced at Ullr.

"That'll take some time to explain," Ullr said, sitting down on one of tree stumps and motioning them to follow him. "I'll drop all of the titles as they're an annoyance right now. Harald, you don't see it, but you are a son of the Crown Prince. Second in line to the throne, while Ulf is considered a prodigy in his generation and he gets almost all attention that he can get. So your arrival, even without any announcement will get you a lot of attention, attention that you might steal from Ulf. So I expected him to have issues with you."

"I see," Harry slowly said, considering those words.

"But the fact that you can live without challenging each other is a good thing especially considering your past." Harry winced at those words.

"His past?" Ulf asked as he glanced at his father.

"Let's just say that his mortal relatives aren't the best kind of people, far from that in fact." Said Ullr "During past four years, I spent a lot of time on Midgard, concealed as a human and watching over him. Enough that I wanted to kill those people. For more info, you'll need to ask him, assuming he will be willing to talk."

"I see," Ulf said and looked at the Prince in new light. He expected him to be a stuck up bastard, not one that was humble.

"Ulf, go back to demolishing practice targets," Ulf said looking at his youngest son, lips twitching as he said those words. "Harald, get up."

"Huh?" Harry asked his mind starting to work.

"The beginning of your lessons," Ullr explained looking at Harry, some amusement visible in his voice. "Either you focus or we are going for a jog, a long one. And you won't enjoy it that much, not with me running at my full speed."

"I'm here," Harry quickly assured him.

"Good" Nodded Ullr with a thin smile. "You know that we are, let's say, better than humans. But everything has its price, the question is how high it is. In this case it is density of our bodies, generally speaking we are three times as dense as average human. Another important one is that our power varies depending on the realm in which we are."

"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked, not sure how to understand those words.

"As you should know there are nine realms, Asgard, Vanaheim, Alfheim are high realms. They lay in the upper reaches of Yggdrasil. In the middle are the next three, Midgard, Jotunheim or Utgard and Muspelheim. On the lowest level is the last set of them, Svartalvheim, Niflheim and Nidavellir. Each realm is a home to one race that rule over it and in case of Asgard, whole of the Nine Realms. This is a lesson that you should remember well, you will use this knowledge for almost all of your life," Ullr patiently explained "On almost all of the realms you have full power at your disposal, but there is one exception, one place where your power is limited and harder to control."

"Which one?"

"Guess," Ullr smiled. "You know it, you just need to think about it."

"Midgard?"

"Are you asking me or answering my question?"

"Midgard" Harry said once more, making sure it sounded like a statement.

"Exactly, nobody knows why or how. But we are slightly weaker than we normally are, it isn't much, but it is noticeable. You need to know that as your father and uncle Loki spend a lot of time there and you might as well."

"So I need to be more careful when on Midgard," Harry said, watching another target being turned into a pincushion by Ulf.

"Yes" Ullr nodded and looked at sky. "I suppose I can fix the mistakes that you make when shooting arrows."

"I make mistakes?" Harry asked as he looked at his teacher.

"Yes," Ullr said as he walked into the building. "I'll get one of the spare bows and I show you basics of archery."

o-0-o

Sif stood on the raised dais adjacent to the training grounds and looked at warriors training. She heard footsteps and nodded when she saw Prince Freyr approach her. He was a tall man with long fair hair and dark green eyes, glowing with gentle and warm power.

"How true is it that a son of Thor was found?" She asked as he came to a stop to her side.

"Yes," Freyr nodded. "According to what my dear aunt told me, you will have a questionable pleasure of teaching him how to use weapons."

She sighed and looked at him "Let me guess, he chose Mjolnir or some other one of those overgrown hammers?"

"No," he said and she arched an eyebrow. "He chose Tyrfing, which is the last weapon that I expected him to choose."

"Bastard sword, forged out of mithril and a gift from Eitri?" She asked

"The same one," Freyr nodded and added after a moment. "Honestly I expected him to choose Jarnbjorn, Gungnir or even Mjolnir."

"Life should be really interesting," she said and looked at the training grounds in front of them. "It's been a long time since I had an opportunity to train someone in the usage of sword, or at least from the very beginning to the very end. "

"Last ward from Olympus? Something like three hundred years ago?" he guessed.

"Yes," she said after a moment, there was some sadness visible in her voice, she enjoyed teaching that ward of His Majesty. She looked at Freyr and could easily see flickers of amusement in his eyes. "Olympus is sending another ward?"

"Yes, one or two of them. I don't know exact details, but from the rumors that I had heard, one of them might be a daughter of Hercules, and the second one they're silent about."

"Did you say that we know nothing about one of them?"

"Yes, do you have any ideas who he or she are going to be?"

"Last time it was one of children of Zeus or his brothers," she said and shook her head. "But two of them are a surprise that I didn't expect to happen."

"No one expected it," Freyr said, she could hear some badly hidden amusement in his voice.

"What's so funny?"

"The fact that it's the effect of our negotiations with them during Summer Solstice," Freyr said and paused, she could see him thinking if he should tell her more. "The same ones that allowed us to go to Midgard and retrieve son of Thor without any interferences on their part. This was one of the things that we were forced to agree upon."

"Not the worst demands," she said and sighed. "They want to keep them out of Hera's hands?"

"Nobody will officially admit it, but..."

"But everybody knows that it's true," she finished and indicated sword that was at his hip "Since I'm about to be given several people to teach how to use a sword, what would you say about a spar."

"Why not?" Freyr agreed as he pulled out his sword out of its scabbard. She only smiled and walked with him to the training grounds. People looked at them, curiosity and badly hidden interest visible in their eyes.

She lightly bowed to Freyr and in the next moment her sword shot out towards him. He raised his own to block her strike and sent hundreds of sparks in every direction. Beginning a duel that would last for a while.

As their swords clashed, sending clouds of dust and showers of sparks flying in every direction, everybody that was present at the training grounds stopped what they were doing and focused on it. It was an event that was worth watching as they were of the very best Asgard had to offer.

o-0-o

Harry groaned as his muscles flared with unseen fire as he released the last arrow from the quiver he'd been given by Ullr. The moment he felt the bowstring return to its position, he lowered the bow and looked towards the target. Most of the arrows hit the target, but some went astray and flew wild.

"Not bad," Ullr said as he followed Harry's gaze. "For the first time you've had a bow, you did well and everything can be fixed with a proper amount of training and experience."

Harry briefly smiled as he placed the bow on the ground and let quiver slide off his shoulder. "It won't be a pleasant experience, will it?"

"It should become a pleasant thing, but first you need to get used to being here and living among us. We're different than the life on Midgard is and a lot of things will surprise you," Ulf said and Harry nodded. "Now follow Ulf and he'll show you where the bathhouse is so that you can get cleaned and deal with the aches."

"I'm fine," Harry said and Ullr only loudly laughed.

"Your arms are on fire and feel weak?"

Harry looked at Ullr and as he tried to move his hands, he yelped in pain.

"Don't overextend and you need to pace yourself," Ullr said. "Now follow Ulf and he will show you around, you will spend a lot of time here, so you should get accustomed to being here."

Harry nodded and saw Ulf waiting for him near one of the entrances into the palace. Harry quickly walked and joined Ulf.

"Not bad for the first time," Ulf said as they walked inside. "You could've done better, but it's still quite good."

"Thanks, I guess," Harry said and glanced at Ulf. "Where's this bathhouse your father was talking about?"

"Here," Ulf said as he opened one of wooden doors.

Harry was almost pushed back by the wave of a warm air that rushed out of the room and slammed into him. He blinked a couple of times, trying to see clearly. When his sight focused, he was able to look into the room. It was a large rectangular room with wooden walls and wooden ceiling supported by several trees that grew through the room. He saw several wooden benches placed along the walls and on few of them, there were several towels placed. In the room he saw several large pools, all of them were lowered into the floor. As Harry looked at it, it reminded him about Roman baths he had read about in one of the books at school.

The water looked so inviting that he ignored Ulf's presence in the room and not caring about him, he undressed and jumped into the nearest pool. When his body was submerged in water, he felt the aches and pains disappear.

o-0-o

"Oww," Harry managed to say as he got back to the Citadel after day of training with Ullr. Every single muscle was on fire and he was having trouble moving. That opportunity to take a bath all of those hours ago was now an almost forgotten memory as more hours of training followed it and he wanted to forget about it.

"I forgot to mention that he'll train you until you drop from exhaustion." Chuckled Thor as he received a glare from Harry.

"Did you actually watch the training?" Asked Harry glaring at his dad, still not used to that idea.

"Some of it," Admitted Thor "And you did well. Nobody expects you to be good at everything the moment you see it."

"I guess you're right," Harry said as he tried to place himself comfortably on his bed.

"I am right," Nodded Thor as he looked at Harry "Ullr is impressed with you. He won't openly admit that, but he is. He was one of my teachers and I can say that from my own experience." He ruffled Harry's hair, who didn't even flinch. He was already deep asleep and his eyes were closed.

o-0-o

Fury looked up from a document he was reading and saw Loki appear in his office. "To what do I owe this visit?" Fury asked, his whole attention focused on his guest. He didn't expect to see him here so soon.

"My nephew," Loki said as he conjured for himself a chair and sat down in it.

"Your nephew?" Fury slowly repeated, unsure if he heard it right. From what he knew Thor didn't have any children.

"Yes," Loki smiled. "My dear brother was banished to Earth something like thirty years ago and landed in the body of James Potter-"

"You mean that Harry Potter, son of James and Lily, is in truth a son of Thor," Fury cut in.

"Yes," Loki agreed and looked at Fury. "I think that you know what I want from you."

"To take care of Petunia and the rest of her family," Fury grimly said and sighed. "Lily was like a younger sister to me and I don't know why she didn't agree to my offer of protection and hideout away from Britain."

"She was stubborn and strong. Running away from troubles wasn't in her nature." Loki said and looked at Fury. "Can I hope that this talk will stay private? We would like to keep the fact that Harry is my brother's son as a secret for as long as possible."

"Of course," Fury nodded and watched as Loki disappeared from his office in a ball of multicolored light. When he saw that his guest was gone he stood up and walked to the window that overlooked the Potomac River. He lightly tapped his earpiece. "Prepare my Quinjet, transatlantic flight."

He nodded at the confirmation, turned around and walked out of the room. Their life was getting really interesting, but the news stung him badly. On the outside it wasn't visible, but inside it hurt him. Harry should've never been placed at the Dursley's. That was an easy recipe to get another Voldemort or other madman in the next few years.

o-0-o

For Harry, the first two weeks he spent on Asgard were the best of his life. While he grumbled about Ullr and how hard he was being trained, he grudgingly admit that he felt faster, stronger and more powerful after each session. As well as wiser, as a sizeable portion was focused on learning customs, rules, about other races and a thousand and one things that he would need to know.

Harry and Ulf had some clashes, trying to see who was in charge, but they generally ended in a draw, with him winning more than Ulf did. While Ulf was better in hand to hand combat, Harry was much better with a bow. Even after only two weeks of training, it was obvious that he was better. He could shoot much better than he had, which made him slightly better than Ulf was.

They were fighting when from the forest emerged two giant wolves, each size of an average looking pony, their fur was steel gray and eyes were the color of amber. When Harry saw them, he jumped away from them in fear, causing Ulf to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked as he glared at his friend.

"Those aren't normal wolves," Ulf explained. "They accompany your grandfather, King Odin."

"Indeed, you are right," Odin said as he emerged from the forest. The wolves moved closer to Harry and started to circle him. Harry looked at them, but after a moment he pushed his fear away and tried to scratch them behind their ears. "They are called Freki and Geri and by the looks of it, they like you"

"Grandfather, I don't think you're here simply to talk about your wolves or even ravens," Harry said as he looked at Odin and noticed his talking ravens flying nearby.

"No, indeed I'm not," Odin agreed, his voice so deep that it seemed as if a mountain was speaking. "I'm here to talk with you about something. Something you should like. So come with me. Ulf if you want, you can follow us. I know that you're close to my grandson."

"I'll stay here," Ulf quickly said and Harry nodded in thanks. He wanted to be alone with his grandfather.

"How?" Harry asked, but then his eyes landed on the ravens that were nearby. "Ah, your ravens are watching me whenever I train."

"Indeed," Odin said. "You have a keen eye, grandson." Harry smiled at those words "The thing I want to talk with you about is related to which day it is. On Midgard it is 31st July."

"31st July?" Harry mused and Odin nodded. "Isn't it my birthday?"

"Indeed," Odin nodded and revealed a long rectangular wooden box that was hidden under his cloak. Harry took it and looked at his grandfather, who only nodded, it looked like a box for weapon and the surface of it was covered in various carvings and decorations. "Open it, you'll like what's inside. Your father would've given it to you, but he couldn't as only I have that right."

Harry had a suspicion about what was inside and when he opened it, he found a sword inside, with its scabbard to the side of it. When he recognized the blade, his eyes gleamed with excitement. "Is it?"

"Tyrfing," Odin said with a smile "The blade that chose you when you were in our family armory. Your father would have given it to you, but it was officially given as a gift to me, so he couldn't. But I can."

"Thank you." Harry said hugging Odin, who smiled. "The Dursley's never gave me gifts on my birthday and weren't the nicest people."

"What?!" Odin asked, through clenched teeth, controlling his anger, after a moment he calmed down. "It will be solved in the future. " He assured Harry as he lightly patted his arm. Inside he was ready to explode and if not for his self-control he might have lashed out with magic.

"Thank you," Harry whispered.

"It's nothing," Odin said and looked at him, as Freki nuzzled Harry arm. "My wolves took liking to you and if you don't mind, they will be with you at all times. As companions, but as well as guards."

Harry smiled as he felt nose of one of wolves touch him. He scratched it behind the ears and his smile brightened when he heard his grandfather words. "I won't have a problem with it."

"Good," Odin nodded as Geki trotted to them. "Once your lessons with Ullr are completed for today, join me in my study as I need to speak with you about certain things."

"Of course," Harry nodded as he closed the box and watched his grandfather disappear, yet Odin's wolves remained. Two of which were now his very big and dangerous guards and companions. Harry turned around and walked back to the clearing where Ulf was looking at him with Ullr, standing nearby. When Ullr saw Harry emerge from the forest his eyes immediately landed on those giant wolves and box held by him.

"What type of weapon?" Ullr asked as he easily recognized the box, as it was used to hide weapons.

"A sword," Harry replied as he placed the box on one of tree stumps and opened it, revealing the blade that was inside.

"Fine blade," Ullr said as he took it out of the box, inspecting it under the light. "Mithril blade, forged in the heart of a star. Powerful weapon, and one worthy of a King or Prince."

"What is this mithril?" Harry asked looking at his teacher, who was admiring the blade.

"An alloy created by dwarves. It's used to forge the best weapons and armors. Extremely light and sharp, it can cut through rock without too much of a problem." Ullr explained and looked at Harry "It will serve you well and long."

Harry nodded at those words and looked at wolves that circled around him, looking for comfortable places to lay there and watch him.

"It's your birthday, isn't it?" Ullr asked quietly and Harry nodded. At those words Ullr nodded and gave Harry a longbow that was laying against one of trees. "It'll serve you well and you're a good archer for your age. A few more years of training and you should be really good."

"Thank you." Harry said softly as tears appeared in his eyes for a moment before they disappeared.

"No problem." Ullr said placing his hand on Harry shoulder. "Today we won't train anymore as I know that your father and grandfather want to speak with you."

"Thank you," Harry said, before closing the box, grabbing it and disappearing towards the palace.


	3. Responsibilities

Harry entered the Palace and headed for his room to clean himself after training and leave the gifts he got as they weren't the lightest ones and carrying them for his meeting with his grandfather would be impractical. He could feel his shadows, Freki and Geri follow him. They were following him wherever he went, causing people in the Citadel to look at him with even more respect than before as everybody knew whose wolves those were and how dangerous they were.

Leaving the gifts in his room, he walked through the corridors of the private chambers of the royal family until he found the study of his grandfather. He opened the doors and walked into it, his grandfather was sitting behind his desk sorting through papers.

"Good, you're here," Odin said as he saw Harry enter the room. "As you are aware, you are a Prince of Asgard, in direct line to the throne and as such you have duties, to yourself and to others." Harry nodded at those words as he heard them multiple times. "Normally, a Prince is introduced to the nobles when they celebrate their eighth birthday. But because of your past, we decided that you shall be introduced to them on Yuletide. Before that your father will take you with him on his various trips to other realms, so you can meet some of the nobles earlier as well as getting used to meeting them."

"Do I have to?" Harry pouted, causing Thor, who quietly entered the room, to chuckle.

"You remind me of a younger me," Thor said as he placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "It sounds terrible, but it isn't that bad. You'll get to meet new people, see new worlds and have fun. Being a prince isn't only a privilege. Many think that being a prince is a fun thing," he said after a moment. "It's also about responsibility; for your kingdom, for the people who trust you and for your decisions."

"I understand," Harry said in a resigned tone looking at his father, whose expression was sombre.

"Good," Thor smiled as he looked at Harry. "I managed to speak with Sif to give you a couple of lessons about swords and how to use them."

Harry only smiled at the words and hugged Thor, much to the latters surprise and amusement.

o-0-o

On the next day right after the breakfast, Harry found himself on the training grounds, dressed in leather training clothes and looking at the golden haired, blue-eyed Sif. She was going to be his teacher in the art of fencing, and general martial arts as she was one of two finest sword masters of Asgard, second being Freyr.

"Sword fighting is more of an art than a mindless brawl," She said as they sat near one of the smaller training grounds. It was one of the more secluded spots for training and honing one's skills, without drawing the attention of too many people. She gathered her thoughts on how to explain it to Harry before looked at him. "It is more a battle of technique than brute strength, while both are needed. Technique is more important than brute force and sheer strength. Generally, a person that is faster, who has better technique will win against an opponent who is stronger, but lacks technique. For example I could beat your father before he could lay a hit on me as I'm faster, more agile and have marginally better technique. With your uncle Loki, it would be an even match as we have similar speed, agility and technique. A lot also depends on weapon."

She took a breath and looked at Harry, as well as his blade that was laying nearby in its scabbard. "May I see the blade?" She asked indicating his sword.

Harry nodded and handed it to her, in its scabbard so she could take it out on her own.

"While what you did was okay. In the future give swords handle first. It is a sign of good will and lack of hostile intent as you can't wound with it," she explained and Harry nodded. "Now about the sword," she said taking it out of its scabbard, rays of morning sun hitting the blade, causing it to glow gold. "A very good blade. Not the best for your age, but it's a temporary issue that'll go away with time."

"What do you mean by that?" Harry asked looking at her with some interest.

"You will tire really quickly as it is a little too long and heavy for your size, " she explained looking at him. "But for training it won't matter that much as it will be maybe thirty minutes sparring and later another twenty minutes of explanation of what you did wrong and how." Harry was ready to grab his sword, when she looked at him and pinned his hand down. "Before that, we need to secure the weapon, I don't want to explain to your father why you're in pieces."

"How can we do that?" Harry asked, a little confused by her words.

"Magic, first imagine drawing two runes on your sword, harmless and protection. After that, imagine creating a small layer of magic around the blade that can protect you from it."

"I've never used my magic before," he said

"I guess it'll be a good start then," she said as she took out her own blade. Placing it on her lap, she drew two runes before touching her fingers to the tip of the sword and moving them along the edges. When she did the blade lit gold for a moment. "Try to do the same."

Harry nodded and focused on the blade of his sword. He tried to repeat the moves made by Sif and after a moment, it glowed blue.

"Not bad," she nodded after a moment. "Not the strongest one and not an ideal one, but pretty good for a first time and it should work."

She stood up and walked to the middle of the sandy arena. She looked at Harry in such a manner that told him to join her in the circle with his sword. Grabbing the hilt of his sword, Harry moved to the centre of the arena, slightly away from Sif, his wolves laying nearby, watching them.

Without any warning, Sif lunged forward, aiming to hit Harry around his ribs. He saw the move as if it was in slow motion, and moved his sword to parry it. When Sif saw him move her eyes narrowed slightly and she moved a little faster, breaking contact and rolling out of the way of the sword coming towards her. Her sword flew through the air, drawing an arc and hitting Harry on the wrist. He yelped in pain as the sword hit him and force his own weapon out of his hand.

"Enough," she said looking at Harry "I intentionally attacked you far slower and weaker than normally, to see your reaction to it."

"Did I do anything wrong?" he asked worriedly, causing her to laugh at those words.

"On the contrary, you did very well for your age and experience," she said looking at him and making a smile appear on his face. He'd never been praised before, but now it was a common thing. "You'll be a fine swordsman one day."

"Seriously?" he asked

"Yes, little prince," she said, chuckling a bit. "I saw many warriors through the ages and I can tell you that such an ability with a blade or weapon shows maybe three or four times per generation. In yours so far it is you and Ulf, in mine it is myself and The Warriors Three."

"Wow," Harry managed to say. He had already heard tales about achievements of The Warriors Three and being compared to them was a little mind-boggling.

"Yes" Thor agreed as he joined them. "And I thought that Sif was sparse in her praise."

"I am," she admitted. "It's just that he is either really good or I've lost my touch."

"I would bet he's really good," Thor said, looking at Harry. "I watched your spar and it was good. Really good."

"Thanks, dad." Harry said in his direction and looked at Sif "Again?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Again." She nodded and started another duel. Closely watching how Harry moved, trying to see any mistakes in his footwork and moves. He seemed to have a natural grace and flair that was a sign of a fine swordsman, or swordsman-in-training.

o-0-o

"Lucky you," Ulf muttered as the two of them were eating during one of the breaks in their training. "Getting trained by the Goddess of War is a rare thing and many wouldn't mind being in your place, myself included."

"In retrospect, I don't think there is an honour in being trained by her." Said Harry and Ulf eyes widened.

"She is the best sword user in the last few hundred years," he said carefully.

"Maybe she is, but she is also a terrible slave driver. For the last few days, we were fixing one of my mistakes and I have more aches than after a brawl or two with you."

"You know that you're lazy, right?" Ulf asked with a wide grin.

"You're not the first one to tell me that," Harry chuckled. "And probably not the last one either."

"Who was first?"

"One of grandfather's ravens, they follow me wherever I go and sometimes they are a bit annoying," Harry sighed. "As much as I love my grandfather's wolves, I have almost the same hate towards his ravens."

"We heard that." Said someone from above them, when they glanced upwards they saw two ravens sitting on a tree branch. It was hard to read them, but they seemed a little angry or annoyed. "And we aren't happy, we thought about calling you Black Prince or Black Wolf, but Lazy Prince sounds better, much better in fact."

"The Prince of Asgard, insulted by ravens," Ulf laughed as he watched Harry's face turning red as his rage was building up. The House of Odin had an extremely short fuse. They could explode almost momentarily and it seemed that Harry had also inherited his family trademark rage.

"You insolent little birds," Harry yelled as he grabbed a stone that was laying nearby and hurled it at one of them. They screeched, moving out of the way of the projectile.

"I wouldn't do that," said one raven as he appeared above Harry "You really don't want to make us angry."

The second added "We're advisors to your grandfather and while our words might be harsh, they're true as well."

"So I think we should properly introduce ourselves," said the first one as he landed in front of Harry "I am Muminn."

"And I'm Huginn," Second added.

"Thought and memory." Harry mindlessly translated as his Norse was getting steadily better with every day. His dad was right about the much improved memory and he was learning far quicker than he had thought was even possible.

"Exactly," Muminn said. "We work for your grandfather. We hear, we watch and we report what we saw and heard."

"In truth we were and are impressed by how you've developed," Huginn said. "But we thought that a little more incentive wouldn't hurt to keep you motivated and far away from complacent."

"Then you thought wrong," Harry seethed as he looked at the birds that flew towards his shoulders, landing on them. He turned and looked at Ulf. "Do you have a knife handy?"

"What are you planning to do?" A little confused son of Ullr asked, until on his face appeared wide grin once he guessed what Harry planned. "I have one."

"You won't do anything, will you?" Huginn asked fearfully as he felt the hand closing around his body. It forced him to admit that the kid had a lot of spunk and was ready to defend himself.

"I won't if you agree to few things. No more spying on me when I can't see you, no insulting and be friendly," Harry said as he got the knife from Ulf and pointed it at Huginn.

"We'll agree to those terms," Huginn nodded as he saw in Harry's eyes something that scared him. Determination and stubbornness, probably even bigger than his father had. Which meant that Harry wasn't joking and those weren't idle threats.

"Good," Harry said as he released Huginn.

"You just threatened one of your grandfather's animals," Ulf said as realization finally hit him. "You'll be in trouble."

"They weren't the friendliest ones, they deserved it," Harry said as he returned to eating. "Besides, grandfather likes me. So he'll accept it and I won't get into trouble. Maybe I can get Uncle Loki to take the blame."

"You know you're scary, right?" Ulf asked, looking at Harry, who seemed to be growing like a weed since he was brought to Asgard. Yet that wasn't surprising as in next six to ten years he was supposed to grow between two and three feet, as well as bulk up significantly. "But it's a good kind of scary."

"Seriously?" Harry innocently asked. "I never thought that I would be described as scary."

"He's right." Huginn said. "You remind us of your father when he was your age and even the things you suffered on Midgard won't change it."

"What things he suffered on Midgard?" Ulf asked, his voice dangerously low.

"Things he shouldn't have suffered," Ullr grimly said as he joined them, their arrival startling them as they didn't hear him coming. "I watched his guardians for some time to be sure that he was one of us. I saw giants take better care of their offspring than they did."

"I was forced to work for them; they didn't give me much food and I was forced to live in a cupboard under the stairs," Harry quietly said, his voice strained with emotions.

"What?" Ulf asked, short growl escaping his lips.

"He's serious," Ullr said and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I'm not your father, but I can swear that here you won't be met by any kind of harm from me, any members of my family or household."

"Thank you," Harry said as from the corners of his eyes trickled some tears. He felt something heavy move towards him. He smiled when he saw Freki nudge him with its nose and lick his face in a show of affection.

"Those wolves really like you," Ullr mused as he looked at Harry "Your grandfather knew what he was doing when he gave them to you. You don't realize just how loyal to you they are."

"Really?" Harry asked as Geri trotted forward and sat on the ground in front of him. Panting happily, its tail wagging lazily as it looked at Harry.

"They definitely like you," Ullr said "And you'll appreciate that when you have a run in with things that want to kill you. Those wolves don't look like very dangerous creatures, but I can assure you that they are deadly. I've seen them dealing with the bodyguards of Laufey without a problem."

"Okay," Harry muttered a little shocked by such words, one of his hands scratching one of the wolves behind its ears. "They seem harmless and friendly."

"Yes," Ullr said with a smile. "They're powerful, yet they don't show that very often." He looked into the sky and watched clouds for a moment gathering his thoughts. After some time he looked at Harry and Ulf, who were nearby. On his lips a small smile that would mean trouble for those two as he had a nice idea for their lesson.

o-0-o

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office as he sifted through hundreds of documents that kept this school running. He raised his head and saw a whirlwind of gold and green robes appearing in the room. When they were gone, in their place stood tall man, with a horned helmet on his head, a glaive in his hand and pieces of armor covering his arms and legs. On his face, he wore his usual smirk and not recognizing him was hard.

"Prince Loki, to what do I owe this visit?" Dumbledore asked when he recognized who had invited themselves into his office. He was used to weird people inviting themselves, but most of them used the Floo or the door to get inside and one time, the window. None used apparition to do that, at least not until now.

"I'm merely a messenger, on behalf of my father and brother. As well as my nephew," Loki said as he looked at Dumbledore, who was puzzled a bit.

"Thor was James in disguise, so Harry is his son." Dumbledore said and watched Loki's eyes widen in a mix of something that could be described as shock and surprise.

"How do you know that?" Loki asked, laid back attitude of him gone and replaced by steel and look that promised pain to one that wouldn't provide a satisfying answer to his questions. "No mortal should know about it."

"Genealogy of the Gods," Dumbledore said and summoned thick book that he handed to Loki.

Loki took the book, opened in and muttered several spells in various languages. "Yes, this book would tell you about him as it gets updated on its own and his name appeared in my family tree."

Dumbledore nodded and looked at Loki "Most likely, you would like him to attend Hogwarts, or at least Thor would like that."

"Yes," Loki agreed "And in a tad under six years, he will need to start Hogwarts. Now he is safe and sound. Making new friends, getting used to an idea of being a Prince, developing his powers as a young Æsir, those kind of things."

"I see." Dumbledore said softly and looked at Loki "So what should I expect?"

"He will be tall, strong and agile, above the level of other people from his year," Loki slowly said. "He will have extremely powerful, but wild magic. I'll try to help him with control, but wandless and wanded magic are two different disciplines. Even if I know the basic principles of wanded, I have no need to use it. He may have a bodyguard or two."

"That won't be a problem, Hogwarts is used to unusual beings as students, and have played host to various bodyguards in our past, so those are arrangements I can accept. I just need a warning ahead of the time to inform my staff."

"Perfect." Loki nodded, happy that those arrangements could be easily made.

"But I have two questions," Dumbledore said looking at that Æsir in front of him.

"Go on."

"First, what can you tell me about him?"

"He behaves a lot like his father, but there is a lot of Lily in him. He's stubborn, very stubborn. Sometimes I think it's easier to make a mountain to move out of the way. Courageous, but also kind and his temper is almost as bad as my brother's. When it flares everybody sees or hears of it. He's growing at great pace, both in terms of his mind, but body as well. He's friends with the son of Ullr, who is his main tutor, along with the Lady Sif and probably myself or Heimdall in few months."

"Sif as in the Goddess of War?" Dumbledore asked, interrupting Loki.

"The very same," Loki grinned "She trains him in the usage of swords as he has shown talent for it. Father's pets love him, mostly Freki and Geri, but the ravens behave in his vicinity. He reminds me a lot of a younger me. Always curious, but he's more Thor, than me."

"What about the Dursleys?"

"Their minds were wiped of his presence."

"I don't really approve of it, but understand and accept it. Now my second question, Hogwarts. We send letters by owl, but it might have issues with reaching Asgard or wherever he will be, so where should it be sent."

"Avengers tower," Loki replied "Thor or I are often there, so we'll pick it up or even Harry as Thor plans to introduce him to Avengers, sooner rather than later."

"It'll be done."

"Have a good day," Loki said as he disappeared in a vortex of green and gold. Leaving Dumbledore to his own musings and damned paperwork.

"So, a Prince of Asgard," he said looking through the window. "Certainly will be interesting, very interesting. Especially if what he said about him is true."

o-0-o

Harry looked curiously around as he followed Ulf through the maze of corridors and hallways that made up a bulk of Ullr's palace. He hadn't been in this part of it before and he was interested in where his friend was leading him.

"Dad asked me to show you some of our wrestling and martial arts. What we previously did was mainly for fun and without any form or style. Here I'll show you some of our true martial arts," Ulf said as he turned his head and looked at Harry. "He would've done it himself, but he's busy in the Capitol and asked me to do it."

"Sounds nice," Harry smiled as he followed Ulf into a room.

It was circular with a round space filled in sand in the middle of it, Harry looked around and in a way it reminded him of boxing rings he had seen when Uncle Vernon was watching his TV. He looked at Ulf and awaited some explanation.

"Undress and we'll start," Ulf said as he quickly stripped out of his clothes, putting them on a neat stack by the wall. He was only wearing his underwear and Harry looked at him as if he was insane for a moment, but then he nodded and also undressed.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Harry asked as he entered onto the sand, feeling its fine grains under his feet.

"Try to beat me and throw me onto the ground," Ulf said and smiled. "That's how I was taught it and I like it."

"Anything is allowed?" Harry asked as he flexed his hands and looked at Ulf.

"Yes," son of Ullr nodded with a smile. "Every strike is allowed and you can do everything you think will work."

Harry looked at Ulf and charged at him with a smile, sending his fist straight ahead of himself and into the head of Ulf, who only tilted it to the side, completely avoiding the strike and in the next moment, sent one that lightly slammed into Harry's chest and pushed him backwards. He stumbled trying to regain his balance before looking at Ulf.

"For the first time, not the worst, but against a trained person it won't work. Think more and do less."

Harry nodded and with a vicious smile grabbed a fistful of sand. He threw it at Ulf who was forced to shield his eyes from it and at the same time, Harry's fist shot forward and slammed into Ulf's chest, pushing him onto the ground.

"Better," Ulf said as he stood up and blinked few times to deal with sand and dust that got into his eyes. "I'll show you moves used in our martial art style and you'll repeat it and after that, some practice."

"Sounds nice," Harry said and smiled as he focused on the youngest son of Ullr.

o-0-o

Life on Asgard passed for Harry in a blur, hours changing into days, days into weeks and weeks into months as he spent them with his family and friends. Learning new things, having fun, causing mischief and generally being a young Prince of Asgard. His teachers were impressed by his thirst for knowledge, as well as how diligent he was given proper incentive or competition as it forced him to do well. As losing wasn't in his nature, currently he was walking across the Bifrost to join Heimdall in his Observatory so he could teach him about other civilizations, beings in space and how to use the Bifrost.

"The Bifrost is our main gate in and out of Asgard, as well as the first line of our defense," Heimdall said looking at Harry "There are other entrances into Asgard, but accessing them is far harder and not many know of them. Also they are much, much more dangerous."

"Are you one of those people?" Harry asked, mischievous smirk on his lips.

"No" Firmly said Heimdall as he recognized this smirk. He didn't want to be killed for telling this particular prince how to get out of Asgard without anybody's knowledge. Maybe when Harry was older he would learn, but not now. Especially with Thor's temper, it would be a little unhealthy for him. "Your uncle and grandfather know quite a lot of those entrances."

Harry pouted at those words as he knew those two would be tight-lipped about revealing anything to him.

"My Prince, it won't work on me," Heimdall said "I have seen more than one grumpy Prince that tried to do the same thing that you are trying to do. I don't need to answer your questions as I answer only to your grandfather and our king, Odin."

"Fine," Harry huffed.

"Now, onto your lesson," Heimdall said, getting the full attention of Harry. "The things that I will show you are beings that exist in space. The Great Civilizations that exist there as well as show you the placement of the Nine Realms as there is a rare event to be happening relatively soon. One that previously happened almost five thousand years ago."

"Dad mentioned something about an event that happened five thousand years ago. He also mentioned that grandfather took part in it along with his father, " Harry mused, thinking about one of history lessons.

"Indeed," Heimdall agreed. "The Convergence. The sole time when all of the nine worlds of Yggdrasil are in a straight line. A very rare and very dangerous occurrence. The only time when borders between realms fall apart. Destruction of one of them destroys all others as well. The event to which your father was referring is our war with the Dark Elves, one that completely obliterated their world. They tried to use the Aether to bring eternal darkness to the universe. Your great-grandfather attacked them and managed to beat them, but at a great cost." He allowed Harry to digest those information and nod in understanding. "Now onto your lesson. Touch my hand and it will allow me to show you the universe."

Harry touched Heimdall's hand and suddenly his vision expanded and sharpened. He could see everything in the Nine Realms and beyond. Galaxies being created, stars dying and nebulae being formed.

"Focus your mind on something or it'll overwhelm you. Let me guide you as you will get lost." He heard Heimdall, then his vision changed and he was looking at something that could be described as a giant ball made out of lava.

"That is Muspelheim, the realm of Surtur. One of the many uncountable enemies of your grandfather and part of Nine Realms. It's inhabited by Fire Giants and similar creatures. As opposed to their frost cousins, they are aggressive, cruel, ruthless and very, very dangerous. Frost giants are more intelligent than those, have powerful magic and have better customs," Heimdall explained and once again the vision changed.

This time they were looking at world completely frozen, covered in a thick shell made out of ice and snow. The whole world was white and seemed static, but Harry felt a sense of movement. The world had the aura of a glacier, imposing and deadly, should one wake it.

"Is that Jotunheim or Utgard?" Harry asked looking at Heimdall.

"It is Jotunheim, home of the Frost Giants and currently in a state of civil war as Laufey was killed by your uncle Loki and he didn't have other sons," Heimdall said as they looked at that world. "Frost giants are more peaceful than their fiery cousins, easier to deal with and more reasonable. They are powerful sorcerers, skilled craftsmen and dangerous foes when enraged. In the past they waged many wars against us over the control of Midgard."

Harry's vision once again changed and this time they saw Earth or Midgard.

"Midgard, Nexus world of Nine Realms," Heimdall spoke. "Home of humanity and one of the most important worlds in their galaxy. Multiple pantheons exist or existed or have their roots there. It is the middle world of Yggdrasil and the most important one as well. You shall become very familiar with this world above all, in time."

Harry's vision changed once again, this time showing a world similar to Earth, yet obviously not Earth. The shapes of continents were clearly different. There was far less sea and most of the world was covered in plains. On one of the islands was a city so massive that it was visible from where they were.

"Alfheim or Vanaheim?" Harry asked, awe visible in his voice.

"Vanaheim, Alfheim is different. While this one is heavily covered in plains as most trees were cut down to make place for fields. Alfheim is covered in various forests," Heimdall explained. "It's ruled by Lord Freyr and they're one of the vassals of your grandfather. Very powerful ones at that. In terms of warriors or amount of them, they look weak, but they have a gift for magic and shape-shifting. Wolf People led by the Wolf Prince Hrimhari also call it their home. They can switch their form from human to wolf or in between without any problem."

Harry nodded as he heard about those people before and multiple people held them in high regards. The vision yet again changed and this time they were seeing whole cosmic tree of Yggdrasil in its full majesty.

"That is Yggdrasil," Heimdall said as image fully became visible. "The cosmic cluster that connects Nine Realms into one. There are the nine realms. Three in the branches of it, three in the middle of it and two in the roots of it. Svartalfheim is devoid of life and barren world due to actions of Malekith. By many it is considered to be the biggest and most powerful empire in the universe."

"For good reason," Someone said from behind them, causing them to turn around and see Odin walking towards them. "We won every war for last five thousand years, we were asked to be mediators, arbiters. Our warriors are feared wherever they appeared and we can live in peace. Grandson, I see that Heimdall is showing you the universe."

"Yes," Harry said.

"Good, it's important knowledge to have as you don't know when you'll need it."

"Very true," Heimdall agreed. "Now watch." As he said those words; in front of them appeared a being that was completely silver and seemed to be flowing through the space.

"What's that?" Harry asked a little surprised and shocked by what he saw.

"My Prince, that is the Herald of Galactus. Galactus is a cosmic entity that devours entire worlds to feed himself, yet he is a necessity in the universe as he keeps it in order."

"What about people living on those worlds?"

"The purpose of those Heralds is to warn the worlds and allow them to evacuate before he will appear. Many have plans for such events and before you ask. Opposing him is a pointless and dangerous thing as he is a force of nature that cannot be killed or destroyed. It took the whole might of your grandfather to slow down Galactus to allow one of our worlds to be evacuated."

Harry nodded and focused on the next image and Heimdall's explanation of it.

o-0-o

"Is it me or is everything in various colors?" Harry asked as he stumbled into his chambers, his head spinning and mind trying to process what it was seeing and what it had seen.

"No," Thor chuckled when he saw Harry. "Heimdall causes that to everybody, especially after so long as your brain is trying to process the data."

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Harry asked once his eyes focused.

"Nothing, just seeing my son," Thor said as Freki and Geri trotted after Harry. They walked to the giant bear hide that was laying near fireplace and laid there. "Can't I do that?"

"You can," Harry laughed as he placed his sword on a weapon stand in the corner.

"You know your teachers are impressed by you?"

"Again?"

"Yes," Thor nodded and looked at that sword. "Sif says that in two or three years you will be rather good with the blade and her rather good means really good."

"Cool."

"Your grandmother mentioned something about teaching you the basics of runes and magic. She was the one that taught Loki magic and is probably the most powerful magic user on Asgard."

"So that's why you don't want to make her angry?" Harry asked looking at his father.

"Yes, while she doesn't show it, she is powerful," Thor winced. "And you shouldn't try making her angry."

"Oh?"

"Yes, she has patience and she likes you, but even she can lose it," Thor said looking at his son. "About Heimdall, you won't do much excluding letting it sink in, as your mind needs to process the data."

With a sigh, Harry crashed against his bed, while his mind tried to process what it had seen. As the throbbing faded, he noticed a weird pain around his spine area. It wasn't one that he felt after training when it was caused by aching muscles. It was more along the lines of something trying to grow.

o-0-o

Volstagg looked at Thor as he entered the inn where he and the rest of the Warriors Three were sitting and enjoying the time. His friend seemed to be brighter than he had been, but also spent less of his time getting drunk. He was becoming more and more responsible, which was a strange thing as nobody would name Thor reasonable or responsible.

"When was the last time you were here?" He asked as Thor joined them at their table.

"Too long ago," The Crown Prince said and sighed as he slowly drank his ale. "I missed this ale."

"As we missed your company," Hogun said. "Enjoying having a son?"

"Who does?" Volstagg laughed. "It's just a matter of perspective, not the matter of if you enjoy it or not."

"Thank you for your wisdom, we really needed it," Thor snorted and sighed. "It's tiring and the only good thing is that Sif needs to deal with him for most of the day."

"He knows what he's doing with a sword, at least for his age," Hogun said and all of them looked at him, making him shrug. "I'm not blind and I saw her teach him how to use a sword and he did quite well."

"Sword?" Volstagg arched an eyebrow, he expected son of Thor to follow his father in his footsteps and learn how to use a hammer or an axe.

"He chose or was chosen by Tyrfing," Thor explained. "It surprised me, but such is life."

"How old is he?" Volstagg asked

"He turned eight a few weeks ago."

"Hrolf is thirteen, while the rest of my children are older than him, excluding the youngest ones, " Volstagg loudly mused and looked at Thor "There is something more going on than you are saying as otherwise you'd have asked me to introduce them to him."

Thor tensed and at the same time above the inn rumbled a thunder. "There's more," He slowly said, almost spitting out every word.

Volstagg eyes narrowed as he looked at his friend, he never ever saw so much venom and hate in his voice, he was used to outbursts of his temper, but this one was on a completely new, more vicious level. Also if that thunder was anything to go by, Thor wasn't calm and the topic was a really sensitive one.

"What is it?" Volstagg quietly asked, with the corners of his eyes he could see other patrons inching away from them. He wasn't surprised by their behavior. An angry Thor was a bad thing to be close to. Last time it ended with flying tables and broken bones.

"The Dursley's." Thor growled.

"Who?" He asked as his brows furrowed as he tried to allocate that name to whatever or whoever he knew.

"My sons guardians when he was on Midgard," Thor growled, his electric blue eyes darkening.

Volstagg was silent as he thought over the little tidbits of information and hundreds of rumors that he had heard over last few days. A lot of them now made sense. At first he didn't take them seriously as they seemed incredible and prying data out of Thor wasn't an easy task. For any Æsir, mistreating of a child was something that wasn't even thought of.

"They mistreated him, didn't they?" Volstagg asked and steeled himself in preparations for the outburst of Thor's temper.

"Who would dare to mistreat a child?" Hogun growled as his previously friendly features disappeared. In their place appeared a mask that he wore when in combat. It was completely devoid of emotions and feelings; the only thing that could be seen on it were hard lines. "They shouldn't even be allowed to live."

"They were guardians of my son," Thor said, his voice full of enmity and anger.

Volstagg was silent for a moment as he thought over those words and why Thor was so protective of his son. Now it made perfect sense, at least to him. He looked at Thor and placed his hand on Thor's shoulder. "The past, was the past and let it stay there. You won't help your son or yourself for that matter with worrying about things that you can't change or influence."

Thor tried to crush him with sight, but he shrugged it off and ignored as if it was nothing. After a moment Thor nodded. "I guess you're right. I still want to murder them for what they did, but as you said, it's in the past and now we need to move on."

"I thought that I would need to beat it into your head with a hammer," Volstagg laughed and drank the remaining ale from his tankard. He placed it back on the table and looked at Thor. "So when you are going to introduce your son to my band of children?"

"Soon," Thor said and frowned "Maybe in few days or even sooner, he lived on Midgard, so some of our customs might be a shock or a surprise for him."

"He'll get used to them, sooner rather than later," Volstagg said and pushed towards Thor a fresh tankard full of ale. "Drink it."

Thor considered it for a moment, but than almost emptied it in one go. "I needed that," he said, slamming it onto the surface of the table.

"If my sources are correct, he is supposed to be tutored by Ullr," Hogun added.

"Yes" Thor nodded "He was the one that taught me and his son is around Harry's age."

"So he was an obvious choice." Volstagg finished with a small smile "You expect the two of them to become friends."

"Am I that easy to read?" Thor laughed.

"No," Volstagg said and paused, wondering how to explain it. "It's just that parents tend to think in similar ways, so it was an obvious one for me."

"Good. " Thor smiled. "It means that I'm not that hopeless at hiding things."

Volstagg nodded and motioned for the bartender to bring more ale and some meat. It was a time to eat and relax, not to worry about the past or the future. For that the time would be tomorrow.

o-0-o

Wanda Maximoff stepped out of a portal in the middle of Privet Drive, she looked around and walked towards the house occupied by the Dursley's. Her steps were even and purposeful, many would have thought that she was calm, but in fact inside she was furious.

She stepped onto the lawn in front of the Dursley's house and kneeled in the soft grass as she spotted a pattern that she didn't expect to find. It was a circular burned out pattern of runes, each and every one of them weakly pulsing with power.

"It's old magic," she whispered to herself as she picked up some of the ash and dirt, crushing it between her fingers. She could feel some warmth and power still in it. "It's an old, but a powerful one, probably on Stephen's level or maybe even above it."

She stood up, dusted off her dress and walked to the doors of the house. She rang the bell and waited a moment, while she waited through her mind ran hundreds of thoughts, theories of what happened and how it happened. Not many beings had power to cast such magic and even less were known for being reasonable and peaceful.

Her eyes lightly glowed scarlet when Petunia opened the door and looked at her. "Who are you?" Petunia asked, her voice full of fake politeness.

"Wanda Maximoff." she smiled. "I'm a godmother of your nephew."

"Nephew?" Petunia frowned and Wanda's eyes widened in shock. Someone wiped Petunia's mind and the moment she looked at Petunia, she realized how well it was done. There was not a single trace of those spells on her.

"Never mind, I must have found a wrong house," Wanda said and walked towards the street. The moment she heard the door close behind her, she started to mutter sentences in Latin. Each and every word full of power and magic. When she finished, from her erupted a wave of power that washed over everything in her vicinity.

She walked to the circle that she previously spotted and saw it was now glowing gold and silver. She could also see a faint outline of a hammer, surrounded by lightning bolts floating above it. "So Thor was here. Question is, where's Harry." She looked around and sighed.

"I won't find anything more on this street." She opened a portal in front of herself and stepped through it, vanishing as if she didn't appear on the street in the first place.

o-0-o

A/N – Updated on 17th April 2017, grammar and spelling corrections, fixing of inconsistencies.

Updated again in July of 2017 for similar reasons


	4. New friends

**A/N – This is the first of truly rewritten chapters, which means new characters, new plots, new ideas and me being a tiny, tiny bit wiser. Reviews are appreciated.**

o-0-o

"Dad, where are we going?" Harry asked as he followed Thor through the meandering paths and streets around the Citadel. They were wide and paved with smooth lapis lazuli and golden beryl plates. They created a mosaic of swirling patterns that made it look as if they weren't made out of stone, but out of something easier to manipulate.

"You will see." Thor smiled, be could see curiosity in Harry's eyes and maybe even some trepidation of what was to come. He was baffled by how fast his son got used to living on Asgard and accepting him as his father. As he looked at Harry he still wanted to murder Dursley's as he easily saw that his son was a bit shorter than he should be at this age, but with each day it was disappearing as now he had as much food as he needed to grow and develop.

Harry pouted at those words.

"Can't I have a surprise for you?" Thor asked as he ruffled Harry's hair.

"You can." Harry said, still a bit unhappy.

"You should like it." Thor said as they came around the corner and in front of them appeared a large mansion, surrounded by a wall. It was built from the same golden metal that the Citadel was made out and was quite low, as it only had two floors, instead it was sprawled over a large grounds, making up lack of its height with how much land was occupied by it.

Behind the low wall was visible a row of evergreen trees, that kept things that happened inside of it from the eyes of curious onlookers. In the middle of the wall there was set a large wooden gate that opened the moment they got closer to it. Harry's mouth dropped as he saw it open on their own, he lived on Asgard, but still got surprised by things on it.

"Where are we?" He asked as they stepped through it and onto gravel path that led towards the mansion.

"House of one of my friends." Thor explained as he glanced at Harry "He has some children that might be your friends."

Thor didn't miss how Harry's eyes brightened at the word friends, he had troubles wrapping his mind around the fact how badly Dursley's treated him. He wondered why his father didn't simply kill them, but he ignored it for a moment as they were an issue that could wait.

They were approached by a hulking man that was higher than Thor was, to his side was walking a boy that looked to be few years older than Harry was. He was just above five feet in height, he had long sandy hair and piercing brown eyes, he didn't have a really muscular body, it was more of a wiry one, but than he also had time to grow muscles. He was dressed in dark gray pants and emerald green shirt.

"Your Highness" Volstagg nodded and Thor tried not to roll his eyes in amusement at his friend antics.

"Raise" Thor sighed and added cheerfully "We both know that there is no point in it."

"True." Volstagg smiled as he clasped forearms with Thor and his glance switched to Harry. "He doesn't look a lot like you, does he?"

"In a way he looks like me." Thor smiled and his body shimmered for a moment, in his place stood James Potter. "That's the form that I had when I was banished by my father and when Harald was born."

"Yes" Volstagg smiled and looked at Harry and later at his own son. "Hrolf, can you show him around?"

"Of course, father." Hrolf nodded and looked at Harry, Harry nodded and followed him leaving Thor and Volstagg to their own plots.

o-0-o

"He is a bit short." Volstagg said quietly, as kids walked towards the mansion, he could see something in Harry that didn't quite fit. "Also there is something else to him, I can't name it, but I feel it."

"He is." Thor agreed and glanced around, just to be sure there was nobody that could overhear them. "Don't mention it to anybody, but my mother mentioned that he was a bit malnourished, when she healed him after he was brought by us from Midgard. Also his guardians on Midgard... weren't the best of people."

"And that is putting it lightly." Volstagg said, he felt the amount of disdain and anger hidden behind those words. He looked at Thor, his gaze level and calm. "He should grow up into fine person."

"I know." Thor said as he slowly exhaled, trying to keep his temper under control.

"I guess that you are here not only because of your son." Volstagg said as they walked towards the building.

"No" Thor said after a moment "There is in fact something that I would like to discuss with you."

"I'm all ears." Volstagg said

"I'm tied here and for the next few months or maybe more I will have troubles with traveling to Midgard for more than few days and my brother might need help of someone that is strong and good with a sword." Thor said and on Volstagg face appeared a smile.

"So you would like the Warriors Three to help him?"

"Exactly." Thor nodded as they stepped into Volstagg's study.

"That might not be a bad thing." Volstagg smiled as he poured Thor and then himself some mead. "In fact it should be a good thing."

"Thank you." Thor said and sipped mead, he nodded appreciatively and looked at Volstagg "I would be the one that would help with keeping things on Midgard under control, but-"

"But you have a son and you have your duties here." Volstagg finished "So you can't stay there and need someone that you can trust and you know that he will do what he needs to do."

"Exactly." Thor smiled "Also I don't want to return to Midgard, because of you know what."

"Your son's guardians." Volstagg nodded and emptied his drinking horn, placing it on the desk he looked into Thor's eyes. "He should get over what they did to him sooner than you can think of it, you know that most of us can get over anything short of a destroyed heart or brain, or both of them, given time."

"Volstagg, as much as I like you I'm going to punch you through the wall." Thor growled "Can the topic stay away from my son?"

"You were one that actually brought it up." Volstagg laughed "So don't look at me as if I did something wrong. Anyways, when he is going to be officially introduced to the nobles?"

"Winter solstice feast." Thor said "He needs to get used to us and our little games and schemes."

"He looks like a bright one, so he should do that soonish." Volstagg smiled and looked at Thor "I will take him to the palace at the sundown."

"Thank you." Thor lightly nodded as he walked out of the room.

Volstagg waited for the doors to close and poured himself another horn of mead. "You have an interesting son, Thor." He said to himself as he sipped mead, it was going to be an interesting time for everybody on Asgard.

o-0-o

"I guess that you don't like all of this bowing and formal titles?" Hrolf asked as he looked at Harry.

"No" Harry said after a moment.

"Good" Hrolf smiled and extended his hand "I'm Hrolf."

"Harald." Harry said as he clasped Hrolf's hand.

"Dad asked me to show you around." Hrolf said and Harry looked at him "So follow me."

"Sure." Harry said as he curiously looked around, everywhere he could see various kinds of wood covering the walls, on the floor there were strewn furs of various animals and rugs. It looked differently than the style that he got used to. It felt more homey than some parts of the Citadel.

"Impressed?" Hrolf chuckled lightly when be saw the look in Harry's eyes.

"Yes" Harry said honestly and paused for a moment, thinking about a word that he wanted to use. "It feels more warm than the Citadel."

"And you didn't see the best part of it." Hrolf said as they got deeper into the mansion. He pushed the doors in front of them open. They entered onto a large courtyard that was covered in gravel and from all of its sides it was surrounded by the wings of the mansion. Hrolf lead him through it and towards the doors set in the opposite wall.

"This was the best part of it?" Harry asked "It looks pretty bleak for me."

"Nah, it was just the middle of the mansion." Hrolf laughed and indicated doors in front of them "Here is the best part."

"I hope so." Harry smiled as he followed the older boy, he had around himself some sort of airy confidence that put everybody around him at ease. There was something in him that made Harry trust or at least to attempt to trust him.

"You will like it." Hrolf assured him as he saw a hint of reluctance in Harry's posture. He heard from father some things about Harry's past and his behavior made some sense to him. He placed his hand on Harry's shoulder and looked at him. "I heard about your past, but you can trust me here."

"I will try." Harry said and added quietly "It's just that I'm shocked by everything."

"That you have family." Hrolf guessed and Harry nodded "And that you have friends and several other things." He kept guessing and Harry nodded.

"Yeah" Harry said quietly

"You will get used to it." Hrolf said and clapped Harry's shoulder "Come on and try to enjoy it."

"I will." Harry smiled and followed Hrolf into the mansion, Hrolf turned around the corner and Harry could feel the air becoming more humid with each step, as if there was a large amount of water somewhere close.

"You should feel the water being nearby." Hrolf smiled and glanced at Harry. He could see a younger boy look at him and later sniff the air. It seems he is still getting used to having sharper senses, he mused quietly.

"Yes" Harry said after a moment and glanced at Hrolf. "What are you planning?"

"You will see." Older boy smirked and nudged for Harry to follow him. Harry's jaw dropped when he saw the thing that was in the chamber in front of them. It was a roughly circular room made out of barely polished stone of all colors and in the middle of it was a large pool that was getting deeper towards the middle of it.

"Wow." Harry said as he looked at the pool. It was massive.

"Wanna swim?" Hrolf asked as he indicated the pool.

"Can we?" Harry asked

"It's for swimming." Hrolf laughed as he looked at Harry

"I guess." Harry said

"Are you always that reluctant?"

"No" Harry said as he kneeled and touched the water, it was quite warm and swimming in it seemed like a nice idea.

"Than for what are you waiting?" Hrolf asked as he took of his shirt and threw it to the side.

"In what we are supposed to swim?" Harry asked and Hrolf looked at him, blinking, until he laughed.

"Naked." Hrolf explained and Harry's eyes widened in a mix of shock and surprise.

"What?"

"What what?" Hrolf asked, not understanding what Harry meant.

"It's just that on Midgard we usually wore some clothes when swimming." Harry explained

"Oh." Hrolf nodded when it clicked in his mind. He paused and looked at Harry. "Here you will get rather quickly used to being nude in certain situations, especially training and some sports as clothes can be restraining and uncomfortable in some situations."

"Okay" Harry nodded as he saw Hrolf strip out of his clothes without any shyness, as if it was something natural.

"What are you waiting for?" Hrolf asked and laughed jumping into the water, splashing it in all directions, he emerged on the surface of it several meters away. "I've seen my brothers and friends naked." He said and looked at Harry.

Harry was hesitant for a moment, but than, he nodded and stripped of his clothes and joined Hrolf in the pool. He was a bit red from embarrassment, but he quickly got over it and enjoyed how warm the water was.

"It doesn't feel that bad." Harry said after a moment.

"Here it's normal that certain things you do naked." Hrolf explained as he walked towards the edge of the pool. "I guess that on Midgard it is different."

"Yeah." Harry nodded "Almost nothing is done naked, you need to wear something even when training or doing any kind of an exercise."

"And get your clothes all sweaty and dirty?" Hrolf laughed as he moved hairs out of his eyes. "No thank you."

"What about weapons training?" Harry frowned

"Here clothes are worn as even with magic blades will strike you quite strongly and clothes slow down them." Hrolf said, took a deep breath and disappeared into the water, he emerged behind Harry and pushed him towards the water.

"What was that?" Harry asked as he regained his balance and looked at Hrolf.

"Having fun." Hrolf laughed, Harry smirked and jumped into the water. His body somehow knew how to swim quickly and he easily emerged on the surface on the other side of the pool.

"Catch me if you can." He shouted at Hrolf, took a deep breath and dived into the water, swimming just over the bottom of it.

o-0-o

"He looks like an interesting kid." Gudrun said as she looked at Harry and her own children. She was with Volstagg sitting in the porch and watching as kids devoured something that on Midgard several more people would have issues with dealing with.

"Aye, he is." Volstagg nodded "Although from what Thor said or what he didn't say, his past childhood wasn't that good."

"It's obvious when you look at him." She pointed out "He is shorter than he should be and most likely he also weights less."

"True, although he is catching up quickly. Given time he will be maybe as massive as his father is."

"Mayhaps." She nodded and winced "How sure you are about helping on Midgard?"

"Very" Volstagg said "Thor is my friend, but he is also the Crown Prince and his word is law-"

"So you don't have a choice." She finished and looked at him "Don't get killed doing something stupid there."

"I won't, I swear." Volstagg said

"Good."

o-0-o

Harry returned to his rooms and almost immediately crashed against his bed, he was tired and the thing he needed was a soft, warm mattress under his back. He sighed as he laid there and thought over the events of the day, it was certainly... _enlightening_ for him, not that he minded it. Hrolf and the whole bunch of his siblings seemed like a nice group of people, only there were so many of them and keeping track of them was an annoying thing.

He was curious what he was going to lesrn on the next day as he was supposed to start learning magic, as he thought over it, he slowly drifted into the world of dreams and sleep.

o-0-o

Frigga looked and smiled as her grandson entered her study. He reminded her a lot of her sons, it looked like he was combining the best qualities from both of them. Question was in what he would grow up as so far he seemed to be growing up fine.

"Grandmother, you wanted to see me?" He asked walking across the room to place where she sat with several slates made out of stone laying nearby on the surface of them written various runes.

"Yes" She nodded and indicates seat opposing her. "As your father or other of your teachers already told you, magic is as important for us as science and we combine those two things, creating objects that would be impossible to be made using only one of them."

"Yes" Nodded Harry "Ullr told me as much."

"Good" Said Frigga as she smiled and looked at those slates. "Our magic can manifest in two forms, either runes or wandless one. Wandless magic is more wild, powerful and dangerous one to use and I will teach it to you later." Harry nodded at those words and looked at those slates "What can you tell me about those slates?"

"They are covered in various runes." Harry said as he recognized runes written on the surface of them. His mind was translating them on his own without single thought or need to focus.

"Correct, runes are used as focus points for our magic. You focus magic and channel it into the rune, either when drawing it or when it is done."

"So that's how I'm securing the blade of my sword when training with Sif." Mused Harry

"Very good example." She approvingly nodded. "You use runes to give shape to what you want to create or do, they help you with focusing your power and control it. You can do that without using runes, but it is much more difficult."

"So runes only help us with magic?" Harry asked looking at his grandmother.

"Yes and no." She replied and pointed at few sets of runes. "There are several things that you can only do with runes. For example trapping access to some room, passage, protect something or block enemy from escaping. Also when putting enchantments onto weapons or armors it is a better idea to use runes as they are more permanent and harder to destroy. For example your father weapon Mjolnir or your grandfather Grungir have such enchantments on them."

Frigga looked at Harry who only nodded at those words and she returned her attention to those runes. "Take one of those blank slates and focus your magic in the tips of your fingers."

"Something like that?" Harry asked as tips of his fingers glowed gold.

"Exactly." Nodded Frigga "Try writing whatever rune you know. The easier the shape the easier to write it, as more complicated shapes have subtler meaning and thus magic must be more refined."

Harry nodded and touched the slate with his fingers that were glowing gold and upon contact they left visible mark on the surface. He tried to draw one of the easiest runes he knew _protection_.

"Very good." Said Frigga as she watched the rune slowly taking shape. She could see flaws in it, but such things were expected from first attempts at drawing them. It wasn't an easy art to master, it was easy to understand, but hard to master, also as long as the general shape was more important than subtle nuances of it.

"How did I do?" Harry asked looking at his grandma.

"Rather good." She said and grabbed a knife, that was laying nearby. "Let's see how strong it is." She drove the point of the it into the rune which glowed gold and forced it backwards.

"It is a good idea to test them before using them as mistakes might escape your eye." Frigga explained for the sake of Harry "And this one is working pretty good, it could be improved but for the first time you did well." She took an empty slate and drew an outline of a rune "Try to draw this one."

o-0-o

Ullr smiled when he saw some barely hidden curiosity in Harry's eyes, as Harry and Ulf followed him towards the stables that were located behind his residence. As he glanced at his son he saw that he easily guessed where they were going. While Harry didn't have the faintest idea about it.

"Where are we going?" Harry asked, curiosity visible in every single fiber of his being.

"You will see." Ullr said as he opened doors leading into the stables. "Wait for me here." He said after a glance at the boys. He spent a moment looking through the horses and choosing ones good enough for them.

"Are you going to show us horse riding?" Harry explained when he saw Ullr lead two ponies and one fully grown horse from the stables.

"Yes" Ullr nodded as he handed them reins of the ponies, they were more friendly and more docile than one that he chose for himself. It was a large, dark brown stallion. He jumped into the saddle of it and looked at them. "What are you waiting for? It's not that they are going to bite you."

Harry looked at the pony and later at the saddle placed on the back of it and somehow climbed into it. Ulf did it with more grace and less struggle as it wasn't the first time he was riding. They followed Ullr and started to slowly ride towards the nearby plains.

"Horses are a thing that is important for us and you shall become very familiar with them." Ullr said as he glanced at them from the height of his own horse. "Harry, we use them for hunting, enjoyment and some of your grandfather guards use them as a means of communication."

"Valkyries?" Harry guessed

"Yes" Ullr nodded, as he nudged his horse to move a bit faster. "They are messengers of your grandfather, His Majesty, as well as guards, but horses used by them are unusual as they have wings. Also we use horses for riding for pure enjoyment and hunting, mostly because of second and the fact that we use them for war it would be good for you to be at least proficient."

"What do you mean by proficient?" Harry frowned

"Have enough experience to use only one hand to hold reins." Ullr explained "And generally be good in the saddle."

"Why do I have a feeling that it won't be pleasant?" Harry sighed

"It will be pleasant, at least somewhat." Ullr chuckled as he looked at them, he mainly wanted to get Harry familiar to horse riding, for more would be time later. Also he wanted to build up his confidence and a bit of arrogance, preferably not much of the latter as it wasn't all that good.

o-0-o

Wanda stood on the roof of one of many skyscrapers of New York City when she felt a portal open behind her. She looked in its direction and when she saw who caused it to appear, she smiled, it was Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, her mentor when it came to magic and a good friend.

"Why did you want to see me?" He asked "And of all places here."

"Because of something that I found." She said and turned to look at him. "Someone took my godson from the hands of his aunt and her family-"

"And you didn't figure out where he was taken."

"I did, kind of." She said and threw at him a piece of paper "What can you tell me about it?"

For a moment Strange was silent as he analysed the paper she threw at him. "It looks like the magic of Asgard, I would guess that one of their more powerful sorcerers did this. Did you find anything about who did it in their minds?"

She shook her head and slowly exhaled her breath. "No, they were wiped clean of all of their memories of him and anybody that could know him."

"Are you sure about-"

"Yes, I am sure." She said harshly, her eyes glowing with power. "I checked it more than once and they do not remember anything, it's about my godson and son of a person that I liked."

Strange nodded and looked at the piece of paper. "I will try to find out as much as I can, did you see anything in their minds that would suggest who did it?"

She was silent for a moment and replayed those memories in her mind "As if one that did it, wiped their minds of anything about him and modified their memories so that they are consistent." She chew her bottom lip. "I also didn't feel the magic that Harry had around him and it was a unique one."

Strange looked at the sky and later at her. "I will see what I can do, but I do not promise anything as the list of people that could do it isn't short."

"It's still better than nothing." She smiled, yet it was a tired smile. "I will try to do some of rituals to track him down."

"It won't hurt." Strange nodded walking into a portal he created in front of himself. She waited for him to get out of the roof and she also disappeared into a portal, she needed to do some magic, but first she needed proper ingredients for it.

o-0-o

Harry looked curiously around as he followed his dad through the maze of the corridors that made the bulk of the Citadel. He could see that with each step decor was more and more expensive and precious pieces of art were placed in the niches along the walls.

"Where are we going?" He finally asked.

"The Diet chamber." Thor explained

"Diet?" Harry frowned

"Gathering of all of the nobles of the realm."

Harry blinked few times and looked at his father, confusion visible in his eyes.

"Nobody explained to you the hierarchy of the society?" Thor asked

"What?"

"Ranks held by everybody." Thor said and looked at the blackened wooden doors that were in front of them. They were inscribed with a large golden triskelion that glowed with its internal light.

"Oh." Harry nodded, his eyes glowing with curiosity.

"This chamber might be the best one to explain it to you."

Harry didn't say a thing, his gaze was focused on the chamber in front of them. It was a large, octagonal chamber, in each wall were set doors and there were four rows of seats rising from the floor. As he looked around more and more details came to his attention, giant banners hanging from the walls, mosaics covering the floor, thickly padded, wooden seats and many more other details.

"Impressed?" Thor asked

"Weren't you supposed to explain to me the hierarchy?" Harry asked

"Yes" Thor nodded as they crossed the chamber and walked towards the part of it with the most exquisitely decorated seats, they were lavishly carved and gilded, making them look like a piece of art not a piece of furniture. He sat down in one of them and motioned for Harry to join him in one of others. "So the hierarchy of nobles, you should guess something already from Ullr's and what your grandfather said."

Harry's brows furrowed as he tried to remember whatever he could about it. "We are on top of it."

"Yes" Thor nodded and looked at Harry "There are three tiers or levels of them, jarls which are at the bottom of it and are the least important ones, in the middle of it are lords-"

"Like Ullr or Volstagg." Harry cut in

"Exactly." Thor nodded "They are above jarls, they are the most numerous group of nobles and come from old families."

Harry nodded, filing it away for later usage. "So the most common nobles are Lords and above them are?"

"Herzogs."

"Hercogs?" Harry repeated

"With 'z' not with 'c'." Thor explained and looked at Harry "Herzogs, don't ask me who created it, as I don't know."

Harry nodded as he curiously looked around the hall. "If there are three ranks of nobles, why there are four rows of seats in the room?"

Thor smiled and ruffled Harry's hair "Good eye, any idea why?"

Harry was silent as he tried to remember what he could recall from his lessons and what he managed to read in his own time. "I would guess there is one more rank?" He said and Thor looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Rank that isn't an official rank, but those people are more important than the rest."

"Exactly." Thor nodded and indicated the most lavishly decorated seats "All of those seats are for the rulers or representatives of the Nine Realms, us, ambassadors and envoys from other realms and guests of your grandfather."

"Oh" Harry said as all of bits and pieces fell into their places inside of his mind.

"Yes" Thor nodded and looked at one of the circular windows that were set high in the walls of the chamber, through each passing bright beams of multicolored light. He was silent for a moment until he looked at Harry. "When you will see your uncle or grandmother ask them to explain to you what you need and how you can refer to all of those nobles."

"Okay, what about now?"

"Now you can do whatever you wish to do." Thor laughed, he smiled when he saw Harry disappear from the room. He wasn't a fool and saw how his son changed since his arrival to Asgard, only few weeks ago. He was more confident as well as seems to be slowly changing into a bundle of energy and joy that was almost impossible to control.

o-0-o

Loki stood with Freyr on one of many terraces and watched as Harry and Ulf were training under the watchful gaze of Sif. "The two of them are becoming friends." Freyr noticed

"Yes, but that's not a huge surprise." Loki smiled and corrected his slicked back hair "I'm more curious how my nephew is going to react to the ward from Olympus."

"Princess of the Amazons?" Freyr asked

"Do you know someone else that would need to he send away from her family to keep her alive?"

"No." Freyr said and frowned "I knew that it was bad, but not that bad."

"Hera isn't known for being subtle and she especially lose all of her ability to plot when it comes to any children of Hercules." Loki said and paused "I didn't have time to get the best news, but ones that I got mention three attempts to kill her. Once snakes and twice scorpions."

"So Athena is supposed to come with her."

"Aye, she is." Loki smiled and glanced at Harry who was thrown onto the ground. "He should have watched not only one direction."

"Were you that good when you were his age?" Freyr arched an eyebrow

"What's the point of it?"

"We all did the same mistakes, it's better to do them now than to do them when on the field of battle."

"Cousin, can you not remind me of my young and foolish times?" Loki sighed

"Anyways, he is an interesting child."

"I didn't have time to see his magic as he is mostly learning runic from mother, but if I'm not mistaken he might have a rather spectacular magic."

"Thunderbolts and storm summoning from Thor, but there is something ethereal to his magic." Loki said and frowned "I know that I had seen this kind of magic, but I don't know when and where."

Freyr closed his eyes and was silent for a moment. "I also feel it too, it's a thing that I have a feeling that I saw, but I don't know where and with whom I can connect it."

"It isn't magic of humans as it is more visible and he also has it, it isn't either magic of Olympus or other that I know well." Loki said and glanced towards the horizon. "I have a feeling that someone is watching us and laughing."

"Them?" Freyr asked

"Nobody else has enough power to watch us so closely and wouldn't be detected by the defenses of the city." Loki said and sighed "I'm more curious who got Their attention."

"Mayhaps your nephew and my cousin?"

"Mayhaps or... mayhaps not." Loki looked at Harry and Ulf. "He is the reason why half of the universe feels worried or at least soon is going to feel, lack of presence of my brother outside of Asgard makes them scared, no, that's not the proper word."

"It makes them unsure of what is going on." Freyr supplied

"Exactly." Loki smiled "They are unsure and many will try to get anything about what is going on here."

"They always wanted to do that." Freyr said and looked at Loki "What would you say about small spar?"

"So that I can beat you? Quite badly?" Loki smirked as they jumped down towards training ground below.

"In your dreams, maybe." Freyr laughed as he grabbed the hilt of his sword and charged at Loki. Loki moved his scepter to intercept a swing of Freyr's sword and there was heard a loud clang of metal as they started a duel.

o-0-o

Dumbledore only looked up to see, who it was this time, when he felt a massive magical presence arrive in his office. He got somewhat used to the fact that Asgard might pay him a visit, sooner or later or when they simply wished to. On his lips appeared a small smile, when he recognized that it was Prince Loki arriving. "How may I help you, Your Highness?"

"This time it will be the other way around." Loki smirked and handed him a scroll "Inside of it, there is a formal invitation to a Winter Solstice celebrations held by my father in the Citadel on Asgard, it will be also the moment when my dear nephew is going to be introduced to the nobles."

"Why did you invite me to those celebrations?" Dumbledore asked, he broke the seal and quickly scanned content of the scroll, it was a usual formula, without nothing special in it.

"So that I can introduce Harry to you and because I was one of those that helped to create this school. Also my father has other reasons for doing it."

"I see." Dumbledore said and nodded slowly "I will be at those celebrations as it is a thing that I should enjoy."

Loki smirked and with a wave of his hand he was gone from the office, Dumbledore looked at the spot where he stood only moments ago and lightly shook his head. The world as getting weirder and weirder with each moment. He pushed those thoughts aside and instead summoned a copy of _Poetic Edda_ onto his desk.

"It seems that I need to go back to studying." He said to himself opening the book, his eyes almost immediately landing on the rows, upon rows of runes.

o-0-o

Harry sat on a cold, stone floor of a small rectangular room deep in the Citadel and looked at his uncle. "Weren't you supposed to teach me magic?" He finally asked as his patience run out and he wanted to get some answers out of him.

"I was." Loki nodded and looked at Harry. "What do you remember from runic magic?"

"That we use symbols to store magic and release it at a later date or when we need it." Harry said and paused for a brief moment. "It is also less dangerous than the other kind of magic."

"In a way, yes." Loki nodded and looked at Harry. "Magic that I'm going to show you is magic used by everybody on Asgard – it's more versatile and quicker to use than runes. Also you should come to like it."

"So on which I should rely more?"

"On none of them." Loki said and sighed when Harry looked at him, confusion in his eyes. "What I mean is that you should equally focus on both of those branches of magic. One is better in certain things, while second in another area."

"Okay." Harry said and shifted on the floor "So how does it look?"

"Like this." Loki said when he moved his hand forward above its palm appeared a small ball of ice blue light. "It's a _Sól_ or _Lumos_ , depending on the language."

"Wow" Harry's mouth widened in shock and surprise as he looked at the ball. "It's so cool."

"Thank you." Loki beamed, but quickly added seriously "It is one of the spells that you are going to use a lot and I'm going to teach it to you soonish, but first basics."

Harry groaned and slumped, as he glared at his uncle, unhappiness visible on his face. He hated theory parts of his lessons, he much more preferred practical ones.

"You know, that you can pout all day and we won't get anywhere?"

Harry sighed and looked up at his uncle. "Fine."

"Much better." Loki said "Do you know all of this focusing magic things?"

"Yeah" Harry nodded

"That's the thing that is the basis for the magic we use. For this one you need to focus it in the middle of your palm and push it up." Loki said and paused "Also try not to speak the incantation out loud. It is a giveaway of what you are planning to do..."

"Which isn't a good thing, got that." Harry said, closed his eyes and focuses on the magic that he had, he pulled it towards his hand and focused. He opened his eyes to see a small golden spark above it that violently exploded into hundreds of miniscule sparks, flying in all directions.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Loki smiled and added "But not good enough, you did something wrong. Any idea what is it?"

Harry pushed his bottom lip forward and thought over what he had done and what could be a reason for his failure. He looked at his hand and his brows furrowed. "Not enough energy?"

"In a way, yes."

Harry once again looked at his hand and sighed. "If I used enough of energy, the problem would be the focus of it or lack of it." He looked up at his uncle and saw a smirk on his lips "That is it, isn't it."

"Very well, nephew." Loki smiled "You lost your focus the moment you opened your eyes and looked at the ball, until that point it was working just fine." His smiled turned into a smirk as Harry saw him glance at one of few windows placed in the walls. "The day is early, we have plenty of time and from what I know you want to train with Ulf, so until you are done with this magic, we will stay here."

Harry pouted and looked at his uncle, pleading look in his eyes. "Uncle, please, pretty please?"

Loki chuckled at those words and shook his head. "No, otherwise you won't do it."

Harry sighed and looked at Loki, annoyed look in his eyes. "Fine." He finally huffed and focuses on the task at hand, summoning his magic and willing it to form a ball above his palm.


	5. Being a Prince ain't easy

**A/N – Another completely new chapter or at least mostly new. Reviews and opinions are appreciated.**

o-0-o

It didn't take much for Harry to get used to living on Asgard and before he noticed it, it was already well into the winter, or at least it was called the same way as it was on Earth. The only difference that he discover was that it was somewhat cooler than it was during the rest of the day.

He loved every single day he spent here, he felt here much better than he had ever felt on Midgard and for the first time he had friends, real friends, with whom he could spend his time and simple hang out. Nor caring about Dursley's or anything else, also if some of their customs or rules by which they lived were strange, he got used to them.

o-0-o

He walked with Ulf towards the training yard where they usually trained with under the watchful gaze of Sif, or at times Freyr, one of his many cousins, when he saw Sif dueling a girl that looked to be around their age, however he didn't see her yet on Asgard. He stopped in his tracks and took a better look of her, she seemed rather interesting with a long, black hair and when she turned towards them, he could see that she had keen, golden eyes.

"Looks like the rumors were true." Ulf said when he saw those eyes and Harry looked at him.

"Huh?"

"Ward from Olympus." He clarified and glanced at Harry "Don't ask me why you don't know about her."

"Very good." Sif said as she turned towards them. "Indeed, this is Atalanta, daughter of Hercules and Otrera, Princess of the Amazons." She paused and waited for them to nod. "Atalanta, those are His Royal Highness Harald James Thorson and Ulf Ullrson."

"Pleasure to meet you." She smiled and they repeated the words. They joined her and looked at Sif.

"You got here in a good time." Sif said with a wicked smirk on her face "Three is the perfect number for an exercise that I have in mind for you."

"Why do I have a feeling that it won't be anything pleasant?" Ulf sighed, gripping a handle of his axe and looking at Sif.

"Because her idea of training rarely is pleasant." Harry finished, gripping handle of his sword and holding a shield in second.

Sif smirked and they gulped in fear, they all too well recognized that smirk, only Atalanta looked curiously at them and gripped handles of her hunting knives tighter. "Your task is to disarm me, you can do whatever you wish to do and however you wish to do it. You may do it on your own or you can work together, how you do it, I don't care."

Harry looked at Ulf "Are you going to try on your own?"

"No" Ulf shook his head "We need to work together, or-"

"Or what?" Atalanta asked

"Or she will beat us, badly." Harry said with a wince and swinged his sword few times to get the blood flowing.

"Okay" She nodded and at the same time Ulf charged at Sif. Harry glanced at Atalanta and with a small smile they followed him. Weapons blades glowing in the sunlight as they clashed on the sandy surface of the arena.

Harry wiped sweat of his brow and looked at Sif who stood in the middle of the arena and seemed relaxed, as if she wasn't in the middle of the duel. He looked to the sides and saw Ulf get up from the ground, groaning and spitting blood from a cut lip. Atalanta seemed to be in a better shape than both of them, but he easily saw signs of fatigue visible on her, her breathing was ragged and she had s few small bruises.

"We need to get it done now." He said as he gripped hilt of his sword and tried to control his breathing.

"Easier said than done." Ulf said as he picked up his discarded axe and looked towards Sif. "She doesn't have a single scratch, while we are battered by her and she seems to be enjoying herself."

"She is certainly amused by our performance." Atalanta said, her voice soft and Harry could see that she was as tired as they were, she was just hiding it better. "We need to work together."

"Uh huh." Harry nodded as he glanced at Ulf "On three."

Son of Ullr didn't say a word, but Harry knew that he would join him and he counted in his mind those numbers, the moment he got to three he charged at Sif. With a corner of his eye he saw Ulf and Atalanta join him.

His eyes widened in surprise when he saw a stupid mistake done by Sif, she lowered her sword too much and exposed most of her neck. His sword flashed towards it, but he wasn't fast enough, he stopped move of his weapon when he saw Atalanta's knives touch back of Sif's neck.

"Do you surrender?" She asked

"I do." Sif said and pushed aside Atalanta's blade. "Nicely done all of you, you are free to go and do whatever you do. I would suggest that you get to know each other as you are going to train together from now on, at least with me."

They exchanged glanced with each other and Harry slowly nodded. "She is right, ya know?"

"Yes" Atalanta agreed

"How did you know that she was amused?" Harry asked as they walked into the Citadel

"I'm an empath, I can feel emotions of people to a degree, the stronger they are, the easier to read they are." She said and looked at Harry "I can tell you that you are curious and amused by something."

"Yeah" Harry nodded and looked at her "Since you are an Olympian, what are you doing here?"

Atalanta bit her lip and was silent for a moment, she finally looked at him and sighed. "It's a bit complicated, in short I'm a new ward of your grandfather to keep me out of reach of my grandmother, who hates me and tried to kill me."

"Grandmother?" Harry frowned and than his eyes widened "Since your father is Hercules, your grandmother is Hera."

"Yes" She grimaced and added with a smile "Also you are my cousin, third cousin if I remember the family tree correctly."

"That would be right." Ulf added and they looked at him, making him roll his eyes and sigh "In short, Harry your grandmother and her grandfather are cousins, so that makes you third cousins."

"Thank you." Harry dryly said and looked at Atalanta, he easily saw a pair of hunting knives on her belt. "No swords?" He arched an eyebrow

"Amazons mostly use bows and daggers." She explained as she fidgeted with one of them.

"Uh-oh" Ulf said cheerfully "Sif will love it."

"Yeah" Harry nodded with a smirk and looked at Atalanta "Small piece of advice, if Sif asks you to switch to swords, don't question her."

"Why?" She asked, her gaze switching between their faces.

"It's a long story." Harry drawled

"We have a lot of time and I'm not in hurry." Atalanta smiled, siting on one of the numerous stone benches that were scattered all over the Citadel.

"Okay" Harry nodded joining her "It will take me some time to tell it..."

o-0-o

Loki smiled when he saw Atalanta and Harry quietly talk, he didn't expect this to happen, but he also didn't mind it. "You have an interesting nephew." He heard someone say to his right.

He turned in that direction and came face to face with Athena. "Indeed dear cousin, as you have an interesting niece."

"Are you planning something for both of them?" Athena arched an eyebrow

"Plan for them?" He frowned "No, not yet, but I wouldn't mind them becoming friends. Also the fact that they are related is nothing to sneeze at."

"He is going to be introduced to the nobles during the feast that will be in a week time?"

"Indeed." He nodded "Winter Solstice celebrations, one of those events when you have all of the important people in one place."

"Friends and associates are only going to help him." She nodded and smoothed out her robe. "I will leave you as I have a meeting with your father."

"Of course, have fun negotiating the things you attempt to get out of him." He chuckled as he strolled forward towards his own chambers, celebrations were getting close and there were hundreds of delegations to be greeted.

o-0-o

"Did you find something?" Wanda asked as she looked at Strange who stepped out of a portal.

"I did." Strange nodded and looked at her "If you knew where to look, he wasn't that hard to find, it took me only a couple of guesses to figure out who took him from Private Drive."

"Who did this?"

"Is it that hard to figure out?" He asked and raised his hand the moment she started to gather her magic. "Let me explain first, will you?"

"Fine" She nodded

"It took me a bit of research, but I found that it was a doing of Asgard." He said and raised his hand to stop her "I spoke with Odin and we have an invitation to the Winter Solstice celebrations on Asgard. Which main purpose is to introduce their newest prince, Harald James Thorson to the nobles."

Wanda blinked few times and looked at Strange. "You are joking about it, right?"

"No, that's not a joke. James was Thor and now Asgard finally found their lost Prince."

"That's not a thing I expected to happen." She slowly said and looked towards the horizon. "I knew that James was a powerful wizard, but to be a Thunderer himself, that's something else." She was silent for a moment, inside of her mind were running thousands of thoughts, she was surprised, shocked and confused at the same time, as well as she felt some sort of fear, it was deep in her inside and buried under all of those emotions. She took a deep, calming breath and looked at Strange "So when is this feast and where?"

"On the day of Winter Solstice." Strange said "Where? On Asgard."

She nodded, summoned a portal in front of herself and stepped through it. She needed to plan several things and foremost she wanted to be alone for some time as her mind tried to organize itself.

o-0-o

Hrolf ducked under Harry's punch and laughed, he came to like that Prince of Asgard, he was a nice kid or at least behaved as such and he didn't mind spending time with him. He expected him to be stuck up or arrogant, but instead he found that he was more reasonable and while not humble, he was certainly not arrogant.

Harry flew forward as he lost his balance and Hrofl laughed even more. Harry looked silly as he almost crashed against the ground.

"How did you do it?" Harry asked as he regained his balance.

"Experience, you are good for your age, but I'm training for few more years." Hrolf shrugged off "So not much will surprise me, also think more and do less."

"Easier said than done." Son of Thor huffed, determination and stubbornness visible in his eyes.

"Keep trying." Hrolf chuckled and glanced at the sun "We have a lot of time as it won't get dark for a couple more hours, so we can spend a lot of time doing this."

Harry muttered something under his breath and after a moment once again fell into the opening stance of the classic martial arts style of Asgard. Hrolf's eyes followed his every move, he didn't want to get surprised by Harry, he rarely fought nicely and loved surprises.

He barely saw Harry's right hand shot forward and towards his face, he blocked that punch and watched out for the follow-up, they were usually done with both hands and he was right as moments later he was forced to block another strike coming towards his face.

"Not bad, not bad at all." He muttered to himself, teaching this runt some of more advanced techniques was going to be a fun thing.

o-0-o

Harry blinked few times and looked at the target placed at the end of the range, he pinched his nose to see if it wasn't an illusion and those twenty-four arrows in the bullseye were an illusion. He once again looked at the target and all of them were still there.

He turned towards Atalanta who was the one responsible for all of those arrows and was now lowering her composite bow after firing the last arrow. "How did you do it?" He finally asked.

"I'm an Amazon." She smirked "Archery is a thing that I'm supposed to excel at."

"But all of twenty-four arrows in the bullseye?"

"Practice." Sif said from the side, he could swear that he could hear some sort of amusement and maybe even sarcasm in her "If you were more focused on your own training maybe you would be able to have the same accuracy."

He ignored her remark, but his lip and grabbed his own bow, he notched the first arrow, looked towards his own target and carefully aimed, before drawing the bow and releasing the arrow. It flew threw the air and slammed into the middle of the target.

His next moves became mechanical as he pulled an arrow out of the quiver, notched it, fired and pulled the next one. Before he could blink, he emptied his whole quiver and he realized that he ran out of arrows the moment his hand couldn't reach for the next one. He placed his bow to his side and looked at Sif.

"Almost all arrows in the middle." She said "You could have done better, but still not bad."

He followed her gaze and saw that all of his arrows hit the target, but not all of them embedded in the middle of it. "It seems that I'm better in one thing than you are." Atalanta said

"Maybe in your dreams." He snorted and looked at Sif "So since we are done." He glanced at Ulf and saw that he was only halfway through his quiver of arrows "Or mostly done with archery, the next thing will be fencing?"

"Good that you asked." Sif smirked as she walked into the armory that was adjacent to the range where they were. Few minutes later she walked out of it carrying spear with dull, blunted tips. "For fencing you will wait for a while as this is one of things that you need to know."

"Spears?" He sighed and caught one thrown at him by her.

"Yes" She nodded "Weapon underestimated by many, while it can be used in a lot of situations, not to mention that your grandfather uses one."

"Gungnir." He muttered and took a better look at one that he was holding, it was a weapon that most likely saw hands of hundreds of users and dozens, if not hundreds of duels. Even with its age, it was in perfect condition.

"Yes and one day, you will be given it." She said "So you need to learn how to use it." She glanced at Atalanta "Follow me."

o-0-o

Jane looked at Harry with a smile on her lips, she was standing on the balcony of Thor's chambers and looked his son listen to what Loki was saying. She heard footsteps and turned to see who it was, she beamed when she saw that it was Thor. "Did you say something about him having issues with getting used to Asgard?"

Thor smiled, joined her and kissed her on the forehead. "I guess that you are right, yet he still surprises me."

"He is a nice kid." She said "Also he seems not to care about my presence, here on Asgard."

"Why would he care?" Thor frowned and she rolled her eyes.

"Men and lack of understanding for emotions." She muttered to herself and looked at Thor. "Because he could think that you try to replace Lily with me."

"No" Thor shook his head and paused for a moment "I don't plan on doing it, Lily was Lily and she is dead, I still love her, but she is dead."

"What about me?" She arched an eyebrow

"I love you." Thor softly said

"Good." She smiled and kissed him. "I also love you Thor Odinson." She whispered.

o-0-o

Harry sighed as he stood in front of the entrance into the massive Banquet Hall of the Citadel, he quite enjoyed being dressed in a more formal attire than he was normally used to. It consisted of dark brown loose breeches, red shirt with a rows of embroidery along the edges of it and at the shoulder area. To top it of he had comfortable leather shoes, narrow leather belt with a buckle shaped to resemble snarling head of a wolf, he had attached to it a small dagger, crimson red cloak that was short enough not to get tangled between his legs and the last, but not least a coronet. It was forged from a simple band of gold, in the center of it, just above the middle of his forehead, was placed a triskelion cut out of ruby and supported by two golden wolves.

"Relax" Thor quietly said as he placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. Harry looked at his dad face to see warmth and understanding in his electric blue eyes "It's just a gathering of nobles and the most you need to do is to look good and exchange pleasantries, although most of them will be handled by your uncle."

"Well said." Loki nodded as he joined them. He was in his female form, he was wearing deep emerald green gown and simple golden jewelry. "It seems as a scary thing, but usually is much more enjoyable than it seems to be. Also I should be able to introduce you to some cousins and other relatives that you should know."

Harry's smiled at those words and nodded. "Let's do this." He firmly said

"Wait" Loki stopped him from walking forward, "Remember the rules, your father is supposed to come first with Jane, after that it's you and me." he explained and Harry nodded as he remembered one of many etiquette lessons that were almost beaten into his skull.

At the same time Thor and Jane stepped through the doors and herald on the other side announced their arrival. "His Royal Highness Prince Thor Odinson and Lady Jane Foster."

"Now" Loki lightly nudged Harry to follow him. Harry stepped through the doors leading into the Banquet Hall and looked around the room. It was a huge rectangular room, in one of longer sides there were sets dozens, if not hundreds of doors, allowing for a silent entrance or leave, as well as they were used by servants. On the other side of it, it was opened towards a terrace from which was visible Bifrost and Heimdall's Observatory, only thing keeping the wall from falling down was a colonnade ended with graceful arches.

At the shorter end of the room, on the other side from the entrance was a raised part of it, with a massive banners with golden triskelion on a red background hanging from them.

It was a cavernous chamber, filled with dozens of tables that could comfortably seat hundreds of guests and there was still a lot of space for servants to move between them, bringing new dishes and beverages.

"His Royal Highness Prince Harald James Thorson and Her Royal Highness Prince Loki Odinson." Herald announced and at the same time they walked into the room.

"Follow me, I want to introduce you to someone." Loki whispered to Harry, he nodded and followed his uncle/aunt through the crowd. He was curious what was their destination, as his uncle rarely was so mysterious. As they walked through the room, he could see that it was filled with representatives of various cultures, races and realms. He always knew that Asgard was a diverse realm, at least in terms of its population, but now he could see it with his own eyes.

"Remember to know what you say and how you do it." Loki said to him as they walked to a rather dark corner of the room.

"Uncle, you keep reminding me about it almost constantly." Harry grumbled as he felt some coldness creep up his spine. "There is someone hiding here." He said indicating space in front of them.

"Good eye, cousin dear. Not many can detect my presence so easily and I usually can stay hidden." Said woman that appeared in front of them, she was a tall, graceful woman with hairs black as night and skin white as milk, her eyes were in the colors of emeralds. She was wearing a long, green gown covered in rich embroidery, around her neck was a necklace made out of golden bones, if Harry was seeing them right.

"That would be my daughter, Hela." Loki said with a glance at Harry "Queen of Nilfheim, and one of my favorite children."

"Pleased to meet you." Harry lightly bowed his head and looked around for the sense of coldness and dread that he was feeling. "What's the reason of this cold I feel?"

"That would be me." Hela said "It's my aura that I surround myself with."

"And it usually keeps most of unwanted people away." Loki added with a sly smile and changed into his normal, male form.

"As if I had any need for it." She smiled and looked at Harry. "Listen to him and you should learn a lot today, just don't do anything foolish as I wouldn't like to lose my only first cousin so soon."

"Don't you trust in my abilities?" Loki sulked and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder and added quietly "Let's go, as there are few more people that I would like to introduce you to."

"Lead than" Harry said and followed his uncle lead, leaving Hela in the corner of the hall.

o-0-o

Thor walked through the crowd of nobles, ambassadors and hundreds of other guests, exchanging pleasantries when he saw two people in the crowd that he didn't expect to see on Asgard. Or at least their appearance was a huge surprise to him, as he was pushing his way towards them, his mind was trying to wrap itself around the fact that they were here.

"Hello Wanda." He said as he approached them.

Wanda jumped up and turned around, he could see mix of anger and surprise on her face. "Hello to you, James, we need to talk." She said slowly.

"Yes." He gulped and looked at her, she didn't change in any way since he had seen her more than few years ago. It also seemed that she had her explosive temper and an extremely short fuse. "I guess that you would like to talk about my son and your godson-"

"Isn't it obvious?" She cut him, her eyes burning with anger and barely contained rage. "He was taken from Earth and minds of his relatives wiped of memories of him. You didn't drop to tell me or anybody that you were planning to do it."

Thor winced as he heard her words. "We didn't have any other choice when we went down to take him to Asgard."

"Didn't have any choice? Really?" She snorted and looked at Thor "Was it that hard to send someone or come in person to tell me or Stephen what you did."

"I guess not." Thor admitted and looked at her "Are you done with all the shouting at me?"

She was silent for a moment, but than nodded. "For now, yes, but we're not done yet."

"Good." Thor smiled "If you want to meet Harry you will need to wait for a bit as he is somewhere in the crowd."

"How is he?"

"Quite good and already made a couple of friends. Also from what my brother told me, he is quite good with magic."

"Lily was powerful magically, so it is kind of expected for him to inherit at least some of her gift for magic." Strange added and looked at Thor "You want him to attend Hogwarts when he will be old enough for it?"

"Most likely, why do you ask?"

"Just to be sure." Strange said and looked at Thor. "You are aware that he has a good chance of developing mutant powers?"

"Yes" Thor nodded "Wings if I'm right, Warren Worthington II and Lily were cousins."

"He is going to be an extremely interesting person." Wanda said and looked at Thor. "I think that it will be better if I have an opportunity to meet him tomorrow, as if he has the same temper as Lily, he is going to have a tantrum."

Thor was silent as he thought about it for a moment and than nodded. "You are right, he also seems to be a bit of a hothead."

"He needed to inherit something from his father." Strange smiled and looked at Thor

"I'm not that bad." Thor laughed and glanced around the hall "I will leave you alone as other guests that demand my attention and will be greatly unhappy if I don't exchange some pleasantries with them."

"Go on." Wanda waved her hand and with a small smile, he walked into the crowd. This meeting was a thing that lifted a lot of weight from his chest and solved one problem before it truly arose, however it also reminded him about the issue with Sirius Black and the fact that he was stuck in Azkaban.

o-0-o

"If Hela is there." Loki muttered as he glanced at the darkest corner of the hall. "Than she should be somewhere here." He said as his gaze ran towards the brightest side of the room.

"Uncle, for whom you are looking?" Harry asked and Loki glanced at him.

"Someone that you should meet." He said and his gaze once again swept over the room, he smiled when he saw her.

It wasn't that hard to spot her, she was a tall, graceful person, she looked as if she owned this place. She had long, wavy chocolate hair and on top of them was placed a diadem that looked like a line of connected towers. She wore a simple red gown, tied with a thin belt, but even in such a simple clothes, it was obvious that she was a powerful and that angering her would be a stupid decision.

"Here she is." He muttered and strode forward, Harry following him. He stopped in front of her and bowed his head. "Good to see you, grandaunt."

She turned towards them, on her face was an image of serene calmness, her lips formed a small smile and in her hazel eyes were bright, warm fires. "Since when do you bow to the family, Loki?" She asked with amusement and extended her hand with a ring placed on the middle finger.

"I'm just showing you respect, that's all." Loki said as he bent to kiss her hand. "Also it's not everyday that you visit Asgard."

She smiled and her gaze moved onto Harry. "Can you be so kind to introduce him? I don't believe that I know him."

"Ah, yes." Loki nodded and looked at Harry, who seemed to be tense. "This is your grandaunt Rhea, Mother of the Olympians and Goddess of Cities." His gaze switched to Rhea "That would be son of Thor, Harald James Thorson."

"Come forward." She softly said to Harry, who glanced at him and after a subtle nod did this. "You resemble your father, quite a lot." She said looking at Harry and on her lips appeared a smile "Also even if my nephew didn't tell you, you have quite a potential when it comes to magic."

"And now I will need to make him realize that he isn't invincible." Loki sighed and for a moment he muted them out, instead being focused on the happenings inside of the hall. He wanted to introduce Harry to two for sure, even maybe three individuals before the feast would begin.

Even if his feelings about one of them were mixed at the best of times and usually were extremely bad, Harry needed to need that person. Loki took a deep breath, steeled himself and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "While I know that you would like to talk, we can't occupy one person time and there are few more that I would like to introduce you to."

Harry sighed and nodded. "To whom?"

"Two more nobles from Asgard and one person from Midgard." He whispered as they navigated through the crowd, while he tried to find ones to whom, he wanted to introduce Harry.

Finding the first one wasn't a huge problem, as he was standing out from the crowd as even for Asgard he was huge, as he stood well above seven feet, also color of his skin was different, it was ice blue.

"Frost Giant?" Harry asked, shock and surprise visible in his voice. Frost Giants or at least a good chunk of them wasn't liked on Asgard.

"My cousin, Utgarda-Loki." Loki explained "Also the most powerful one of chiefs that compete for control over Utgard."

"Indeed, cousin dear." Utgarda-Loki said as he turned towards them. As Harry looked at him, he had a feeling of looking at a glacier, calm and harmless, but when awoken, deadly and terrifying. "Don't be afraid of me."

Harry glanced at Loki who nodded. "Yes, he won't attack you unless provoked, so you have no reason to fear him."

"Why would he attack me?" Harry frowned

"I have no reason to attack you, but after what my uncle did." Utgarda-Loki said and frowned "After what my uncle did, Frost Giants aren't liked on Asgard and we are thought to be violent and temperamental."

"Oh" Harry nodded and frowned "So you are disliked because of what one of you did?"

"That would be right." Loki nodded and smiled at Harry. "It seems that my lessons on the basics of diplomacy got into your head."

"You are teaching him diplomacy?" Utgarda-Loki laughed "I saw something familiar in him, but until now it didn't make too much sense, now it makes a lot of it."

"Someone needed to do that and he is a bright student. Also I don't think that his father would be a better teacher than I am."

"No, I don't think so." Utgarda-Loki agreed with a smile and looked at Harry "What do you think about this gathering?"

"It seems interesting." Harry said after a moment

"It seems interesting for the first few times, after that you try not to fall asleep." Loki chuckled and looked at Utgarda-Loki "If you don't mind, cousin, I need to introduce my nephew to a couple more people."

"I don't mind." Utgarda-Loki nodded as he drifted into the crowd.

o-0-o

"How many more?" Harry sighed as he followed his uncle through the crowd.

"One." Loki smiled "I want to introduce you to the most important ones as the rest you will meet at a later time and now there is now need for it."

Harry released a sigh of relief and looked towards two people that were his uncle target. "They don't look like Æsir or any of immortals."

"Because they are humans." Loki smiled "Wizards to be exact and it would be a good idea for you to meet them."

"Okay" Harry nodded as they got closer to them, which allowed him to get a better look of them. One was a man and he was wearing a rather peculiar looking purple robe with hundreds of glittering silver and gold stars, he had an impressive beard and seemed quite old, as his hair were white. Second was a woman, she was wearing a more formal black robe.

"Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall." Loki said in greeting

"Prince Loki" One named Dumbledore said and than his gaze landed on Harry "And that must be Prince Harald."

"Indeed" Loki smiled

"I was quite surprised by the invitation to this event." Dumbledore said

"I was one that helped to found Hogwarts, so it would be logical for me to invite you to the celebrations on Asgard." Loki replied with a sly smile "Also Harald is a reason."

"It will be an honor to teach a Prince of Asgard, your father, His Highness, was one of my favorite students." McGonagall said

"You knew my father?" Harry asked

"Indeed." McGonagall smiled "He was one of my favorite students and he was in my house, students at Hogwarts are divided into four groups and he was in mine."

"I think that it will be enough as there is someone else that you might want to speak." Loki said as he placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "One that you know and like."

Harry smiled and followed his uncle towards the terrace where he easily spotted Atalanta and she was accompanied by a tall woman in a simple gray dress, she seemed to be ageless. Her eyes were storm gray and hair were the color of freshly harvested wheat.

"Cousins" Loki nodded when they came to stop in front of Athena.

"Cousins" She repeated

"You can go and mind your own business." Loki said after a glance from Harry. "We will keep vultures away from you."

"Thank you, uncle." Harry nodded and followed Atalanta onto the terrace

o-0-o

"He is an interesting person." Athena said and Loki tilted his head. "I've watched him when he was studying or when he was with his friends and I expected to find another arrogant Prince, while he is more humble."

"He is certainly better than his father was when he was this young." Loki nodded and glared at one noble to keep him away. "Also he seems to be quite quickly making friends, not that I or my brother mind it."

"There is also his friendship with my niece." Athena added "That's not a thing I expected to see, she is usually stubborn and the Amazons usually dislike males."

"Indeed." Loki nodded "So you are here on a permanent basis or as a representative of your father for the feast?"

"More permanent as brother asked me to keep an eye on his daughter, even if she is a ward of your father, Hera isn't known for being reasonable or wise."

Loki winced and nodded. "That's true, I kind of hope that the two of them will be close friends."

Athena was silent for a moment. "I don't think that I would mind it, at least not too much."

"Thank you, dear cousin." Loki smiled and at the same time was heard the sound of horn calling them to the tables and from the doors set in the longer wall, erupted a steam of servants carrying various dishes and beverages.

o-0-o

Chancellor of Odin mastered hard art of seating noble guests without causing an issue, such as two sides of the feud seated nearby, or insulting guest by sitting him lower than one with lower standing than his. In the middle of the table were seated Odin and Frigga and from them to both sides were seated multiple guests. The most important ones were seated at the same table as they, while less important on lower tables and further away.

Harry was seated at the head table to his left he had his father and on the other side was sitting Atalanta, which was gleefully accepted by everybody interested in the seating as they at least knew each other and could talk during the feast.

Over the tables was moving steady stream of various meats prepared in all possible forms, freshly baked pies, breads, hundreds of vegetables, stews. As well as long stream of various beverages, it seemed as if this stream didn't have an end as servants were coming and going with even more of everything.

Harry thought that he got used to the a good food, but he was forced to change that opinion few times during the feast as dishes were even better than they were usually. Talks between one dish and another were mostly about casual or pleasant topics, so that they could just talk about something of no importance.

While the banquet lasted till the late hours of the night, Harry and other younger participants of it retreated earlier, or more correctly, were forced to retreat earlier, as tomorrow they would have lessons with their respective teachers and they needed sleep.

o-0-o

Dumbledore however didn't have as much time to get over the feast as on the next day he bad a meeting with two people that could have a huge impact on Hogwarts in the near future. Ones that nobody wanted to cross unless he was insane or knew what he was doing as many tried a similar thing and failed miserably, usually dead or at least imprisoned.

"Your Majesty, Your Grace." He politely said as he was ushered into one of the smaller and more private audience chambers of Asgard. He was only facing Odin and his wife Frigga, not even guards inside of the room. Yet he was sure, that outside were standing dozens of guards and even those two would defeat him easily. But it was also a sign that they trusted him and were willing to talk seriously, without courtiers hearing every single word.

"Headmaster." Replied Odin "We hope that our hospitality was up to your expectations."

"It was, thank you for inviting me for your Yule celebrations."

"It was nothing." Smoothly replied Frigga "We heard that you did a lot of good for Midgard and that you taught mother of our grandson Harald. We are merely curious about you and if you will be a worthy teacher of our grandson and Prince of Asgard."

"I can assure you that I provide the best possible magical education on Midgard for ones needing wands and I will provide the same for your grandson. However his birth won't give him any special treatment as I make sure that every student is equal."

"Very well." Nodded Frigga "Than what about wrong treatment of so called 'Mudblood' by certain groups of your students."

"I try to fight with it and I punish those that use those words."

"We will trust you, but we might withdraw our trust in you if we will hear that those words will be used in relations to our grandson or his friends." Said Odin after a moment of thought and sip of mead from his goblet.

"I understand and fully accept those rules." Nodded Dumbledore, while he internally winced as it could mean troubles.

"Due to importance of our grandson to the realm and to the family we will send with his some sort of guard, one that will be decided when he will be ready to go to Hogwarts." Continued Odin "He is future heir to the Throne of the Wolf and as such he and his well-being is of grave importance to us."

"Of course, Prince Loki discussed it with me and than I said that I won't have a single problem with it. I keep my earlier statement, but I would like to be warned about what will be his guard detail so suitable arrangements could be made."

"I think we can agree to that." Nodded Frigga after a glance at Odin "Also as a sign of goodwill we will allow you to access our archives, but under supervision, you can take copy of whatever you will find interesting."

"Thank you, Your Grace, may I observe lessons of your grandson, Prince Harald?" Said Dumbledore as he wanted to see how strong he was, as well as to gauge his personality.

"As long as you will be merely watching them, but do not interfering I think we can agree to that." Nodded Frigga, at the same time doors leading into the chamber were opened, through them slipped in short man with brown hairs and long brown braided beard "You will be his teacher in the near future and you should know something about him, Bragi will take you to the archives and to the place where Harald will have lessons, you can stay in Asgard as long as you wish to stay."

"Thank you, Your Grace." Repeated himself Dumbledore as he once again bowed to the rulers of Asgard.

o-0-o

"You are ready to meet him?" Thor asked Wanda as they walked through the Citadel. She was impressed by the change in James or Thor, when she knew him, he was a reckless, rash and foolhardy, now he seemed to be more focused, more mature and maybe even more patient.

"Yes" She nodded "I tried to protect him from Dursley's and I'm supposed to be his godmother, not that he knows that I'm her." She paused and her brows furrowed as she looked at Thor. "Speaking about his relatives, what about Warren Worthington and his godfather, Sirius?"

"With Warren I don't have the slightest idea how to deal with him." Thor said and paused "Sirius, though, his issues is going to be solved rather soonish."

"Does it include blowing up Azkaban or a part of it?" She asked with an impish smile

Thor shuddered and slowly nodded "Yes, it does, you want to join us?"

"Don't you already know the answer?" She asked, smirk on her face.

Thor sighed and she could see a lot of mixed emotions on his face. "I know and I fear that there won't be anything left from Azkaban."

"I will control myself." She said as they entered a room where Loki was teaching magic to Harry, who was yet unaware of their presence. In the room there were also two massive wolves that seemed to be asleep, but she could tell that they were aware of their surroundings and watched over Harry. She stopped to take a better look at him and easily saw how much he grew up since she briefly saw him over a year ago. But it was not the fact that he grew up that got her attention, it was how much he changed since that time.

The last time she saw him, he was a scrawny kid, that was afraid even of his own shadow, here was a kid in whom she could see some arrogance and that was certainly much healthier looking than one that she remembered. "He has changed." She whispered to Thor

"Aye, he did." Thor agreed, she could feel a hint or two of pride in his voice.

She let Loki finish explaining what he was explaining and cleared her throat to get their attention, the moment she did this, both of them looked at her. She could see curiosity and something else, hard to describe, in Harry's eyes, while Loki only bowed his head and smiled.

"Wanda Maximoff" He said with a mock bow "What a pleasant surprise."

"You should know why I am here." She said and her gaze slipped to Harry who seemed unsure of what was going on. "Harry, you may or may not remember me, but I'm your godmother."

"I'll leave you." Loki said slipping out of the room, she nodded in thanks and walked forward towards Harry. Who seemed to be somehow frozen in the middle of the room, as if he had troubles believing it was true.

"I have a godmother?" He finally asked as his gaze landed on her and she could see it land on Thor.

"You have, Prongslet." She chuckled as he sat down on the floor in front of him. It allowed to take her a better look of him and all of her earlier suspicions were confirmed, he changed in a good way.

"Prongslet?" Harry frowned.

"Didn't dad tell you about his nickname when he was on Earth?" She asked and glanced at Thor.

"I didn't have time to do it." Thor said as he joined her "So if you want, you can explain it to him."

"In short his shape-shifter or animagus form was a stag and by his friends he was called Prongs, so they decided to call you Prongslet." She explained "I also like it and that's why I used it."

"Prongslet." Harry softly repeated and smiled. "It sounds nice."

"Good." She nodded and looked at him, preparing for a tantrum to come. "I would see you soon, but I couldn't." She softly said

"Why, why you couldn't?' He asked, his eyes dangerously narrowed.

"My enemies." She said and looked at him "I'm an apprentice of Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, it gives me a lot of enemies and I have my personal enemies. If they knew that I was seeing you, they would attack you, just to hurt me."

He was silent for a moment, he saw him tense and than took a deep breath as all of his muscles visibly relaxed. "I understand." He said quietly and let out his breath.

"Thank you, while I won't promise that I will be here often." She said and looked at Thor "I will try to see you once in a while. Also I have something that you may like."

Harry looked at her, curiosity in his eyes. She smiled and snapped her fingers, causing a large cage to appear in her right hand. Inside of it was proudly perched a large golden eagle, it looked around curiously and bowed its head to Harry. "Is he mine?"

"Yes" She smiled "Wizards on Earth use owls as a main means of carrying messages and I thought that an eagle would be a better gift than some sort of owl."

"He would also need a name." Thor added "They are usually really intelligent birds and can help in a lot of situations."

Harry frowned, she could see him thinking over it, if she was going to guess, he would choose a name from Norse myths. "What about Hábrók?" He asked and eagle bobbed his head. "Seems that it's settled." Harry smiled and opened doors of the cage. Eagle flew out of it and headed for the open window.

"He will find himself a nest and be around." She said, seeing questions visible on his face. "Most likely somewhere high and remote."

"At Hogwarts they have an owlery so he is going to stay there when you will be at Hogwarts." Thor added and glanced at Wanda. "Lunch will be in I believe three or so hours, so you can occupy as much of his time as you want. After that he will have lessons with Sif, who is showing him and a couple of his friends how to use weapons."

"Uh-huh" She nodded and looked at Thor "You can go, unless you want to hear me tell him about some of your more embarrassing adventures from Hogwarts."

"No" Thor said as his cheeks flushed. She smiled when she saw him also run for the doors. She could see some amusement in Harry's eyes and heard him laugh, it seemed that he didn't see his dad being so easily scared of something.

o-0-o

Dumbledore stood on the terrace overlooking training fields and watched as Harry and several Æsir from his age group train a under watchful gaze of Sif, Goddess of War and from the looks of it one of their tutors.

"Impressive sight, isn't it?" He heard someone ask and when he turned, he came face to face with Loki.

"Aren't they too young for such training?"

"Weren't knights or members of their families starting their education at a similar age." Loki countered

"Point taken." Dumbledore nodded, a bit sour, for him training ones so young how to use weapons wasn't a good thing. "I'm watching it mainly to see how he will behave at Hogwarts and he is an interesting one."

"He is my nephew, so he is supposed to be interesting." Loki smirked and joined him at the railing "But you are also right, he is stubborn and convincing him sometimes is a challenge, I'm teaching him magic and he seems to have a powerful one."

"I see." Dumbledore said "I'm aware of the fact that Æsir are stronger than an average human is, so how much he will differ from his peers at Hogwarts."

Loki was silent for a moment. "I would say that quite a lot, he most likely is going to be taller, more bulky, brighter, more magically powerful and a lot stronger than humans are. Also he will have ethereal beauty of immortal beings, it didn't yet show in him, but it will in the next couple of years."

Dumbledore nodded, making a note to be prepared for large expenses for maintenance and repairs. "I must say that you have an excellent archives, I wanted to check on few things and I didn't expect to find so many lost things inside of them."

Loki smirked "My father and I might have a hand in it, he rescued everything from the Library of Alexandria and I did the same to one in Constantinople. Some of their texts were worth saving and the knowledge is power."

Dumbledore nodded and turned to watch Harry and his friends train, he could see that there was an extremely strong feeling of competition and rivalry between them, however he also could see a strong camaraderie between them. It looked like Hogwarts would need to prepare for the arrival of a Prince of Asgard or it could have rather unpleasant effects.


	6. Harry's Education - I

**A/N – This is mostly new stuff chapter as Asgard gets a lot more attention and it will get stretched out into more chapters. Also some more events or plots will be started or put into motion. I know that rewrites aren't liked, but when I got into certain chapters of the previous version I was slamming my head into a wall every few paragraphs and I wanted to avoid writing thing that I didn't like writing.**

o-0-o

Wanda poured herself a goblet full of wine, sipped some and finally looked at Thor, they were sitting in a small, private sitting room of Thor's chambers, which could be described as humongous and overflowing in riches. They were also joined as Jane as even if they didn't admit it, they were in love. "You know that Harry is a mutant?"

"Yes" Thor nodded "I didn't mention it to him as he needs some normality in his life and until it shows up, I'm not going to tell him about it. He is getting used to the fact that he is one of us and I don't want to tell him that he is different before I need to."

She emptied her goblet, enjoying a bit of a sour taste the wine had and looked outside the window, it was coming towards the massive gardens spread behind the Citadel. "I don't want to tell you what to do." She finally said "He is your son, but if I were you I would consider sending him to Xavier's as it is a place where he will have an opportunity to develop his powers as a mutant and it will get him used to being in Earth."

"You know that she is right?" Jane asked as she looked at Thor. "I know Hank McCoy who is one of teachers there and he always said good things about the place. Also if there is a single place on Earth where he can be truly himself, its there."

"Also Warren Worthington II is going to send his son, Warren Worthington III there, sooner rather than later and they are cousins." Wanda added with a smile "So it will be a good opportunity for him to meet and get to know his cousin, also it will allow me an easier access to him as I will have more legitimate reasons to be there."

"Did you set it up?" Thor asked as he looked at them.

"No" Wanda chuckled "It's just that some things are obvious and this is one of those cases, so I fear that you will need to agree to it."

Thor nodded and looked at her "That's the future, there is also a matter of Harry's godfather-"

"Who is sentenced for a thing that he didn't commit and as a scapegoat he was shipped to Azkaban prison for a life sentence." She finished with disgust

"Azkaban?" Jane frowned

"The worst prison known to wizards." Thor explained "Hell, even some of our worst prisons look better than it does. Nobody escaped it since it was created and guards of it are unpleasant."

"They can suck soul out of your body." Wanda added "Also they are empaths and make everybody around them feel hopeless and weak, as well as turn most of them mad in few weeks or months."

"There's that." Thor nodded and looked at Wanda "I was thinking about doing it in a couple of days, I planned on speaking with Tony and asking Avengers to join me on trip to Azkaban."

"You can count on me." She said "I never particularly liked that place and Sirius was a nice person, also he is Harry's godfather."

"Wait a minute." Jane said and they looked at her "For what did he get shipped to Azkaban?"

"Official or true reason?" Thor asked

"True."

"For being a rash and stupid person, also the Ministry was looking for a scapegoat and he was in a wrong place at the wrong time." Thor explained "Official reason is for murder of I believe it was thirteen non-magicals and Peter Pettigrew-"

"Who was the one that did the thing." Wanda added and looked at Thor "During that time you were in coma, but it was obvious to anybody that could think, that Pettigrew was the one that did it."

"Than why this Sirius was the one to be sentenced?" Jane asked, anger and something else visible in her voice.

"Because the Ministry didn't want to see a reason and they just arrested the first person to get their hands on." Thor said and shook his head "They are a bunch of idiots that think only about their precious backsides and nothing else."

"They also care about cash." Wanda added and poured herself more wine "If I'm right about the ones that are now in power, it won't be wise for me to show up in the UK for some time."

"Because of what?" Jane asked "You said that you are an Apprentice of the Sorcerer Supreme, right?"

"I'm." Wanda nodded and sighed "But for wizards that worse than being a squib, that is one born into a magical family without magic, Strange isn't from a wizarding family and it irks them that he is the most powerful user of magic on Earth."

"It won't change, will it?" Thor sighed and looked at her "They shouldn't see you being with us, as Tony and I will get most of their attention."

"It's not that I have a lot of reasons to be in the UK." She shrugged off "It's more of an inconvenience than anything, I will stay out of it for a year or two and they will forget about me."

"Okay." Thor nodded "If you don't mind it, we can go later today."

"I don't mind it." Wanda smiled, on her face an impish smile, one that didn't bode too well.

Thor shuddered and she chuckled lightly. "Can you don't do it?" He asked after a moment.

"I like it too much, get used to it." She said and finished her wine "If that is settled I will go and get prepared."

Thor nodded and as she walked to the room she was given, she thought about what she knew about Azkaban and dementors, getting inside wasn't going to be easy. No, she corrected herself, getting inside would be easy, but tricky.

o-0-o

Dumbledore looked around the staff room in Hogwarts and finally his gaze landed at the rest of the teaching body. "Asgard seemed weirdly open and kind, many would say generous." He said and looked at the Professors gathered in the room.

"Considering that they are celebrating the fact that there is another Prince, I'm not surprised." McGonagall said as she looked at Dumbledore. "Especially one in the direct line of succession and son of Thor, who is loved by them and you could feel that."

"And pray tell me why we should bother about Asgard?" Snape drawled, his face pulled into a usual sneer.

"Because mother of that Prince was a human." Dumbledore said and added with a smile "One rather familiar to you."

"Who?"

"Lily Evans or more properly Potter." McGonagall said and Snape paled. "Yes, the same one." She added after a moment and he paled even more.

"How?" Flitwick asked as he got over his shock, his eyes glowing with curiosity and intellect hidden behind them.

"James was Thor in disguise and from what I managed to see most of their nobility is ecstatic about the fact that he has a son." Dumbledore said and looked around the room. "I think that a little reminder for students about Asgard might be in order as I talked with Odin and he didn't say no about Harry being taught magic at Hogwarts. He said that he would consider it and if I'm right, it means that he has agreed to it."

"And I suppose that he will expect everyone to bow down to him?" Snape sneered

"From what I saw about him, he seems rather humble, at least for a Prince." Dumbledore said as he looked at Snape "I want heads of houses give them a crash course in what Asgard is and basics of what we know about them as the last thing I want is an insulted and angry Prince."

"And rather pointed reminder about challenging ones you cannot defeat." McGonagall added "I do not wish to explain why we are scrapping off someone from the walls and the ceiling because he insulted someone."

"How strong is he?" Flitwick asked

"Very" Dumbledore said "Or at least will be in few years as from what I saw he trains under Sif and also his uncle, Loki, seems to be taking a hand in it." He didn't miss a hint of shock pass across Snape face and made a note to talk with him about it.

"The life won't get boring, will it?" McGonagall asked

"No" Dumbledore smiled and looked at her, amusement visible in his eyes. "Life is always interesting, it's the matter of how we look at it."

"Maybe you are right." She sighed and nodded. "I will speak with students about Asgard and tell them to be more cautious."

"It's still six years before he will be able to attend this school." Dumbledore said and she nodded.

"I know that, it's just that James or Thor isn't known about being calm or patient and if he inherited some of their traits, he might not take well several behaviors."

"We will see." Dumbledore said and looked at her. "Hope is the thing that we have and one that we need, we just need to use it."

She weakly smiled, as if unconvinced and slowly nodded.

o-0-o

Ethereal, multicoloured beam of light slammed into the top of the Avengers Tower and everybody that was inside of it rushed to see who was coming.

"Thor?" Tony Stark asked as he looked at the Thunderer. "Where were you been for the past few months?"

"Busy on Asgard." Thor said and Tony could feel something about him. "I need your help in getting someone out of prison on Earth."

"Who?" Hawkeye asked

"Somewhere less public." Wanda said as she stepped from behind Thor "The less people knows about it, the better as some would love to know about it."

"Inside?" Tony suggested

"Yes" Thor nodded as they walked into the Tower and towards a large table set in the middle of the room.

"So who do you want to get out of prison?" Natasha asked "And from where?"

"Sirius Black and Azkaban." Thor said and Natasha's eyes narrowed at those words.

"As in one that was supposed to betray Potter's to Dark Lord?"

"Same one." Wanda nodded "Fury might remember him as I remember seeing the two of them getting drunk more than once."

"Who would expect Fury getting drunk?" Tony chuckled

"Can we get to the task on hand?" Natasha asked getting their attention "Since we all know that he wasn't the one to betray them, Thor you were James Potter, weren't you?"

"Yes" Thor nodded "My father banished me to Earth to learn some things and Harry Potter is my son."

"That makes things interesting." She said dryly and mused "Azkaban, if I remember that place, getting inside won't be easy."

"Polished to the perfection outer walls and dementors." Wanda said and rolled her eyes when she saw a lack of understanding on their faces. "Demons that can suc out your soul, turning you into an empty husk that does nothing."

"JARVIS!" Tony called "Find any map showing where Azkaban is and project it."

There was a brief moment of silence and than a map of the North Sea appeared with a small dot marked in the middle of it. To the side of it appeared an image of an octagonal tower that seemed to be one with the island. "Getting inside will be hard." Steve said "Either we get from top or we aren't getting inside."

"I've been thinking about using Quinjet and getting through the top." Natasha said "It's the best way to do it."

"Yes" Loki said as he walked into the room. "I spoke with Fury and he will make an excuse for it so that nobody will look why Sirius escaped, so we can do whatever we want to it."

"Than let's go." Tony said getting up, the rest of them looked between each other and followed him out of the room.

o-0-o

Odin's gaze was cold as he looked at the noble that entered the Throne Room, even if he was his own brother, there was no love between them. His gaze flickered to his grandson who stood to the side of his throne, in a place reserved for his family, and on his lips appeared a brief smile.

However he momentarily schooled them and focused on the herald. "Lord Tyr Børson, Marshall of Asgard, Master of War, Lord of the West March, Jarl of Sonderland."

Tyr was a hulking man, well over seven feet tall, with rippled muscles and mane of wild salt and pepper hair that fell down his back, he was dressed into silver chainmail with golden armor plates over it, to his belt was attached a scabbard of his sword and only thing that destroyed his image was his missing left hand.

"Your Majesty." He said as he kneeled in a proper distance from the throne. "I've come here to suggest marrying one of my daughters or grand-daughters to one of your sons or grandson. I also have dire news, ones about parentage of your grandson, His Royal Highness Prince Harald James Thorson. They suggest that he isn't a legal son of your own son-"

"Enough!" Odin said coldly, he was amused by those words, but there were some lines that were not to be pushed and this was one of them. "My opinion about betrothals is known and it still stands, so I won't accept your offer. Also do not question parentage of my children or grandchildren, one more world and you will be thrown out of this room."

"But, Your Majesty." Tyr said standing up "It's truth and nothing will change it-"

"Silence!" Odin silenced Tyr and looked over the room, courtiers looking at him and trying to guess his reaction. "I, Odin Børson, the Allfather, King of Asgard, Shield of Asgard and Protector of the Nine Realms, strip you, Tyr, Marshall of Asgard, Master of War, Lord of the West March, Jarl of Sonderland, of all of your titles and banish you from Asgard for a period of a century." As he was saying each and every of those words face of Tyr paled, it went through all shades of white, until it was as pale as snow was.

o-0-o

"That's a thing I didn't expect." Ullr said as he stood with Sif in the crowd of courtiers and watched the whole spectacle. "I always thought that Tyr had more intelligence than to do something as crude and stupid."

"Not everybody can think." Sif said and looked at him "You know that your son and His Highness are getting annoyingly clever when it comes to fencing and tactics?"

"Was that a praise of them or a complain?"

"More of a praise." She said after a moment "Honestly speaking, they are one of few that I truly enjoy teaching and they want to learn it, not like a lot of annoying brats that are lazy."

"Competition usually helps." He chuckled

"Well, there's that." She agreed "To whom do you think Tyr's land will go?"

"It was always a part of the royal demense, so most likely one of His Majesty relatives." Ullr mused "Correct me if I'm wrong, but the lands given to His Highness border those that previously belonged to his great-uncle."

"Indeed, they border."

"Than most likely he is the one that will get them and that would reinforce his position in the normal power plays in the future." Ullr said and looked at Sif "Are you going to show them more of horse riding or should I do it?"

"Well, Atalanta is an Amazon, so she knows how to ride, so we could do it together." She said and paused "Question is where as while Ulf and Harald are used to the wilderness of Nordmark, for her it might be a bit too much."

"Maybe the Plains of Ida." He suggested and she arched an eyebrow. "They are flat, huge and perfect for riding."

"True." She nodded "So tomorrow morning then?"

"Why not, I don't have a lot of better things to do with them as for firearms they are too young and for piloting they need more of science based education."

o-0-o

Sirius Black looked around as another lightning slammed into the top of the prison, storms weren't an uncommon sight, but not one as vicious as this one was. Winds were howling for last few hours and they seemed to be getting worse with each moment, throwing sprays of seawater into his cell. If that wasn't enough, there was also this constant and heavy rain that seemed not to end.

He moved into the corner of his cell, away from the bars of it and away from the window. He heard a dementor scream in front of him and his eyes widened in shock when he saw a pillar of light erupt through it. It was not a _Patronus_ charm, but something else.

He walked to the bars of the cell and looked around, he could see some people, they were fighting with dementors and he saw some of those monsters attempt to get away from them. He saw a lightning strike one of those things and his eyes widened when he recognized what was responsible for it, it was a large hammer and only one hammer was known to summon lightning strikes. It was Mjolnir and it was wielded by the Thunderer.

His eyes barely registered crimson beams of energy and lithe person surrounded by a crown of red light, he saw her fuel everybody short of Voldemort. She was furious as he could see dementors howling in fear and pain as they attempted to get away from here.

She flew through the corridor, dementors scattering out of her way and she landed in front of his cell. "Step away from the bars, Padfoot." She said and the moment he did this, doors were blasted to shreds and their parts flew into the opposite wall.

"What is going on?" He asked as he walked to her.

"We came to get you out of here." She smiled and turned towards the Thunderer "Thor, I have him."

"Get him out of here." Thor shouted back "We will get you time."

"Glory and fame." She muttered and grabbed his hand, while with her second, she opened a portal in front of them and walked through it, dragging him with her.

They landed on a plush carpet, somewhere far away as it was bright and certainly it was not raining.

"You look like hell." She said taking a long look at him "Also you smell of dog."

He laughed, his laugher weak and barking. "For most of the time I was a dog."

"I can see that." She dryly said and threw a small bundle at him. "Those are some normal wizarding robes, bathroom is second doors on the right. Change those rags and please, do something about your smell of a dog.

"It's not that bad." He laughed, but obeyed her.

o-0-o

Fudge stepped into the hall of Azkaban and looked around, everywhere could be seen signs of heavy fighting going on, walls were scorched and parts of them collapsed, parts of some dementors were scattered all over the place and a great gaping hole in the ceiling was hard to miss.

"Who did this?" He finally asked as he turned to look at Amelia Bones, Director of Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He didn't miss broken doors of one of cells and internally winced, press was going to be vicious about this one. Azkaban was supposed to be invincible and escape-proof, yet somehow proved both of them to be wrong.

"We don't know." She bluntly said "Some of those marks left by ones that attacked it, are foreign to us."

"Than what about this?" He asked walking forward and pointed at a large burned out circle of runes. It was in the middle of the corridor and looked as if it was laughing at them, with its thick, black lines and Norse runes. Around it was crouched a small group of aurors and hooded and cloaked Unspeakables.

"It's some sort of a targeting matrix of runes." One of them said, his face hidden behind a mask that only showed his mouth and eyes. "But where it leads..."

"Is an unknown to you." Amelia finished and he glared at her.

"You need to figure out where it leads!" He shouted at them "There needs to be something that can be done!"

"Sir-" One od Unspeakables said

"What?!"

"Some of those runes are names of gods, Odin, Heimdall, Thor and the rest of the Æsir pantheon." He explained, not flinching under Fudge's gaze "We don't think that it will be a wise idea to tinker with it."

He paled for a moment, but when he thought about his ratings and the fact that voters wouldn't let him live, he pushed fear aside and looked at them. "They are just a myth that isn't real."

Unspeakables looked between each other and nodded, some started to draw additional runes, while some went over ones already imprinted in the stone floor. The moment they applied magic to it, everything started to glow in hundreds of ethereal colors, lighting up everything and painting normally dull, gray walls in a rainbow of colors.

For a moment it was the only thing, but then clouds started to gather over the tower and above the circle was left a clear patch of air, without a single trace of a cloud. He looked up, some fear appearing back in his eyes and he stepped backwards, away from the circle. He gulped in fear when he saw a lightning flash across the sky, immediately followed by a loud ruble of a thunder, that shook everything and everybody.

Then the circle exploded, force released in its destruction slammed them into the walls and sucking air out of their lungs.

He slowly got up looking around, his ears ringing furiously as he tried to see what had happened. All of Unspeakables that were working with the circle were scattered around it, their wands broken and remains of them smoking.

"What was that?" He asked

"Something in the circle." One of them said "Whatever this circle is, playing with it is dangerous and I don't think that the second time it will be any better."

He nodded and looked at Amelia Bones, who was standing few feet away from him. "I want Sirius Black hunted down and I want this done as soon as possible."

"Should we announce his escape?" She asked, fidgeting with her wand. He could tell that she didn't like the fallout of this.

"Yes, but do not reveal any information about the attack."

"Of course." She nodded "What about the Muggle government and MI-13?"

His head snapped in her direction, his eyes burning with a cold fire. "Do not mention it to them, it's our own investigation and they don't need to know about it."

She nodded and apparated out of place, he stood up and groaned in pain, it was going to be a long day for him and it didn't start too well.

o-0-o

"Where am I?" Sirius asked as he stepped out of a bathroom in clothes that Wanda gave him, she somehow found his size and he felt comfortable in them. However as he looked at himself, he could still feel the stench of Azkaban, one that he was most likely wasn't going to forget any time soon.

"Sanctum Sanctorum." Someone said, it was a male voice.

He turned around and his gaze landed on the form of the Sorcerer Supreme. "Hello Stephen, long time no see, what was it? Seven years?"

"Something like that." Strange nodded "Do you know why you were rescued and by whom?"

"No" Sirius shook his head

Strange hummed and snapped his fingers, in front of him appeared a large table filled with dishes that made Sirius's stomach grumble. "You will eat and I will explain some of those things to you, it's a long story, just so you know."

"Okay" Sirius said as he dug into the food, he followed what Stephen was saying and his eyes widened the moment he said about Harry and who was his parent. "Did you just said that he is a son of Thor?"

"Yes" Strange smiled "I will take you to Asgard once you are healed and at least you get over the time you had spent in Azkaban, unless you want to scare your godson."

Sirius mouth opened in the protest, but than he closed it and nodded. "You are right, also I want to get used to the fact of being free."

Strange nodded and smiled. "If you want I can tell you a thing or two about your godson as I saw him on Asgard and he is a very interesting kid."

Sirius laughed at those words, his laugher barking. "He was interesting when I last saw him."

"He changed since that and grew up a lot." Strange said and paused, as if considering next words he was going to say. "He is also learning magic and some martial arts, he seems quite good for his age."

Sirius nodded and focused on his meal, he was hungry and he wanted to get those things out of James or Thor when he would have an ample opportunity to do it. However now he wanted to enjoy the freedom and being away from dementors and his insane, annoying cousins.

o-0-o

"Not bad." Sif smiled as she rode alongside Harry and Ulf, keeping an eye on them, in case they would do something stupid. She came to like them, but they were also young and a bit of foolhardy, as well as tended to show off from time to time.

"Than what is good for you?" Harry asked her as he tried to focus on riding and staying in the saddle.

"Well" She said and pointed at Atalanta who was ahead of them riding with Ullr. "She does it quite well and that is good for me."

"But she is an Amazon." Ulf said "So she is expected to be riding well."

"And?" She arched an eyebrow

"It's unfair that you compare us with her, she was doing that for a long time." Harry huffed

"You know that practice helps with mastering something?"

She smiled when she saw that Harry or Ulf didn't say a word and instead bit down on their lower lip and focused on riding. She disliked using such arguments, but sometimes they worked the best. They weren't the most subtle ones and not the most graceful ones, but they certainly worked well.

o-0-o

"Is horse riding always that painful?" Ulf asked as he stumbled forward, his whole back and a better part of his legs aching.

"No" Ullr laughed and Ulf glared at him, lack of understanding for his amusement visible in his eyes "Horse riding takes practice; you'll get eventually used to it. You are using a completely different set of muscles."

"With getting used is problem, it isn't the most pleasant thing." Harry grumbled as he massaged his back. "Everything aches me and I'm used to training with Sif."

"There are no shortcuts." Atalanta asked as she gracefully landed on the ground. Getting weird looks from them. "What? My mother is Queen of Amazons."

"Knowledge that you are an Amazon is a one thing, seeing you ride so well is one thing." Harry said and glared at her.

"We ride all the times. The best riders know hot to steer a horse using only their knees."

"There is a reason why sometimes they are called Valkyries of Olympus." Sif said getting attention of Harry and Ulf "They are one of the best riders as well as fighters, not many armies were able to win the battle when they arrived."

"You can steer a horse using only your knees?" Ulf asked as he had troubles believing those words, steering horse even with reins was a hard enough task for him and she said about using only your knees as if it was something trivial.

"It's difficult, but not impossible." She admitted "It's a very useful talent to have, as you never know when you will need to use a bow on horseback. Harry, you are supposed to have lessons with Heimdall now; Ulf and Atalanta will be with me as it seems that you need to work on your fencing skills."

Harry laughed as he saw not so happy expression on the faces of his friends, he wasn't going to envy them and training they were going to endure, he much more preferred being with Heimdall, even if after it he felt as if someone or something was jumping up and down inside of his mind.

o-0-o

"What is Yggdrasil truly?" Harry said as he stood in the Observatory with Heimdall, the sun was slowly hiding being the horizon, bathing everything in a multitude of colors. On the golden shields covering the interior of the Observatory there were visible hundreds of colorful reflections and it seemed as if they were made out of a liquid, not out of a solid material.

"It is a cosmic tree that connects Nine Realms." Heimdall as he looked at Harry "It is also an ash tree that grows on Asgard in the Hall of Yggdrasil and a net of portals connecting the realms. It is many things at one, as it is also a cluster of galaxies and dimensions in space. When you were traveling through Bifrost you saw how it truly looks in space."

"That glowing gold and red thing was Yggdrasil?"

"Yes, those things that you saw were a physical manifestation of the Tree and its glory, but you also saw events of the past, of the present and of the future, many events that might happen or might not, you didn't see one future, but instead many possible versions of them, each as probable to happen as the rest of them. All of us have some resemblance of Sight, bigger or lesser and it appears later in our life."

"Sight?" Harry asked

"Ability to predict the future. Your grandfather has one of the strongest in the whole Nine Realms." Heimdall explained and grabbed Harry's hand "Now going back to your lesson."

Harry's sight blurred for a moment before it once again focused and he saw a mountain covered in something that looked like temples and other buildings with columns. It was surrounded by a pitch black darkness and there was only a one source of light above it.

"This is Olympus, home of Olympians and other of realms of gods." Heimdall and Harry nodded in understanding. "It is ruled by Zeus, God of Lightning and Hera, Goddess of Family."

Vision blurred once again and this time they saw an asteroid field with a weird shaped rectangular one in the middle of it.

"What is it?" Harry asked, some sort of shock and surprise visible in his voice.

"Did anybody mention to you Infinity Stones?" Heimdall asked as he looked at Harry. He didn't want to talk about this, but if fate decided to show it, it was important to know for this Prince and he thought how to explain it.

Harry curtly nodded "Yes"

"Than this is a hiding place of one of them, Aether. It was reclaimed from the Dark Elves by your great-grandfather and your grandfather hid it in this asteroid field." Heimdall said "I didn't intend to show it to you, it did on its own as your mind directed us there. Now going back to where we were supposed to be going."

Images blurred and they saw planet covered in smoke and acidic clouds. Flames were erupting from volcanoes and furnaces that were nearby. It was surrounded by thick rings of infrastructure on the orbit.

"Home of dwarves, Nidavellir." Said Heimdall "They are ruled by King Eitri and are one of the greatest artificers, craftsmen and builders in whole Nine Realms. Most of the most well known or famous weapons was forged by them, your father's hammer, your grandfather's spear, your sword and so on. They hate giants in all forms and are one of our most faithful allies and vassals of King Odin. They always answered our call to arms, but in return we defended their realm whenever they called us."

Vision changed and they saw heavily forested world with buildings and cities hidden between trees. People that they saw were almost as beautiful as inhabitants of Asgard and Vanaheim, standing tall with godlike grace and they could be described only as beautiful.

"This is Alfheim, realm of light elves, ones with one of the most powerful magic inside of the Nine Realms. However it isn't destructive magic as our own is, their is mostly focused on healing and creation of life. They are scholars and sorcerers, healers and scientists, however you shouldn't underestimate them as they are also fierce warriors, they do not fight often, but when provoked or when they think that the cause is just, they fight valiantly and never surrender. Also one of the best horses in our stables come from them."

o-0-o

Dumbledore sat in his office and mulled over the events of last week, there was one attack on Azkaban. One that had fingertips of Princes of Asgard all over it, also who was freed suggested it as only one person was liberated and guards were only stunned, at least in case of humans as dementors were scattered and burned. If he was going to bet why it happened, he would bet it was because they didn't have patience to deal with Fudge and he wasn't surprised by it. He was a fool and stubborn fool at that, one that would say 'no' just for the sake of doing that and annoying person with which he was speaking. Situation was changed when there was money in play as than he became rather open and would do as he was asked to do.

His musing were cut short as in the middle of his office appeared vortex of green and gold that signaled arrival of Prince Loki. Moments later out of that vortex stepped out mentioned Aesir with his usual smirk on his lips.

"Prince Loki." Dumbledore politely nodded

"Headmaster." Prince of Asgard nodded and conjured for himself a comfortable armchair in which he sat down.

"Breakout from Azkaban was your doing?"

"Mine, Thor and SHIELD." Loki agreed "They provided distraction and covered our tracks. Even if there were placed tracking charms on Sirius, they won't work as he is in a place that stops most of magic from reaching its insides."

"There are not many such places on Earth, there are only two in the UK and maybe six dozens or so all over the world." Dumbledore frowned and paused as he realized what Loki meant. "You got him out of Azkaban and to the Sanctum Sanctorum of Stephen."

"Exactly." Loki smiled and explained "He is safe and sound inside of it and I will take him to Asgard once he is fully healed. So for now he will be stuck there as it is the safest place for him to be and anywhere else he would be caught."

Dumbledore nodded and made a note to discourage Fudge from looking around the USA, to keep him away from the Sanctum Sanctorum and Sirius. He folded his hands and looked at Loki. "When you are planning on reintroducing Harry back to Earth and its issues?"

Loki was silent for a moment, the only sound in the office being a soft thrill of Fawkes. He took a sip of mead from a goblet he had conjured for himself and finally spoke. "I spoke with my brother and Harry's godmother and they mentioned something about his twelfth birthday or so, as he is most likely going to be a mutant and there is only one place that can teach him how to use them."

"Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters." Dumbledore smiled "He should do well there, I planned to do a small project with Charles, but we will see if it works, if it does, it certainly will be interesting."

Loki looked at him, confused for a moment, but than his his lips turned into a smirk, one that would make lion ran away from him in fear. "It should be a really good idea as with the amount of enemies lurking in the shadows and some of them being more open, you will need to be united and stand together."

"That was my idea about it, now with Harry there, I might push it a bit faster as it might be a good idea. Do you want me to do anything about Fudge and his pet investigation?"

"Not really, just keep him out of the way and away from Hogwarts, the Institute and the Sanctum Sanctorum as he can cause a lot of damage there."

"I will." Dumbledore nodded and looked at the paperwork covering his desk. "As much as I enjoy our talk, I fear that we need to end it..." He trailed off and Loki only smiled

"As the paperwork won't get done on its own and you need to do it." He said "My father has the same problem, so I understand you well."

"So, if you excuse me, Your Highness." Dumbledore said and Loki nodded, disappearing with a swirl of green and gold.

Dumbledore looked at the various forms and papers, that were scattered all over his desk and sighed, he enjoyed being a Headmaster, but he disliked the part about filling papers and making sure that everything was correct.

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy stood in the study of his manor and looked outside of the window, his gaze was focused on the rolling hills that were in the distance, while gears of his mind were spinning furiously. "So someone had freed Sirius Black." He said to himself and poured himself a glass of fire whiskey.

"Question is not who did it, but why he did it." He paused as his mind analyzed every single possibility, all of the known ties of Sirius and why someone might have decided that he needed to free him out of Azkaban. There weren't many things that he could gave them, so there was something missing out of the whole thing. Something that was crucial for the whole thing to make sense.

He turned around and walked back to his desk, sitting down he pulled out several rolls of parchment and quills, he needed to get several things done, as well as to rebuild the network the Dark Lord had during his last ascension to power. Network that he would need to stay under the radar of SHIELD and especially MI-13.

Director Wisdom was a person he didn't want to get interested in him or his deals, he was vicious, deviously clever and stubborn. He was the one that removed some of the less powerful supporters of the Dark Lord that survived the war, now all of them were gone and gone for good. However Wisdom didn't touch magical supporters and that was the only bright point from Lucius's point of view. It suggested that he was a normal person, not a wizard, which meant that he was slightly less dangerous.

He winced in pain as he felt his old limp suddenly ache him, as if it wanted to remind him that normal humans were not to be underestimated as they were as deadly as wizards, or even more. There was one more person that he feared, he feared he honestly more than he feared Death or Wisdom, it was Director Fury.

o-0-o

Harry keenly looked around as he followed his uncle through the maze of the corridors that made up a better chunk of the Citadel, he was curious where his uncle was leading him as he didn't have an opportunity to see this part of the Citadel, yet. "Where are we going?" He finally asked, impatience and curiosity visible in his voice.

"You will see." Loki smirked "Somewhere that you should like, though."

Harry sighed and focused on the corridor ahead of them, his attention was immediately drawn to the pair of guards that stood at the end of it. On the doors between them was emblazoned a large image of a tree.

"Any idea where are we?" Loki asked him as they came to stop in front of the doors. "Heimdall should have mentioned it to you at least once."

Harry frowned and his gaze ran to the tree, he knew that he saw it somewhere and just couldn't remember where he had seen, he chuckled silently at the comparison as he knew that his memory shouldn't fail him. He signed and looked at his uncle. "Any clue what is it?"

"Probably the most important and the oldest ash tree in this part of the universe." Loki smirked

Harry's eyes widened when he heard phrase 'ash tree' and missing pieces in his mind almost immediately connected. "That's the Hall of the Yggdrasil."

"Well done." Loki nodded and looked at the guards, who stepped aside and doors opened on their own. Harry glanced at his uncle and followed him into the chamber, it was a huge room with the ceiling disappearing out of view.

However Harry's eyes didn't run towards it or towards the mosaics covering the floor, they ran to the ash tree that was in the middle of it. This tree was one of the biggest he had seen and it was full of power, he could feel magic fill the air and he was able to see whisps of silver and golden smoke fly under the ceiling.

As he breathed in the air, he could feel some strong incense fill the air, it's smell was almost intoxicating, strong and rich. He felt as if he was somewhere else. "Snap out of it." Loki said lightly punching him in the shoulder.

"What was that?" He groggily asked as he fought an urge to fall asleep.

"What is it, you mean." Loki corrected him and added seriously "That's the magic of the Tree, I'm the one showing it to you as I can protect you from some of its power, your father is powerful magically, but his magic is different."

Harry looked towards the tree, taking a better look of it, it was growing in a some sort of a massive pond, it's roots were disappearing in it, as he walked closer, he felt magic of it. It felt as a slowly running water, calm and beautiful, yet deadly.

"Don't" Loki caught him before he walked into the pond that surrounded the tree. "Clear your mind, it's a beautiful thing, but can be deadly. Also the pond is a portal into the rest of the Nine Realms."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment and started to slowly and evenly breath, pushing every single thought out of his mind. After a moment of silence he shook his head and looked at his uncle. "Why did you want to show this – he indicated the tree – or should I ask why did you decide to do it now?"

Loki looked at him. "So that you know how it looks as it has an annoying tendency to show up in prophetic dreams and so that I could see how powerful you are going to be magically, every single Æsir has some magic, but it varies, some have a weak one, while some have a strong one." He paused and placed hand on Harry's shoulder. "Your reaction to the tree and it's magic told me more than testing your magic through other means."

"And?"

"You need to find it on your own." Loki said with a sly smile "But it's nothing bad, you should like what it implies."

"Oh?" Harry asked, shuffling his feet impatiently.

"Nephew, patience is one of the most precious and most powerful virtues, try to learn some of it." Loki said seriously as he glanced at the tree. "Don't wander into this chamber alone or with some of your friends as I don't want to explain to your father and grandfather how the hell you ended up in the biggest pit of lava."

Harry shuddered and slowly nodded, he could feel that his uncle wasn't joking about this one and he didn't want to get into his bad side. "I swear."

"Good" Loki smiled and ruffled his hair "Your free to go."


	7. Harry's Education - II

Flow of the time on Asgard was almost unnoticeable for Harry and before he could see he was there for almost a year. During that period he grew up a lot, gone or mostly gone was that scrawny kid, almost afraid of his own shadow, all signs of malnourishment were gone and his body was playing catch up, trying to do the work it was unable to do for a few years. Now it had all the energy and nutrients it needed and the effects of it were visible with a bare eye. He was stronger, faster, more agile and his body almost removed any gap between him and his peers.

However one thing didn't change for him, he was training as much as he used to train, sometimes even more as his tutors were pushing more and more knowledge into him. But it didn't mean that he didn't have time to spend with the family and friends that he had made here.

o-0-o

"He has changed." Freyr said as he stood on the balcony overlooking the training ground.

"Indeed." Wanda Maximoff agreed as she joined him, she became an often guest here and not many looked weirdly at her when she was around. "He afraid of his own shadow at times and now he is more likely to walk into the cave and start poking the biggest lion he can get his hands on."

"Like his father and my own cousin." Freyr nodded with a smile

"There is also a lot of his mother in him."

"I didn't have an opportunity to meet Lady Lily, but from what His Highness said she was a formidable woman."

"She was." Wanda agreed, hint of sadness in her voice "But also a tragic one in the way, she lived and died during a war that she could have avoided if she only wished to do so. Her family was and is one of the most influential families on Midgard and if she wanted to disappear, she could..."

"But she decided to stay and fight." Freyr finished "Decision that not many can make and even fewer does it on their own."

"True." She agreed and her gaze flickered back to Harry "I wonder when he is going to show up a rather famous trait of his family, or at least of his mortal family."

Freyr looked at her and arched an eyebrow, only sign of his curiosity, she hated it in some of inhabitants of Asgard that they didn't show a lot of emotions and feelings. While the rest of them expressed them in an extremely visible manner.

"I mean wings." She said and paused, thinking how to explain it "They tended to appear in his mother family with an interval of a generation, she didn't have it and her siblings or cousins didn't have them. So he should have them and I know for sure that his cousin has them."

"It is certainly going to be an interesting thing." Freyr said and his brows furrowed "We tend to grow up a bit faster than you do, so he might do that during this year or the next one. But when, I won't guess."

"You can't or you don't want to?"

"I can't." He said, making her arch an eyebrow, making him sigh "If he was a normal Æsir or Vanir, as we are l almost the same thing, I could guess that with a good chance of calculating the week or month when he should get them. But he is a mix of a human and an Æsir."

"I was just merely curious." She explained "In humans powers tend to manifest around the age of eleven or more, I know exactly one case when it showed up when she was six."

"Trauma, powerful psychic trauma?" He asked

"Yes" She nodded "How did you know?"

"They are usually connected to a mind in one way or another, so a powerful psychic trauma can cause them to show up earlier." He said and looked at her. "Don't worry about him as he is going to be fine."

"I know." She said and sighed "It's just that he suffered so much during his life that I want him to have a somewhat normal life."

"He will have a normal life." Freyr said and his lips formed into a grin "Or at least as normal as a Prince can have, which for the next few years will be as normal as everybody else, than it gets a bit complicated."

"We will see." She smiled and turned her attention back to the training field. She winced when she saw Harry missing a blade that slammed into his side and threw him into the air.

o-0-o

"When I can finally see my godson?" Sirius asked as he looked at Strange.

"Soon enough." Strange smiled and took a look of Sirius, since the time he was freed he changed, there were still visible some signs of his previous imprisonment, but those would never be removed, but other than that he was a healthy man in his thirties. "I held you here so that you could heal, but also so that you could lose the chase sent after you."

Sirius was silent for a moment and Strange hid his smile when he saw Sirius actually think. "You are right, it's just that I didn't see him since the time of the war and I would like to meet him."

"I promise that you will see him." Strange said and added with a smile "It's the middle of July and I think that you can guess what it means."

Sirius blinked few times and laughed loudly "It means that his birthday is coming soon."

"Exactly." Strange nodded "I also held you back to see if you are fully healed as the time you had spent in Azkaban left you weakened and ill."

Sirius winced at the reminder of the time he had spent in Azkaban, it was an unpleasant one and he wanted to forget it as soon as possible. "So what can you tell me about Asgard and what is going on there?"

"Few things that you are going to need to be comfortable on it." Strange said and summoned for himself a chair, it was going to take him some time to explain to Sirius, Asgard and things that he would need to know about it. Even if Thor or the rest of the royal family and ones that had spent some time on Earth would be more understanding towards him, the rest of them would be far less understanding.

o-0-o

Thor smiled when he saw a portal open in front of him, out of it stepped out Strange, followed by Sirius. His smile widened into a grin, when he saw a look of shock and awe on appear on the face of Sirius.

"Good to see you back, Padfoot." He said

"Is that you, Prongs?" Sirius asked

"It is." Thor smiled as he changed shape to James Potter.

"How? What? When?"

"Didn't you tell him about me?" Thor asked as he looked at Strange

"I left that pleasure to you." Strange smirked

Thor sighed and looked at Sirius. "My father banished me to Earth or Midgard, as it is called here and my consciousness landed in the body of James Potter. I was supposed to learn humility and some wisdom as he put it." He winced and paused for a moment "The plan was that after some time my memories of who I truly was were to be unlocked and he would bring me back to Asgard with Lily and Harry."

"But Voldemort destroyed all of it." Sirius spat viciously "Or more properly that little rat, Wormtail."

"Yes, he destroyed all of it, Harry landed with the Dursley's, you landed in Azkaban, while I was put in coma and for a couple of years we were looking for Harry all over the world." Thor said and looked at Sirius "But that was the past and I want it to stay there."

Sirius was silent for a moment. "Good idea." He said and smiled "Can I see Harry?"

"Of course." Thor laughed "I will show you around and in try to track him down."

"He is getting elusive?" Sirius laughed "I didn't think that he would be already that good."

"He is getting there and he was always good." Thor smiled and patted Sirius's shoulder "Also my brother is teaching him some things, the same one that you used to pray when we were at Hogwarts."

"Loki?" Sirius sputtered out

"Same one." Thor grinned "You should like him."

Sirius was silent and follow Thor through the Citadel, Thor could see that he was a bit shocked by the events of the day, a bit wasn't enough, better would be stupefied. But than, that was kind of expected, he thought, not many have or had an opportunity to be so close to him.

o-0-o

Harry drew his bow and carefully aimed at the target placed at the end of the lane, it was more than three hundred yards and he previously never shot on such a long range. Normally he shoot on one hundred or two hundred yards long one, this was the biggest range he so far used.

"Afraid of the range?" Atalanta asked from her spot to his right.

"In your dreams." He snorted and launched the first arrow, he watched it fly and slam into the target at the far end of the range. However it didn't hit the bullseye or anywhere close to it.

"For the first time, not bad." She smirked and released an arrow from her own bow, it slammed into the target and scored a perfect bullseye. "But not a good enough to compete with me."

Harry growled and bit on his lower lip, drawing the string back and nothing another arrow, he hated being the worse one, especially when he was competing with his friends. Only place that he could happily accept was the first one.

He released the second arrow and his movements became mechanical, he was fully focused on the task at hand, releasing an arrow after an arrow. He released more than two dozens of them before he ran out of arrows.

He discovered it when his hand couldn't reach another arrow and he turned to look at his quiver, only to find it empty. "That was fast." He muttered to himself and looked at the wall of the range with a set of targets painted on it. He could see his arrow scattered all over the target that was in front of him, some of them even in the bullseye.

"For the first time, not bad." Ullr said from the side "But you still need to train as with your bow you should excel at longer ranges."

"What do you mean?" Harry frowned as he looked at his yew longbow, its grip was worn out from the constant use and he couldn't remember how many times he had changed the string of it, at least half a dozen of times.

"You have a longbow, it requires more strength to pull the string, but it also gives a better range than a composite bow like one used by Atalanta." Ullr explained walking forward "She has a smaller one and needs less force to pull the string, which is good when riding on a horse back, while you have one more suited for shooting when standing."

"Oh" Harry nodded when he understood what Ullr meant "My arrows will fly further and will carry a greater force with them."

"Exactly." Ullr nodded with a smile and threw at Harry a fresh quiver full of arrows "Fire this one and you can go as your godmother wants to see you."

Harry grabbed the quiver, attached it to his belt and looked at the target. Sighing he notched the first one and released, this time he was more considerate and slower in firing them, and he took a better aim.

"Much better." Ullr said and Harry looked at him. "You actually thought when firing arrows – he indicated the target and a lot of arrows in the bullseye or close to it – also most of them is in or around the bullseye, now few more hours of practice and you should get to the acceptable level."

"Acceptable?" Harry arched an eyebrow. "I thought that I was better than the last time."

"Good enough for my taste, or at least for a moment." Ullr smirked "You will know when you will get there, now go and find your godmother, she should be somewhere around."

Harry nodded, slung a bow over his shoulder, wiped sweat from his brow and walked out of the shooting range. He enjoyed being there, but after too long of a time there, everything was aching him. It seemed that even with the strength and gift for learning, that all Æsir had, it seemed that still there were some borders that could not be pushed.

o-0-o

Wanda walked through the corridors of the Citadel and towards the rooms occupied by Harry when she ran into a large midnight black dog. Her eyes narrowed when she saw it. "Sirius, what are you doing here?" She asked

"Trying to find Harry." He said as he changed back into a human and grinned at her "Good to see you, Wanda."

"I see that you still are as rash of a dog you used to be." She smiled and looked at him "Couldn't you ask Thor to point you in a right direction or even ask him to show you there and introduce you to him."

"What's the fun in doing so?" Sirius asked her

"You won't change, will you?" She sighed and looked at him, her next words were bitter "I have thought that your stay in Azkaban would make you think first and than do something, not the other way around."

Sirius winced at the mention of Azkaban, but she didn't care about it. Someone needed to beat some sense into his head before he would land once again behind the bars. He was too stupid for his own good and did a lot of decisions that he shouldn't even consider doing.

"I know that you do not like talking about Azkaban." She said as she pushed him against the wall "But you are also a stupid, pigheaded, rash fool, grow up and be more responsible than the behavior you showed on that night."

"Someone needed to chase down Pettigrew." Sirius protested and her eyes glowed scarlet as she looked at him.

"Are you stupid?!" She snarled at him "That was the exact decision that you shouldn't make, yes, he needed to be chased down, but not by you. You were the man the Ministry would be hunting and you were stupid enough to let them catch you."

"But-"

"No buts!" She shouted at him "Behave now or I will turn you into a some sort of an animal and personal feed you to Harry's wolves. Even Thor is more calm and willing to listen than he was when he was James, do you want to get killed right now?"

Sirius was silent, still pinned by her gaze and he seemed unable to move because of it, she could see his cheeks pale and his eyes widen in fear.

"Exactly." She nodded "Are you going to behave or not?"

"I'm." Sirius said and made her smile.

"Good, now let's find Harry as I was also going there and I don't think that he would mind me bringing his godfather with myself." She smiled and released him from her trap.

"So how is he?" Sirius asked as he got up and joined her

"Didn't Stephen tell you things about him?" She arched an eyebrow

"He did, but you know how it is..."

"You would like to know it from someone that spent quite a lot of time with him or close to him." She said and looked at Sirius "I saw him when he was with the Dursley's and I saw him now, he has changed a lot since the time he was with the Dursley's. I know that Stephen told you a thing or two about the time he had spent with them."

"Yes" Sirius growled in confirmation

"He is a small ball of energy." She said with a smile "Catching him if he doesn't want to be caught is a very annoying thing to do, also he is someone that managed to surprise me in a way that I wouldn't expect from him."

"Oh?" Sirius asked

"He likes and wants to learn, even if it means hours of meditation and trying to understand the laws governing the magic and its uses." She said and laughed "And at Hogwarts they fail to motivate people twice his age to learn them."

Sirius looked at her and blinked few times "That was a joke, wasn't it?"

She chuckled softly "That wasn't a joke, I was dead serious, you know that Lily loved to study and it seems that he took it from her. Also his Æsir side helps with it as Loki and several other Æsir told me that they are sharper than an average human is."

Sirius shook his head, she smiled when she saw his reaction, her own was very similar. "So he is a Prince of Asgard?"

"He is." She nodded "Although he doesn't show it that often and behaves more like somewhat normal kid."

"Normal kid that has more space than some families have in their whole house."

"There's that." She agreed and looked at Sirius "Although you had almost as much space as he had, Black family isn't known for being poor."

He was about to say something when they turned around the corner and she walked to the doors set at the end of the corridor, they opened on their own and she looked at Sirius.

"That's his room so behave as his pet wolves are around and they are a bit protective."

"Pet wolves?" Sirius asked as he paled when he saw two wolves emerge from the room and look at him, their fangs bared. "Are they dangerous?"

"No" She smiled as she petted one closest to her "Freki, Geri calm down." She said and they looked at her "He is a friend, so let him pass." She added and wolves took a last look at Sirius and disappeared back into the room.

"That was weird." Sirius shuddered

"They are intelligent and listen to some people, so as long as you don't do anything foolish they will ignore you." She smiled walking into the room, she liked the decor and the sheer size of it, at first rooms in the Citadel felt oppressive and gigantic, but after some time she got used to them.

"That's his room?" Sirius asked as he followed her

"What did you expect?" She arched an eyebrow as she looked around, trying to see Harry. She found him laying on his bed and reading something, while one of his wolves was curled behind him.

"He has changed." Sirius said quietly to her

"What did you expect?" She asked as she walked forward and Harry looked up from the book he was reading.

"Ullr mentioned that you want something from me." He said sitting up and he didn't miss a bit of discomfort that flickered across his face when he moved, he must have been training, she thought.

"He did, didn't he?" She chuckled and looked at him "I merely wanted to talk with you and show you some memories of your parents from the time they were on Earth, as well as introduce someone to you."

"Oh?" He asked, curiosity visible in his voice.

"That someone is your godfather." She explained and saw Harry's eyes widen in surprise. "I guess your dad didn't tell you that you have one."

"No, he didn't." Harry shook his head and looked at her and yelped in surprise when a massive black dog shot out from behind her and slammed into him, pushing him against his wolf who looked at other canine with some amusement in its eyes.

"Sirius, behave." She sighed when she saw what he did, he was amusing and certainly interesting, and it was one of those moments. It was going to be a long day and hopefully by the end of it, the room would be still intact, although she doubted that it would be unscathed, Sirius and Harry could be a bit too much for it.

o-0-o

"So you were one of dad friends when he was at Hogwarts?" Harry asked few hours later as his back was resting against the side of Freki and he looked at Sirius and Wanda.

"Yes" Sirius smirked "I, he, Remus Lupin and one more were called the Marauders and we caused a bit of mayhem."

"A bit of?" Wanda arched her eyebrow "I wouldn't call it a bit, unless you think that changing color of hairs of the whole school to red and gold is something normal."

"What?" Harry sputtered "You did what? Changed color of hairs of everybody to gold?"

"Indeed." Sirius smiled "And many more – Wanda glared at him and he gulped – but I don't think that now is a good time to talk about it."

"Why?" Harry pouted and glanced at Wanda "You dislike him?"

Wanda laughed at those words "Dislike, no. But I don't think that you want to hear about some of their craziest ideas, at least not yet. Maybe when you are older and get used to Sirius."

"Get used to me?" Sirius protested "That's impossible, I'm unique."

Harry laughed at those words and his eyes narrowed when he remembered Sirius change his shape. "How did you change your shape from a human to a dog and back to a human?"

"That's something called an animagus." Sirius said after a moment and a glance at Wanda "It allows you to change your shape into an animal that you have most common traits with, it can be anything or almost anything."

"Can you teach me how to do it?" Harry asked as he looked at them.

Sirius looked at Wanda, who nodded. "We could try as it isn't a thing that should be particularly difficult or dangerous to you and you should quickly pick up how to perform it."

"But you shouldn't practice how to change shape without your dad, uncle or one of us close by as it can be a bit dangerous when you get stuck in the animal form and its nothing too pleasant." Wanda added and looked at Harry "As Sirius said, it's an ability to change into an animal at will, this animal can be anything, but at all times you retain your human mind and ability to think."

"So where do we start?" Harry asked, he was excited as it was one of few things that he wanted to learn since he saw his uncle change shape, sometimes for other people amusement, but more often than not to do something more.

"Boring and long meditation." Wanda smirked and Harry's head slumped "It's not that bad and it's a step you can't ignore as during it you discover who you truly are and what is your animal."

"Fine." Harry huffed and moved on his bed to get a better position. "I'm ready." He said once he sat cross-legged in front of them.

"Focus on your mind and clear your mind from all of your stray thoughts, remove every single one out of it and look for a thing, trait, set of traits that connects you with an animal." Wanda said and sighed "I know that it sounds strange, even weird, but there is no better way for me to explain it as most of us did it based on pure instincts and their intuition."

He looked at them and after a nod from them he closed his eyes and focused in his mind, pushing stray thoughts out of it and looking for things that she had described to him.

o-0-o

Nicholas Fury was a man that many respected and even more feared, he survived the brutal espionage competition during the Cold War, he survived rise of Voldemort and his subsequent fall. He had dealt with probably every single enemy that could be plotting against the humanity, he saw amateurs, masters and idiots play the game. As he looked at the report he just received he was somewhat amused and intrigued by it.

"So he decided to make his first moves." He said to himself and looked at a panorama of Washington that was visible out of his office. He always assumed that Malfoy or whoever was this time was less idiotic, but it seemed that they wanted to prove that they were loud and stupid.

"Unless it is a distraction." He said few moments later and turned his attention to a large flat-screen display placed on his desk. "Question is what he wants to gain from his moves, as now he doesn't get much."

He pushed those thoughts aside and picked up a thin paper folder that landed on his desk this morning. He opened it and smiled "Wisdom is as good as he used to be." He said to himself when he saw what was inside, there was a perfect documentation of what had happened in Azkaban and what was the reaction of the Ministry. Including long term effects that right after the attack were impossible to predict or guess.

"Dementors around Hogwarts." He said with a thin smile "What a brilliant decision on Fudge's behalf, I wonder how long he is going to survive with such ideas."

"Longer than you would expect." Natasha Romanov said as she entered his office "He holds this post since the war with Voldemort ended and he always knew how to keep voters happy and voting the way he wanted them to vote."

"It's not that I don't know him, it's just that I thought that wizards had or have more common sense than that."

"They lack it." She said as she sat down in one of seats on the other side of his desk "I spent more than a year in the Ministry as a mole for him placed there by the Red Room and I know how they think. While I know that you were fighting in it, you were fighting alongside more brighter ones and a better chunk of them has the intelligence of a piece of stone."

"Why it doesn't surprise me?" He asked her and looked at her "Never mind that, how well do you know the community there?"

"Well enough to blend with it, but magic is beyond me."

"I don't need your magic." He said and smirked "I want your espionage and data gathering skills, since Fudge isn't going to get brighter on his own, I will have a mission for you. Sneak into the Ministry and look for any and all dirt you can find on him and his toadies."

She nodded "With pleasure, do you want me to do something else when I will be there?"

He shook head and than paused "If you could, get anything that you can find on Harry Potter and Lucius Malfoy, Malfoy can wait, but Harry Potter is a must as he is someone more important than they even suspect."

"He a is son of Thor." She said with a smile and he looked sharply at her "Thor told us before we payed a visit to Azkaban to get Sirius Black out of it."

"Exactly, than you know why all data about him needs to be moved into our database and far out of Malfoy's or Stryker's reach."

"Yes" She nodded, stood up and slipped out of his office, leaving him to muse about the future and prepare for a new round of the game.

o-0-o

Harry sighed and opened his eyes, he felt drained and exhausted after this meditation, it wasn't that physically demanding, but it was more of a mental drain that took a lot out of him. He saw that Wanda and Sirius were looking at him, mild surprise and shock visible on their faces. "How did I do?" He finally decided to ask, breaking the silence that was in the room.

"Quite good." Wanda said and looked at him "What did you find?"

"Nothing." He said "I hoped for more."

She smiled reassuringly and he looked at her "Nothing during first couple rounds of meditation is kind of expected as it usually takes you a lot of time to guess what is your animal and even more it takes to be convinced of it." Her gaze switched to Sirius "How long did it take you and James to get it done?"

"We started during our second year." Sirius mused "While we finished it during the middle of our fourth year, so almost two years."

"And they were something like six years older than you are at the moment." She added "So you have nothing to really complain about as you are still learning and even people that are much more experienced it took a lot of time to get it done."

Harry nodded and looked at her "Is it possible for me to have more than just a one form?"

Theory says yes... but from what I know nobody during recent history managed to get it done, I'm not talking about your uncle as he is a special case." Wanda said "If you want we can some more on it tomorrow, but not now."

"But why?"

"You are tired and I don't think that you want to be all sleepy and tired during your tomorrow lessons." She smirked and Harry sighed, she looked at Sirius next "I know about a couple of places that you would like so come with me."

Harry smiled as he saw Wanda lead Sirius out of his room, he glanced outside the window and saw that it was getting dark. The fact that it was getting dark, made him realize how tired he truly was and with a massive yawn he slipped out of his clothes, found his pyjamas and slipped into the bed.


	8. Celebrations and Revelations

**A/N - Finally you will see some more than usual training and there is a cliffhanger for you at the end of it. Read and Review**

o-0-o

"You know what's today?" Thor asked as he looked at Harry. They were sitting in one of the numerous chambers of the Citadel, light was pouring into the room through the large stained glass windows, bathing everything inside of it in a plethora of colors.

Harry was silent for a moment, until it clicked inside of his mind and his eyes widened in a surprise, he didn't realize that the time was flowing that fast. "31st July on Midgard and my birthday." He said with a wide grin on his face.

"Exactly" Thor nodded with a smile and ruffled Harry's hair who huffed at this sign of affection. It was one of few things that he disliked about his dad.

"So gifts?" Harry asked with a cheeky grin.

"Yes" Thor nodded with a smile and placed in front of Harry a wooden, elaborately carved box. "Open it."

Harry looked at it, opened and his eyes widened in a surprise when he his gaze landed on a thing that was inside. It was a saxe knife placed on a soft velvet, yet it wasn't a normal one as the hilt of it was carved out of a single piece of horn and inscribed with thin runes inlaid in gold. The blade was made from steel and he could see a thin layer of protective oil cover it. To the side of it was laying its leather scabbard.

"It's beautiful." Harry whispered as he picked the blade up, he could feel its perfect balance and master craftsmanship.

"It's now yours." Thor said with a smile and added more seriously "Be careful with it as it is a dangerous weapon and you can injure someone when careless. Also ask Sif to show you how to use it as it is a bit different from a sword and much more useful as it is more than a weapon, it is also a tool."

"I will be careful." Harry said as he grabbed its scabbard and slid it into it, it slipped into it with a soft click and he looked at his dad. "Thank you."

"No problem, son." Thor said, lightly hugged Harry and looked at him, some amusement visible in his eyes "You can expect a whole lot of gifts, sooner than later."

Harry smiled at those words and took a better look at the saxe knife he was holding, fully appreciating beautiful craftsmanship and how good it belt in his hand, it felt as if it was specifically designed for him. "Cool."

"You can do whatever you want to do." Thor said "I never told you how proud out of you I am."

Harry blushed and smiled. "Thank you, dad."

Thor laughed, Harry picked up box with the saxe knife and disappeared out of the room. If he could have fun away from the court, he was going to have it. Especially considering the fact that he enjoyed much more being far away from the loudest part of the court. Also Sif said something about more training for him and training with her was usually a nice way to spend time, or at least he thought so.

o-0-o

Harry jumped out of the way of Sif's strike and blocked the next one that came towards him with his shield. He grunted when he felt amount of power that slammed into his arm when her strike connected with the surface of the shield. It felt as if an avalanche crashed against his arm and wanted to bury it under itself.

"Why do you need to hit so hard?" He asked her as he looked at his arm, trying to see if all of his bones were in one piece. He felt as if something or someone turned most of them into a finely grounded dust.

"Because you make stupid decisions." Sif bluntly told him "You should have avoided that strike, yet you decided to do the most stupid thing you could have done and decided to block it."

He glared at her, dangerous light in his eyes.

"She is right, ya know?" Hrolf asked him from the side where he was busy sharpening his axe. "Don't assume that everybody with whom you are fighting is on the same or below your level, imagine a duel against let's say your grandfather or maybe even my father.

Harry looked at him and the moment he imagined such duels he paled. "I guess that you are right, but than – he moved a round shield he was holding in his left hand – what's the point of this?"

"To stop strikes that don't come from things that can kill you with just one strike and to protect you from projectiles." Sif explained "It's better to dodge or evade, unless you are fighting in a tight formation than you are forced to block."

Harry glowered at her, but after a moment nodded. "I guess that I was wrong and that you are right."

"I'm older and wiser." Sif said "So I'm supposed to be better and more experienced than you are." She paused and looked at him "Do it once again, but try to dodge or parry it with a sword."

He nodded and gripping comfortable and a very familiar hilt of _Tyrfing_ , he focused on her and her moves, trying to predict where she would strike. The moment he saw her muscles move, his hand shot forward and he managed to push her sword to the side and away from his head.

"Better." Sif nodded approvingly and sent several more strikes his way, making him dodge and attempt to block them, most of them successfully. "Much better." She nodded several moments later and sent powerful overhead strike aimed at his chest.

"Ugh" He grunted from exertion as he blocked it, their blades sending showers of sparks, he was forced to kneel onto one knee before he was able to fully stop it. He tried to move his arm to push Sif's sword away when he felt pain flare up all over his back. He dropped his blade onto the sand of the arena and grabbed space just under his shoulder blade.

Sif's eyes widened in surprise when she saw him drop his blade and she barely stopped her own from crashing into his side. "What is it?"

"It hurts." Harry only said as he held his back, he never ever before felt similar pain, it felt as if someone was pushing white hot iron and twisting it there. His knees buckled under and he would have crashed against the ground if not for Sif who caught him.

"What is it?" Sif asked as she looked at him, her blue eyes looking into his emerald green.

"I don't know." Harry weakly said as tears started to pour out of his eyes. "It just hurts."

She nodded, her palm gloved green and she swiped it over his body, when she did it her brows furrowed and she did it once again. She sharply turned her head to the right where Hrolf and Ulf were looking at her with some worry. "Hrolf, find Her Grace and ask her to meet me in the chamber of the Soul Forge, Ulf the same thing with His Highness."

She grabbed Harry's body and lifted him of the ground, she saw him loss consciousness, but she didn't care about it, as it was a lesser of her worries. And could wait for a moment, while things that she saw with her simple spells couldn't.

She briskly walked through the corridors of the Citadel, heading for the Healer's Halls and the Soul Forge Chamber inside of them. The moment she crossed their threshold healers that were inside looked at her and than at who she was carrying. Their eyes widened and they pointed her in a direction of a Soul Forge Chamber.

"Your Grace" She titled her head when she entered it and inside saw Frigga looking at her and at the unmoving body held by her.

"Sif" Frigga said as she placed Harry's body in the Soul Forge "What did happen to him?" Queen of Asgard asked, worry and care visible in her voice. While she was a ruthless diplomat when needed, she was also a caring mother and grandmother to her family, not to mention one of the finest healers.

"We were training and he said something about pain of and around his back."

She could feel Queen of Asgard gaze slip over her and than turn to her grandson. "That's an interesting thing." Frigga muttered several phrases under her breath and around Harry's unmoving body formed a net of red lines that were the main part of the Soul Forge, in the air also appeared several holographic displays that were showing his life functions and simplified genome. "Peculiar." She murmured

"Peculiar, Your Grace?"

"His body is trying to grow something." Frigga said and than her eyes widened "Of course, so that's what it is." With a wave of her hand she enlarged image showing Harry's DNA and to its sides appeared two smaller ones. "One in the middle is his DNA, to the sides is DNA of a mutant from Earth and of a wizard." She explained and indicated Harry's body "It decided that it is ready to start showing mutants traits and this pain of his is associated with the first of them."

"What is it?"

"His bones will become hollow, his sight will sharpen even more than our normal is and his lungs as well as muscles around his chest will become more efficient and bigger." Frigga explained and at the same time Thor walked or more properly run in. Ulf almost chasing him as he tried to keep up with the Thunderer.

"What is going on?" Thor asked and than his gaze landed on the body of Harry, who seemed to be asleep, breathing slowly and evenly, as if he didn't care about the world around him. "What had happened to him?"

"Nothing bad." Frigga said in soothing, calming voice. "His mutation just started to manifest in a painful way." She saw his eyes darken and she raised her hand "Don't get rash as he should be fine or mostly fine."

Thor grumbled, but Sif could tell that he decided to stay silent and let them do whatever they were doing, it surprised her a little as he wasn't known for being the most patient being, but it seemed as if having a son and more responsibilities made him able to think first and act second.

Frigga with a wave of her hand made Harry's body rotate so that she could see his back and she hummed quietly as she looked at it, with another wave she sent his shirt to a side where it folded on its own and she took a better look at his back, there were two barely visible protrusions that tried to push through the skin. "No wonders he felt so much pain." She muttered and at the tip of her middle finger appeared a thin beam of raw magical energy. She moved it towards one of those protrusions and opened one of them.

Some blood flowed out the moment her knife punched through the skin, but more importantly something feathery came into the view, it was a wing or at least a beginning of one as it needed to grow to reach its full size. She did the same thing with the second protrusion and afterwards with a wave of her hand she made all the blood vanish and healed all the cuts that she had done in his flesh.

When it was done she caught Harry's body and looked at Thor. "Take him to his room and afterwards I wish to talk with you about few things."

Thor carefully picked up Harry's body from her and meekly nodded "Of course, mother."

o-0-o

Thor looked at Jane who walked out of the side corridor, he didn't expect to see her here. "What are you doing here?" He asked as she joined him.

"I was also asked by your mother to join her, you and your father in his study." She explained "I wonder what is it all about."

"I have a feeling that I know about what it is."

"Oh, amuse me." She smiled sweetly and looked at him "You seem weirdly silent and grumpy."

"It's about Harry." He finally said after a moment of silence.

"What did he do this time?"

"On his own nothing, but a certain thing showed up." Thor said as they turned around the corner and arrived almost in his grandfather study, it was at the end of the corridor. "His mutation appeared and she most likely wants to discuss it."

"You didn't mention it to her, did you?" Jane arched an eyebrow

He paled as he realized that he didn't mention anything about Harry's mutation or the possible one. "I might not have mentioned it to her."

Jane sighed and looked at him, flickers of amusement visible in her eyes "And now you are wondering why she wishes to meet you."

"Point taken." He nodded and waved his hand to open doors in front of them. The moment he stepped inside he saw that his parents were there and his brother was leaning against the wall, usual smirk on his lips.

"Good that you decided to grace us with your presence." Odin said and looked at Frigga "Can you explain to me why did you decide that all of us need to meet here and now?"

"It's about Thor and something that he omitted or forgot to tell us." Frigga said "Mainly the fact that Harry is a mutant and what is his mutation."

"I knew about it." Loki said with a sly smile on his face "It was quite obvious for me since I started to show him some of magic that is explained through sending images and emotions instead of talking."

"But the point still stands." Frigga said and Thor winced as he felt her gaze bore into him "So why didn't you tell us about the fact that he is a mutant and that it will take a form of wings?"

"I don't know." Thor said and sighed "I wanted to enjoy having him around and do not bother about such details."

"Details?" Jane arched her eyebrow "I wouldn't call them details, it's one of those things that you should have told them, you didn't have too many qualms about telling about them to me, Wanda or Sirius."

"Can we cut the chase and focus on the biggest problem?" Loki asked "Bringing all the dirt from the past will give us nothing and we will only lose our precious time, one that we could use in a much better way and more productive way."

"Yes" Thor nodded and looked at Loki, who seemed smug and sure of himself, that is more smug and sure of himself than he usually was. "I think that you already have a plan ready, care to enlighten us about your brilliance and wisdom?"

"Indeed, I have a plan." Loki agreed and smiled "But in truth it's a pretty simple one and it was suggested to me by Jane and Wanda, as well as my own travels all over Midgard." He paused and Thor could see a smirk on his face that wouldn't bring anything good, at least for some people "On Midgard there is an academic institution called Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters and it is focused on teaching mutants on how to use their powers in a safe manner and more importantly his cousin will be attending it, sooner rather than later."

"And he needs to have friends and acquaintances on Midgard as well as he has a family there." Frigga said "So I can see where you are going with it and I like it, as it should be a good thing for him. Question is only when we should send him, Jane?"

Jane was silent for a long moment before she spoke "I would say that once he turns twelve or so as he is going to starts Hogwarts when he is fourteen, so having him spend a year or two at the Institute isn't a bad idea. I know some of people from it personally and two things that I'm sure about them is that they will teach him a lot and that he won't mind this idea."

"Very well." Odin said, he was silent for most of the time, listening to them and giving them time to show their opinions and ideas. "He will be sent to this Institute once he turns twelve, Thor, you are the Crown Prince and while lies are sometimes needed in the politics, I don't want to learn through some other means about things that you had forgotten to mention to me."

Thor paled and nodded "Of course, father, may I go to see him?"

"You can."

o-0-o

Ugh, what happened to me?" Harry asked as he woke up, with massive headache that seemed like it didn't want to stop and weird sensation around his back, as if something new had appeared there, also his memories of what had happened earlier were a little fuzzy.

"You lost consciousness and certain powers of your appeared." Thor said and handed him a mirror "See yourself in it. You will see what I mean by that."

Harry nodded, took the mirror and when he saw himself in it, around his shoulder area he saw two black protrusions. He couldn't believe what he was seeing, it looked like he had wings. He was used to weird things, but people having wings weren't one of them.

"Do... I... Have... Wings?" He stuttered, not sure if he was seeing things right. He felt them and when he touched them, he could say that they were rather sensitive and real, but it still seemed impossible and hard to believe thing.

"Yes." Thor nodded as he sat at the edge of Harry's bed and looked at him. "You inherited the potential from your mother's family, which has appeared in the past, but she and I thought that it had disappeared. They usually manifest at birth or shortly after, but since you didn't have them; we thought that the potential hadn't manifested in you."

"My life won't be normal?" Harry half asked, half pouted. "I hoped life here would be without any major surprise."

"Normal isn't always good." Thor said reassuringly "I lived for over thirteen hundred years and I can say normal that can be boring rather fast. Weird or interesting on the other hand can be good and certainly more enjoyable and interesting.

"I hoped to have a typical and boring life here, not a surprise being thrown at me every few weeks or months." Harry pouted as he looked at his father who had a mischievous flicker in his eyes.

"Talking about surprises and good news for you." Thor slowly said "I might have two pieces of them, one that you have one more cousin on your mother's side of the family and two that you might get to Earth sooner than for Hogwarts."

"I hope that he is better than Dudley." Harry growled

"He is as his father would best out of his head any of such ideas."

"So when I'm going to meet him?" Harry asked, hope and longing visible in his voice.

"Unfortunately not soon, as around your twelfth birthday." Thor said seriously "You need to learn many things before you are ready to go to Midgard and it will take some time for you to learn them all."

He huffed and glared at his father, challenge visible in his eyes.

Thor looked at him "It isn't as safe as you have it here and you will need to be better in your weapons handling and magic before you will be safe there." He paused and sighed "It's not that you should need those things, but the place where you would go tends to draw a lot of attention and you might need to know those things there."

"What place?"

"Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters." Thor said with a thin smile "You should have heard about it."

"Who didn't?" Harry asked, excitement visible in his voice "X-Men are rather popular and I remember uncle Vernon complain about them."

"Your cousin should be attending and if you want to attend you can do that."

"I would love to." Harry smiled

"Good" Thor smiled and ruffled his hair "Now rest and tomorrow or so you will have lessons with Sif."

Harry nodded and watched his dad leave his room, he yawned and looked outside the window, he could see the third moon become visible on the night's sky. He moved to a more comfortable spot on his bed, pulled up the quilt and closed his eyes. He felt tired and needed his precious sleep, or more properly his body demanded it.

o-0-o

Sirius looked up from his tankard and saw Thor enter the inn, one thing that he enjoyed about Asgard were multiple inns and taverns with a variety of beers and ales to choose from. The fact that he could drink as much as he wanted or needed was nothing to sneeze at.

"Once again getting drunk?" Thor asked as he sat down and moments later one of serving girls arrived with another tankard full of ale.

"No" He shook his head and sipped his beer "Just contemplating the past events and what the future will bring. And trying to come to terms with the fact that my friend is the Crown Prince of Asgard of all places and is a nearly immortal being."

"I can just die like you or anybody else." Thor said quietly "We don't want to admit it, but we are as mortal as almost any other species is."

"But you live thousands of years."

"True" Thor winced and looked at him "Harry is a mutant and that's sure."

Sirius's eyes widened in shock and surprise. He took a long sip of his beer, enjoying the bitter smell of it and looked at Thor. "When did it happen and how?"

"When he was training with Sif. Somehow he overextended himself and well, his wings decided to show up."

He was silent for a moment, considering those words, they were a bit surprising. "So you plan to send him to Charles?"

Thor nodded "He is the only or one of few that I would trust with teaching Harry how to use powers that he will have. Also Harry needs to learn about his mortal relatives and this is one of the best occasions and places for him to do so."

Sirius laughed, barking and ragged "He will love meeting his cousins and mutants from Xavier's."

Thor smiled and nodded "Aye, he will."

Sirius sipped his ale and looked at his friend. "You know that he will have issues because of that at Hogwarts? They might point at him and at his wings."

Thor growled "Let them try." At the same time above the inn rumbled a loud thunder, shaking everything and startling other patrons.

"Calm down and control your powers." Sirius said, trying not to chuckle, he failed it miserably and started to laugh.

"Sirius" Thor sighed "I love you like a brother, but sometimes you are an annoying person and I will punch you through the wall."

Sirius paled for a moment and nodded "What about the fact that I'm still a wanted person by the Ministry of Magic and they might do something stupid?"

"I think that you won't need to worry about them for a lot of time." Thor smiled "You can stay here for as long as you want or wish to, on Midgard I think that Fury will make sure that the Ministry won't chase you."

Sirius was silent for a moment, considering those words and trying to compose an answer. He didn't expect to hear such things from Thor, he thought that he was here only for some time and that he would need to leave this realm, sooner rather than later. "I would like to stay here until let's say Harry goes to Xavier's and after that date I would like to return to Earth. I'm honored by the hospitality of your father and the fact that I'm allowed to stay here, but I don't want to overstretch it."

Thor nodded and smiled "Since you are going to stay for so long, what do you plan to do?"

"Teach Harry how to be an animagus and to relax." Sirius said and laughed "After seven, almost eight years of Azkaban I want to have a long, nice holidays, away from Earth and in a nice place."

"Animagus?" Thor asked "When did you decide to do that?"

"It was more of him asking us." Wanda said with a smile as she joined them. "He goaded us into doing it" She sighed and looked at Thor "He is a convincing person, I know how to deal with such, but he played me the way he wanted to do it."

Thor looked at her and later at Sirius "You were convinced by a child? I know that he is my kid, but still."

"Y…Yes" Wanda admitted after a moment "He is… He is convincing and resisting him is hard."

"Do you know that he spends an awful lot of time with my brother?" He asked them

"That would have explained it." Sirius nodded and made a note to speak with Loki about Harry and what he knew, he was getting genuinely scared of him and it seemed that Loki found a worthy apprentice, one that had a mind like a sponge and wanted to learn.

"Yes" Wanda agreed and looked at Thor "You want him to attend the Institute?"

"Yes" Thor nodded

She winced and looked at him "You know what is my opinion about it and how do I like Charles."

"Can we not bring it up?" Sirius sighed "During the war your bickering with Charles almost destroyed the Order."

"Fine" She nodded, finished her ale and walked out of the inn. Sirius looked at her and could tell that the next few days were not going to be good, as her temper tantrums were interesting.

"Thank you." He dryly said and followed her out of the inn, leaving the Thunderer behind.

o-0-o

Harry feared that the three years that he needed to wait until he could come back to Earth or Midgard would stretch into infinity, but he was wrong as they passed in a blur, he didn't even feel the flow of the time and it was already a summer when he would celebrate his twelfth birthday, probably the most important one or one of the most important ones for a young Æsir.

During those three years he had changed and grew up, grew up a lot, while previously he was kind of small, now he was standing at a very respectable five feet and several inches tall. He could feel that he was even stronger, faster and more agile than he first arrived here. Not to mention the fact that now on his back were huge black wings. On Earth he didn't have friends or a family in the true meaning of this word, here he was surrounded by such people.

He looked at the reflection of himself in the golden doors of the Throne Room and briefly smiled, he was wearing a full plate armor forged out of mithril and steel, every single inch of its surface was covered in elaborate carvings and was beautifully decorated, making it look more like a piece of art than an armor. He corrected the cloak that was falling down his back and looked at the guards that stood along the sides of the doors. They pushed them open and he stepped into the Throne Room, entering the room his gaze swept over the crowds that were inside and a narrow corridor kept open by two rows of guards.

At the other end of the room he could see his whole family standing around the throne where sat his grandfather. He slowly walked down the stairs onto the floor of the chamber and with his head held high he walked across it, hearing cheers from the whole gathered room. Coming to the stop in front of his grandfather's throne, he knelt on a one knee, took the helmet of his head and placed it to his side on the ground. He was looking at the stone floor of the room, not at his grandfather's face as protocol banned him from doing so, the fact that he was his grandson didn't matter.

For him it seemed like an eternity before his grandfather decided to speak, his voice loud and perfectly heard by everybody in the room. "Do you, Harald James Thorson swear to uphold values precious to Asgard and swear to protect them?" Odin asked as the silence fell over the entire throne room. Rustling of the leaves outside of the room and banners lazily flapping on the wind could be heard.

"I do." Harry loudly said as he still didn't dare to raise his head, as according to the protocol he couldn't. Even if he was a grandson of Odin and in the future would sit in his place, now he needed to show that he submitted to his will.

"Do you, Harald James swear to be a fair and just ruler?"

"I do." Harry loudly said

"Do you, Harald James swear to protect all inhabitants of Vanaheim from both external and internal threats?" Odin asked and there was heard some surprised muttering as not many expected those words to be said.

"I do."

"Raise, Harald James Thorson Shield of Vanaheim, Lord of the West March, Jarl of Södermars and Black Forest." Odin loudly said as he nodded at one of squires that were waiting to the side of his throne. He was keeping a signet ring with a large diamond in the middle of it, it was a sign of Shield of Vanaheim. Second one being personal banner showing a running wolf on a green shield.

Harry stood up, slipped signet ring onto the ring finger of his left hand, picked up his winged helmet and walked onto the steps that led to the dais on which was placed throne of his grandfather. It was one of many ceremonies that would be held on the day and during the rest of them he would with his family.

"You did good." Thor whispered to him as he slipped into an open spot to his father side.

"Thanks, dad." He said and focused on the room and what was going inside of it. He didn't miss the looks Jane was exchanging with his father, tomorrow would be their wedding. He smiled briefly as he tried to imagine how loud and long those celebrations were going to be. Especially considering the fact that they were combined with his own birthday and that would make them even louder.

o-0-o

Harry entered into the banquet hall, looked around and smiled briefly when he saw how many people and beings were inside of it, he was used to it being full, but it seemed to be even more full than it usually was. His eyes swept over it until he found one of people that he enjoyed talking to.

"Atalanta." He said softly when he pushed his way through the crowd and managed to find her.

"Harald." She nodded "I guess that congratulations are in order."

"Thanks." He smiled and looked at the sun that was slowly hiding behind the horizon "Are you looking forward to those tournaments and celebrations that will follow this feast?"

"Who isn't?"

"Point taken." He nodded "Its just that the length of them annoys me a bit."

"Why?" She arched an eyebrow, the only sign of how surprised she was.

"They're getting boring for me after certain point." He explained "I know that it sounds silly, but it's just me."

"So how true are those rumors that you will travel to Midgard for most of the next year?" She asked as they walked onto the terrace and stopped at the railing, enjoying the view.

"Very true." He nodded "I want to meet with one cousin of mine and have some fun away from most of the nobles and all of the rules of the court."

"Lucky you." She said and her eyes widened when an eagle screamed above them. "What was that?"

"Hábrók." Harry smiled as he extended his arm forward and the eagle landed on it, digging its claws into Harry's clothes. "Gift from my godmother." He added with a smug smile.

"You know that eagles are a sacred animal of my grandfather?" She asked, somewhat pale on her face. As if afraid of something.

He lightly ruffled some of Hábrók feathers and looked at her. "And what?"

"It's just that he might have issues with you having an eagle."

He laughed softly and looked at her "Are you aware that eagles are also a sign of kings and emperors all over Midgard?"

She looked at him as if he was insane and than shook her head. "He is a member of the Council and you want to bring something like that? I knew that you were a bit foolhardy, but that is pushing it hard."

"I'm not planning to showing up anywhere close to him for as long as it is possible."

"Still, that's pushing your luck to its extremes and even when dueling with Sif you tend to be less stupid."

He looked at her and was silent for a long time, she once again looked at her and could see corners of her lips rise. "Are you having fun out of me?" He asked her seriously.

"No." She chuckled softly and looked towards the banquet hall from where could be heard the sound of a horn. "It seems that the feast is about to begin."

"It is." He smiled and glanced at her "Shall we head inside?"

"We shall." She nodded with a smile, Hábrók jumped off his arm and flew into the air, and he followed her inside.

o-0-o

On the day of the wedding whole Asgard was decorated in banners in colors of hours of Odin as everybody prepared for the usual procession through the city, starting from Heimdall Observatory and ending at the Palace where would be the main ceremony and after that feast after feast. Guests from every realm arrived bearing beautiful and extremely expensive gifts for newlyweds as well as their best wishes.

Harry stood alongside his grandparents and uncle as they waited for arrival of Thor and Jane from the ride through the city. Steps leading to the Palace were lined by the Royal Guard in their winged helmets and standing still. All around them were packed various nobles, ambassadors and vassals as well as commoners and other people that managed to get place there as many almost lined the main alley leading into the palace.

Sun was shining above their heads as the sky was cloudless and there was light breeze coming from the sea that made standing still in crowns and heavy clothes with summer sun above somewhat bearable. Yet even with that Harry shifted uncomfortably in his ceremonial armor, wishing for everybody to move faster and get it done sooner. He felt as if he was slowly being roasted over a large fire.

"Here they come." Loki quietly whispered as the beginning of the column emerged in their view, white horses of the guard easily visible, following them was even more guard, followed by an open carriage with Thor and Jane, which was followed by even more guard. They slowly rode through the city and above them banners lazily flapped in the wind.

Several more minutes of ride carriage came to halt in front of the corridor formed by the royal guard. Thor was first to leave it and helped Jane descend onto the ground as in her dress getting out of it was a little challenging without any help.

Once both of them was on the ground they passed through the corridor made by the guard who stood silent and still as if they were sculptures. As they were passing through that corridor, cheers that previously were loud, now became even louder as Thor was beloved Prince of Asgard.

o-0-o

"I knew that dad was popular, but this is crazy." Harry whispered as he looked at Loki. He could heard quite a loud shouts and cheers coming from the crowds.

"He is that popular." Loki replied with a smile as he looked at the crowds, Thor and Jane slowly walking through the corridor made by the guard. "Generally all of us are liked, even I."

"I noticed that." Harry said as he remembered how he was greeted when he was with his uncle or dad visiting one realm or another.

Odin smiled as he saw his son and his bride walking up the stairs to the place where the rest of royal family stood. They stopped in front of him and lightly bowed their heads, in that way they showed their respect for him and the fact that he was their liege.

"We gathered here to be witnesses to a marriage between my son Thor and his bride Jane. Do any of you oppose this marriage?" Asked Odin as he slammed his spear into the floor and silenced the crowds, starting the ceremony.

There was only a silence as nobody wished to challenge Thor, especially on his day and he was their beloved Prince.

"Do you swear to treat her fairly and justly? Do you swear to love her?" Odin asked as his attention landed on his son.

"I do." Loudly said Thor

Odin gaze landed on Jane "Do you swear to obey him? Do you swear to love him?"

"I do!" Said Jane

"Than I declare you husband and wife!" Announced Odin and looked at them. Thor grabbed Jane and kissed her passionately among the cheers coming from the crowd. Harry tried not to sigh as he followed them into the Citadel as it meant the beginning of the next round of feasts and he was already bored by them.

o-0-o

On the following day Harry was forced to wake up early as celebrations would start in the morning and would last for the whole day and into the night. After quick and small breakfast he headed for bathroom and to get dressed, today he would be wearing armor that was forged for him by dwarves few weeks ago. It consisted of mithril chainmail which was heavily gilded and covered in gems, onto it went mithril breastplate with holes in the backplate to allow wings to stick out through them and giving them full range of movements. It was a huge headache for ones that were making this armor for him, but after few days of playing with magic and science they managed to came up with a solution. His legs and arms were protected by further plates forged out of mithril and once again were covered in heavy gilding. To it was also horned helmet, but for today he would wear his coronet, there was also cape that was short and wide enough not to get tangled in his wings or between legs.

Harry took last calming breath and walked out of his chambers and headed for part of the palace where tournament would take place. After several minutes of walk through the maze of hallways and corridors he finally arrived in the box of the royal family, where rest of it was already gathered. Frigga looked at Harry and nodded approvingly as he looked good in that armor and behaved natural, while some had problems with it as a lot depended on fitting armor to the user.

"I have something for you." She said getting Harry attention, who looked at her as she fished out of her clothes ring made out of red gold with triskelion in the middle of it, chiseled out of ruby and bracelet made out of four gold wires with yet another triskelion chiseled out of ruby in the middle of it. There were also two far simpler bracelets with them, they seemed to be simple bands of steel inscribed with rows, upon rows of runes. "Ring is enchanted to be a hiding place for your sword, press triskelion in it and it will appear. Bracelet is hiding place for your shield, while those two will help you control your strength when on Asgard

"Thanks, grandma." Said Harry fondly as he put on ring on middle finger of his right hand and bracelet went onto his left arm. He pressed triskelion on his ring and from it appeared Tyrfing. He did that once again and it was gone.

Odin looked over the crowd and slammed his spear into the ground, silencing them and opening the tournament that would last for next two days and at night there would be huge feasts. Doors leading onto the arena opened and the first pair of fighters entered.

o-0-o

As Harry was used to big feasts, this one was way bigger than the ones that he previously saw, layout of the room was changed as there were several more tables in the room to accommodate additional guests that arrived for the ceremony and feast after it. From his seat at the high table he could see guests from almost every single of realms, there were graceful and tall elves from Alfheim, fair-haired and gentle Vanir from Vanaheim, powerful and proud dwarves from Nidavellir. Envoys and ambassadors from other interstellar empires, even few gods from Olympus if his sight was right. As well as hundreds of Æsir that were here to celebrate marriage of their beloved Crown Prince Thor.

Harry excused himself from the feast rather quickly as he wanted to rest and in morning be full of energy as it was another day of loud, really loud celebrations and tournaments. Also he was a bit bored by them and he didn't see a point in sitting there, while trying not to yawn too openly.

o-0-o

Harry leaned against the railing of the balcony outside of the banquet hall as he stood there with his friends. It was second day of the tournaments and tomorrow would be a giant feast and celebrations as it was wedding day and such events in the royal family tended to get big and loud. They were a show of power of the royal family and how important they were.

"So far those tournaments look interesting." Ulf said as he looked at his friend. He quickly took liking of Harry, he was a bit annoying for a few times, but after that he was a nice and a good friend. Also their constant duels were one thing that made sure that they were training at their highest level.

"Yes" Harry agreed "I spotted few that might be my sworn shields and swords, grandfather agreed about them and they will be sworn on the day after tomorrow."

"Your Highness." Said someone as he approached them. Harry took a better look at him and was able to tell that it was Wolf Prince of Vanaheim. He was a tall man with golden eyes, tanned skin under which were visible wiry, hard muscles, he had mane of unruly black hair and was wearing similar clothes to Vanir. Also his canines were extending beyond his lips and gave him slightly feral appearance.

"Wolf Prince Hrimhari, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"You have fine wolves." Hrimhari casually said as he looked at Freki and Geri who were laying nearby. "They seem to be fond of you."

"You can speak with wolves?" Harry asked, more than a bit shocked, as he didn't expect such things.

"Yes." Hrimhari nodded as Freki whined softly looking at Wolf Prince. "We do not talk freely about it as we aren't liked everywhere, but we can talk with wolves. You probably know that we can transform into wolf or somewhere in between."

"Yes, Heimdall mentioned that when he showed me Vanaheim." Harry said and frowned "But why you aren't liked everywhere?"

"It's not us per se." Hrimhari said as he scratched Freki, behind the ears "But our cousins, ones touched by the curse of Wulfen or Fenrir, you may know them also as lycanthropes or werewolves. They can't control their wolf spirit during full moon and are rather savage during that time. Because of that they are hunted on Midgard wherever they are spotted or even when there is a rumor about one being nearby."

"Not only there." Atalanta said quietly "On Olympus they aren't liked and are hunted as they are hated by my aunt Artemis, because they bit one of my cousins, a son of Apollo."

"So you aren't liked because of not your actions, but because of your cousins?" Harry asked as he looked at Hrimhari.

"Yes." Wolf Prince said sadly. "Same can be told about elves as light ones aren't liked everywhere due to their dark cousins that waged war against your great-grandfather in their foolish attempt to destroy Nine Realms and bring back the eternal darkness."

"I see."

o-0-o

"Harry doesn't know that but he causes quite a shock among nobles." Loki quietly said as he stood near Thor, who only raised eyebrow. "He is talking with Wolf Prince Hrimhari of Vanaheim."

"That will be interesting." Thor quietly said

"It will be." Loki agreed "Many are jealous that Hrimhari gets attention of Harry, but this friendship will help him."

"It will as they are a loyal people and one that you want to be friendly with."

"Who is this Hrimhari?" Jane asked

"One of the biggest and most powerful vassals of Prince Freyr of Vanaheim and leader of Wolf People." Explained Thor as he looked at Jane. "They can change shape from wolf to human or somewhere between. Excellent trackers and hunters, they will track down everything you need to be tracked."

o-0-o

In front of Odin kneeled six Aesir, ones that impressed him or other members of the royal family during two days of tournaments that were held as a part of celebration of Harry turning eleven. Most of them were second, third or fourth sons of various nobles of Asgard, it was the best chance for them to make a name for themselves as well as to get titles as royal family payed generously to their guards.

"Do you swear to protect Prince Harald Thorsson, even at the cost of your life?" Odin asked them as their swords laid bare on the stone of the floor in front of them.

"Yes, I do." Every single one of them said.

"Do you swear to obey Prince Harald Thorsson? And to follow him into the battle."

"Yes, I do."

"Than raise, sworn shields and swords of Prince Harald Thorsson." Odin as they raised from the ground, at the same Sif moved forward to the front of the crowd. "Lady Sif will tell you about your new duties as well as show you your quarters inside of the palace and armory."

o-0-o

It took over two weeks for the feasts, tournaments and other celebrations to finish and it took a further week before Harry was ready to travel back to Earth. He sighed as he looked at his godmother and dad quietly arguing about something, he sighed and looked at them. "How long I will need to wait until you are ready?"

They looked at him and later at each other. "What about now?" Thor asked

"Yes" Wanda said, Harry could tell that she wasn't happy about something. "The sooner we are done with it, the sooner I can do something else."

"Thank you." He said with a smile "As I was getting bored by your argument."

Thor ignored his remark and glanced at Wanda "Can you open a portal for us."

"With pleasure." She smirked and in front of them appeared a vortex of energy "Step through it and you will land in the Avengers Tower."

She was the first one to step through it. Harry glanced at his dad and together they stepped through it, he could see that his dad was changing into his James Potter form. He himself was eager and ready to see what Earth would bring to him, also he was eager to meet his supposed cousin – Warren Worthington III. _To be continued…._


	9. A Great Adventure begins

**A/N – A couple of next chapters might take an awful lot of time to publish as I have other things coming and they are far more important than fanfiction is. There is a cliffhanger in this chapter, but it was asking for it. Read and Review.**

Harry stepped out of the portal and looked around, he was definitely on Earth as he definitely didn't see flashy architecture of Asgard, instead seeing sharp lines and angles that were so common on Earth, as well as glass and steel being everywhere. Also the air felt different, in one from Asgard he could feel heavy smell of furs and here it was gone.

"He looks a lot like you, Thor." Someone said and he turned around, just to see a man in his early thirties walk towards them. In the middle of his chest was a circular object that was glowing soft blue and it didn't take him a lot of time to figure out that it was Tony Stark, as much as Dursley's kept away from the news, Stark was a person that was everywhere and not hearing about him was akin to impossible.

"Tony" Thor said as he shifted back to his normal look.

"Hold on for a second." Tony said and they looked at him "You just changed shape as if it was nothing. How is it possible?"

"Magic."

"Just like that." Tony frowned "Didn't you break something like a dozen or so of laws of physics?"

"Discuss that with my brother." Thor smirked "He is the one that always kept track of the laws, I'm the one that uses them and knows how to do it well."

"That blown up town in New Mexico being a good example of it." Hawkeye said as he walked in and stopped when he saw that Thor wasn't alone. "Hey runt."

"I'm not a runt." Harry huffed, dangerous glint in his eyes.

"You are the youngest one, so you are still a runt." Tony said as he passed by and looked at Hawkeye "Remind me that he is now known as a runt."

"Are they always like that?" Harry asked as he looked at his dad

"Pretty much yes." Thor smiled "You will get used to them rather quickly, they are the only two that are about showing off and being snarky. Rest is nicer."

Harry nodded and looked around "Where is Wanda?"

"Most likely went to find other members of the Avengers." Thor explained and looked at Tony "Since you are done with your snide remarks, can we get down to business?"

"Uh, sure." Tony said "What do you want? The usual for him?"

"The usual?" Harry arched an eyebrow

"Your own room and some gadgets that you will like." Tony said and looked into the air "Jarvis, is room 11 free?"

"Yes, sir." Feminine voice said, it was coming from nowhere and everywhere causing Harry go jump up.

"The hell is that?" Harry asked, a hint of fear and surprise in his voice.

"AI of the tower." Tony said "She runs it for most of the time and helps when we need something. I called it Jarvis and it will help you." He snapped his fingers and looked at Harry "Jarvis, add him onto whitelist, Access Level Seven. You go by Potter or Thorson?"

Harry looked at Thor "Which one should I choose?"

"One that you like." Thor smiled

"Potter." Harry said and Tony nodded

"Jarvis, add Harry James Potter, Access Level Seven." Tony said

"Yes, sir." Was heard moments later "Welcome to the Avengers Towers."

"I guess, thank you." Harry said reluctantly, he was used to one or another form of AI as they were common on Asgard, but they usually had a physical manifestation and keeping track of them was easier. "Can't you make it have a corporeal body?" He asked with a glance at Tony.

Tony blinked few times, looked at him and was silent for a moment. "Kid, that's the best idea that I have heard in a long time. Jarvis, is it possible?"

"Yes, sir."

"Start making it." Tony said and looked at Harry and Thor "And now what would you say about a tour?"

"I like it." Harry grinned and they followed Tony into the maze of corridors. He showed mainly him, as his dad was a common guest here, a common area, a shooting range, small, yet fully equipped gym, swimming pool and anything else they would need for training or enjoying their time. Also during that time he met the rest of the Avengers that were at the tower, that is Steve Rogers, he looked for him like a typical or not so typical soldier and Bruce Banner, who seemed to be constantly tinkering with things in his laboratory. After that it was the time for rooms and Harry smiled when he looked around his new room, while he loved one that he had on Asgard, this one was less lavishly decorated and wasn't as oppressive as was one that he had in the Citadel.

It had the basic necessities, that is a bed, several sets of drawers, a large desk, a wardrobe, several shelves and en suite bathroom. Things that he came to love about it were huge windows that took a better part of one wall, providing plentiful of sunlight and walls that were painted in a soft shade of red with thin stripes of darker red and wider of gold that ran along the top and bottom of them.

"Do you like it?" Tony asked him

"It's perfect, thank you." He said with a smile

"I think that you will also like this." Tony said as he handed him a Stark Industries designed phone, tablet and a laptop. "I hope that you know how to use them, your father crushed more than a dozen of them."

Harry laughed at those words, imagining his father crushing something, it was an interesting image for his mind. "Yes, I know how to use them." He said after a moment "Also I have those." He said, moving his wrists and making bracelets that were on them ring softly.

"What are they?"

"They keep power in check." Thor said as he joined them "Or at least they help to fine-tune the control one has over it."

"Just like that?" Tony frowned "Or is there something more?"

"There is more to it, they are tuned to ones magic." Thor explained ans pointed at ones that were on Harry's wrists "If I used his, it wouldn't work, the other way around it might have worked, but they are done for every single person and connected to their magic. If you want details, ask my dear brother about them."

"Fine, fine, fine." Tony nodded "So why did you come down to Earth with him?"

"Mainly his cousin. Warren Worthington III."

"Worthington family, eh." Tony said and looked at Thor "The richest family outside of Stark and they always knew how to run a business."

"Yes, that one. Do you know them?"

"It's hard not to know them." Tony said and looked at Thor "You were James Potter the previous time you were here, right?"

"Yes" Thor said and blinked few times "Are you thinking about the thing I am thinking about?"

"Yes" Tony nodded and making Harry sigh.

"What are you talking about?"

"The thing that you are going to learn in a proper time." Thor said and looked at Harry. "Explore the tower and have fun, while I'm going to pay some visits."

"Sure" Harry smiled, it wasn't a pleasant smile, more of an impish one that didn't bode too well. It seemed that he was going to have a lot of fun in the tower and he liked some of its inhabitants almost instantly. Hawkeye seemed like a nice person to know and Tony even with his snarky attitude was a friendly person. The rest of them also wasn't that bad, in fact was rather interesting.

o-0-o

Thor entered the lobby of the Ministry of Magic, Mjolnir in his hand, he needed to explain some things to Crouch Senior and Fudge as the two of them were irking him. He looked around until he found the nearest worker and growled at him. "Where is the office of Crouch?"

"That way?" Worker said pointing towards a wall behind him.

"Thank you." He smiled and with a right hand he hurled his hammer forward, it struck the wall and flew into the office space behind it. He stepped forward, jerking his hand backwards, the hammer flew back to it, punching second hole in the wall.

As he stepped through the hole in the wall and into the offices that were behind it, he could see fear and shock on the faces of wizards and witches that were in the Ministry. Some of them even recognized him and lightly bowed to him, showing their respect and getting out of his way. Which made his task a lot easier as he didn't need to deal with every single one of them and some even pointed him in a right direction to go.

A bit more of throwing his hammer around and few more scared wizards later he was in front of the doors with a plane on which was written – Bartemius Crouch Sr. He knocked them open with his hammer, turning them into shreds, and stepped inside. "Crouch! We need to talk."

"Who are you?" Crouch asked as he turned around from his desk, wand pointed in his direction.

"Thor Odinson or one that might be your slayer." He said while swinging his hammer.

"But you are a myth." Crouch said paling rapidly

"Am I a myth?" Thor asked and roared at Crouch "I'm Thor Odinson, Thunderer. All the power of the storm, from all the world, flows through my veins, and can be summoned by mine hammer at any time, wherever it is. A lightning storm in Japan? Mine. A hurricane off the coast of Barbados? Mine again. A brace of tornadoes in Kansas? Aye...mine. All that might, all that destructive force, mine to command. Channeled and guided through the mystic might of this hammer, guided right at thee!"

Crouch was paling rapidly as Thor was saying those words and the moment he was done, Crouch was as pale as the snow was. "How may I help you?" He asked, sweating profusely.

"Sirius Black and his unlawful imprisonment."

"He killed the Potter's." Crouch protested and barely ducked as Mjolnir was flung towards him. The hammer punched a hole in the wall of his office and come back into it, punching another hole.

"I'm James Potter and Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper!" Thor roared and added coldly "Fix it or you will die. One thing that I can promise you is that you won't have a pleasant death. My brother and my father's interrogators will be happy to provide you with a slow death."

Crouch fainted at those words and slipped onto the floor.

"Sir?" One of the Ministry workers asked as he looked into the office. Thor could tell that he was as scared as everybody else in the Ministry was, he was pale and his eyes were widened.

"Yes?"

"Where we can leave a message if it is solved and Sirius Black is exonerated?"

"Avengers Tower." He said and pointed his hammer upwards, it started to spin and moment later he was in the air. Mjolnir punched a straight line upwards and he come out of the ground in the middle of the streets, shocking everybody as they didn't expect a god to just show up. He wasn't going to talk with Fudge as it would be a waste of time, instead he flew back to the Tower.

o-0-o

Dumbledore looked up from the papers he was reading and smiled when he saw Loki appear in his office, Norse God of Magic and Mischief seemed weirdly happy and it immediately put him on edge. "What news do you have for me?" He asked as he pushed aside his fears and worries.

"My brother got with Harry to Earth and later he paid a visit to the Ministry." Loki smirked as he conjured a comfortable armchair for himself.

"The Ministry is a ruin?"

"They have some damage, but Thor controlled himself." Loki smirked and pointed at the dementors outside the window "Those things should be gone in a couple of days or you will have a very nice show of fireworks."

He followed Loki's gaze and nodded. "I assume that the Ministry will stop their hunt for Sirius Black and exonerate him?"

"That would be right, but also I don't think that they want to cross Fury on this one and from what I learned he is collecting dirt on them."

Dumbledore nodded and sighed "As much as I respect Nicholas for what he had done and is doing, I don't really approve of such methods."

"They work really well and that's all that matters." Loki said and added after a moment "What about your little project with Charles?"

"I didn't think about it too much – he indicated dementors that were outside – also with those around I didn't dare to invite anybody to the school." Dumbledore said and looked at Loki "If they are gone, I would consider it as it is a thing that I think is a good idea."

"Dementors that are outside, well, you can forget about them as they will be gone and won't show up here any time soon." Loki smirked "So I suggest that you speak with Charles about this little project of yours as it is an excellent idea and opportunity that you might not have for a really long time."

"Especially with Harry being at Xavier's." Dumbledore said with a kind, grandfatherly smile.

"Among other things." Loki said and narrowed his eyes, so that they resembled a pair of slits "If you think that you can use him in your game for a Greater Good than you are a fool and you will be struck down before you will see it coming. Is that clear?"

"Crystal clear." Dumbledore nodded and looked at Loki "What about the Ministry having problems with the project?"

Loki only laughed, his laugher sweet and melodic "Let them try." He said after a moment and glanced at the ceiling "I will visit this school in a few days, now I bid thy a good day."

Dumbledore nodded and watched as Æsir God of Magic left his office, it seemed that he would need to do some planning and preparations for a project he had put on a shelf some time ago. But Loki was right about the fact that now was the best time for getting it done and it would be a great adventure for everybody that would take part in it.

He stood up, walked to a fireplace, grabbed a pinch of a Floo powder from a bag that was on a mantlepiece. He threw it into the fire and the moment it turned color to emerald he said "Professor Xavier office, Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters." He stepped into it and was gone from the UK.

o-0-o

First few days back on Earth were certainly interesting for Harry as he got dragged through all possible shops by Jane, who joined them on the following day after his return to Earth, and Pepper, who was Tony's assistant as they decided that he was lacking proper and comfortable clothes for being on Earth. In ones that he had from Asgard he would stand out among the crowd and that was without those giant wings on his back. While he could hide his wings with magic, he couldn't do much about clothes.

"Why you two love shopping so much?" He sighed as they were on their way back to the Tower, most of the car filled with various bags and boxes that contained everything that they bought.

"Because shopping is fun." Jane laughed "It's one of things that I missed on Asgard, as much as I love Asgard, shopping from time to time on your own is fun."

"Maybe for you." He huffed and focused on his phone and thing that he was reading on it.

"That was the last shop." Pepper added cheerfully "So stop sulking and look at the bright side of things."

He sighed and nodded, even if he disliked shopping, he was forced to agree that shopping with the two of them was a thing that went rather quickly and he hopped that he would avoid such a large shopping for some time. Also he could admit that they did it rather fast and it meant that he now had all the time for himself and activities that he was going to enjoy.

o-0-o

"Not bad." Hawkeye nodded as he watched Harry shoot an arrow after an arrow into the targets placed at the end of the range. He saw a lot of archers and marksmen during his work for SHIELD, but he was forced to admit that Harry was most likely better than a better part of them and much younger than they were.

"Than what is good for ya?" Harry asked as he lowered his bow and looked at him.

"Thing that you just did." He smiled and ruffled Harry's hair "You could do it faster, but that wasn't the main goal of the exercise. I wanted to see how good is your aim and it is good enough, at least for this task." On his lips appeared a smirk as he turned towards the console set by the wall, he punched a couple of buttons and on the shooting lane appeared several obstacles. "Let's see how good you are now."

"Obstacles?" Harry asked as he notched another arrow onto his bow.

"Yes, you seem to know how to shoot and this one is a tiny, tiny bit harder." He smirked and watched Harry once again shoot, this time he was doing it much slower, but with the same precision and ease as earlier, making him almost get afraid of him.

"He was always good with a bow." Loki said as he appeared to his side "So you need to get used to him having an aim, not many have."

"I noticed that." Hawkeye dryly said and glanced at Loki "Is it a standard education on Asgard for children to learn how to use weapons?"

"In noble families, yes." Loki nodded "They need to learn hundreds of things and this is a nice break for them from trying to learn and remember all of the rules of etiquette and more academic subjects. Children from normal families learn it at a later date as they don't need to know all of those things that we need to know. But even than, they still learn it when they are young."

"So, what else does he now?" He asked, indicating Harry who seemed to be focused on watching the pattern in which obstacles appeared and moved.

"Hand-to-hand combat styles, how to use a sword, a spear and a bit of a hammer and of an axe. Also magic or at least the style we teach on Asgard, how to ride on a horse and several other things."

Hawkeye nodded and shuddered a bit. "He is going to be a powerful addition to the team when he will be ready and willing to join."

"Fury is already planning that." Loki smirked "Also when he will be at Xavier's, I would guess he is going to join one of X-Men squads in a couple of days since the beginning of his stay there."

"I think that we need to pity ones that will try to mess with the Institute or X-Men." Hawkeye chuckled lightly "They will get trashed and sent back in pieces."

"Indeed." Loki nodded with a smirk "I'm curious how bad they will be trashed and in how many pieces they will be sent back."

"We will see." Hawkeye said and looked at Harry "Do you want it on a harder level?"

"If you wish." Harry shrugged off as he launched one arrow after another.

"Well" He smirked and turned back to the console to make it harder, bringing it from hard to impossible or almost impossible. "Have fun with this, if you get beaten, don't complain as you wanted it."

o-0-o

Charles Xavier heard a characteristic chime of a working Floo network and looked towards the fireplace set in the corner of his room, only to see Albus Dumbledore step out of it. "Long time no see, Albus, what brings you here?"

Dumbledore vanished soot from his robe and looked at him. "Our little pet project that we were working on few years ago. There is also your new student that should join the Institute from the beginning of this term."

"New student?" He asked as he turned to look at Dumbledore "Who do you mean by that?"

"Harry Potter, although now he goes by Harald James Thorson." Dumbledore explained with a smile "Younger cousin of Warren Worthington III, son of Lily and James."

He was silent for a moment and than he shook his head, sending away his stray thoughts. "So that's why Tony wants to meet with me on tomorrow afternoon." He looked at Dumbledore "How sure and determined you are about the project we were planning to do? I don't want to drag you into a thing you wouldn't like or that would be a source of problems."

"Very, we need to unite and that's the best way to get it done as otherwise they will eat us alive."

He looked at Dumbledore, considering his words and after a moment nodded in agreement. "Very well, if you are committed to it, I won't oppose it and you can send several students here in let's say third week of September?"

"That would be good." Dumbledore agreed with a smile "Enough for them to get used to the fact that there is school and that they need to study, but early enough to be willing to go on an adventure."

"Exactly, send me a message once you are sure about it and you have a group ready for it." He said and looked outside the window "They might be shocked by the fact that Harry Potter is here and that he is a student."

"Shock isn't bad." Dumbledore said and walked to the fireplace "Have a good day." He disappeared in a show of emerald flames that were a trademark of Floo, leaving him to his own thoughts.

He closed his eyes for a second, looking for minds of several people that he wanted to talk about this exchange and other things. Also he was a bit curious about what this Thor's son would bring. Harry seemed like an interesting person, but he might be also a source of issues with Warren, he tried to remember what he knew about the youngest and technically the sole surviving member of Potter family.

o-0-o

"No! I won't!" Wanda shouted at Thor "You know how my relations with Charles looked like and I don't want to be near him."

"Wanda" Thor sighed and looked at her "Can't you forget for a moment about the fact that you two dislike each other and try to think that's for Harry?"

She was silent for a moment and than looked at him. "He will be fine without my presence there. I do not wish to be anywhere close to Charles, at least for some time yet. I respect him, but I have my reasons for not liking him."

"I know that, hell, I even heard some of your arguments." Thor said and looked at her "Just try to be civil around him, I do not want much from you. Just be civil around him, can you try it?"

She looked at him and clenched her fists. "I will give it a try, but if it all goes south, don't be angry at me that it happened."

"I won't." Thor promised, he knew that convincing Wanda to agree to this was going to be hard, but he had never expected it to be that hard. "Remember that Charles is also Tony's godfather and they might not like your temper bursting forward and demolishing the tower."

"Can we not bring this topic up?" Wanda asked as she sat down on the sofa and looked at Thor. "I'm Harry's godmother and I will respect your decisions about his upbringing and future, but let me have some input on it. You could have heard me before throwing this thing onto me."

"Yes, you are his godmother, but I'm his father." Thor said, power flashing in his electric blue eyes "And he is mine son and mine responsibility, not yours and while I appreciate your opinion and what you say, I won't ask you every single time I will be deciding something."

She was silent for a moment and Thor could see an internal struggle in her as she tried to control her temper, he knew he was blunt, but she needed that. "Fine" She said after a moment. "He is your son, but for six years it was me, not you, who tried to deal with the Dursley's and to make sure that he survived there. Not you! So let me have some input on his future and upbringing."

Thor winced at those words and looked up, he saw a fierce determination in her eyes, he could tell that she wasn't going to budge. "What made you so protective of him? And what did you expect from me?"

She snorted at those words and looked at him. "What made me so protective of him, you ask? Did you see how they treated him? Did you?" He didn't say a word and remained silent "Than don't even dare to question why I'm so protective of him, ask Ullr or your own brother about it. They will happily tell you why I am so protective of him and how he lived at Private Drive." She took a breath and looked at him "I want you to just take my opinion into consideration when making a decision, not much else, I know that you are his father, but for more than six years you stayed out of his life.

"So don't be a thick headed asshole that don't understand other people and what they want from them, but think and be more of an understanding and warm person that I remember from the time when you were James Potter. Can you do that?"

He took a deep breath, clenching his fist and trying to control his rage. "I will try, it's just that I had lost my son and I finally found him. I will try to take your opinion into consideration, I guess that I will need to do that for his well-being."

She smiled and looked at him "It wasn't that much, was it?"

"No" Thor shook his head and stood up "Are we done with our arguments?"

"For the moment, yes." She nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Thor to his own musings.

o-0-o

Harry stood to the side of his dad when into one of larger meeting rooms of the Avengers Tower arrived a bald man in a wheelchair with a shorter, stocky one accompanying him. One that accompanied him had a look of a seasoned warrior with a grizzled face and a lot of muscles visible under his clothes. Even if he wore a suit, he still was a warrior, just one wearing very fancy clothes.

"Hello Charles" Thor warmly said as he walked forward and shook the hand of the man sitting in a wheelchair.

"James"

"You know each other?" Harry sputtered in shock and surprise.

"We had met during the War." Thor explained with a smile "Those are Professor Charles Xavier, better known as Professor X and Wolverine or Logan."

"I like him." Wolverine said "He looks a lot like you, those wings look strangely familiar."

"Because Warren has the same." Professor X said and looked at Thor "Tony didn't mention why you wanted to meet with me, but now it's clear. It's about your son, isn't it?"

"It is." Thor said as they sat down around a small table "It's about him and Warren, as well as about the Institute."

"It will certainly be an interesting year." Wolverine said and looked at Professor X "Tell me that you are considering accepting him into the school."

"I'm." Professor X smiled and looked at Harry and Thor "Harry, you will be able to meet your cousin during the school year or soon before it as he should be there at the end of August. Also if you want to attend the school, you are also invited."

"Can I?" Harry asked as he glanced at his father.

"Wanda won't like it as she has some disagreements with Charles and Logan, but yes." Thor said with a smile "You should like it and you will have an opportunity to meet Warren and get to know him better, also if Beast is still there, you should come to like him."

"Hank is still teaching." Professor X nodded and looked at Harry. "What is your answer than?"

"Why not." Harry said "It's not that I have anything better to do and it sounds like fun."

"Perfect." Professor X nodded and looked at Thor "I think that you know where the Institute is."

"I know." Thor nodded "I will take him there on 30th August or so."

"Good" Professor X nodded "This year will be a really interesting one as there is a small project that I'm working on with someone and if it will work..."

"It will be an even better year." Thor finished with a smile "My brother mentioned to me what is it going to be and I really like it."

Professor X nodded "That everything is settled and I'm expecting you at the Institute at the end of the month."

o-0-o

Harry laid in his bed and looked at the ceiling as he thought about the events of the day, he was kind of excited and eager to see the future and what would come out of it, yet he was kind of afraid of it. He knew it was silly, yet he felt that way. He turned to the side, reached out to switch the lights off and sighed. He was tired and needed his rest, yet his mind didn't want it as it wanted to wonder about the future to come and about the Institute.

He finally decided that he would get nothing from simple worrying, pushed all of those thoughts aside and closed his eyes and sleep quickly arrived to him and without any dreams. For which he was glad, as dreams usually were _interesting_ and didn't allow much rest.

o-0-o

Scott Summers looked at the rest of people that were gathered in Professor's X office. "So it is true that the son of Thor will be a new student?"

"Yes" Wolverine said "He is also a cousin of Angel, so we can expect usual competition and butting heads."

"It will be interesting." Beast said and everybody looked at him "He is half-Æsir and they are stronger than humans, much stronger than humans. I didn't have time to do a lot of research, but from what I learned, they are also brighter than we are."

"How much brighter?" He asked, he was Maths teacher and if he was going to have a genius level person, he would need to refresh on some of the more obscure parts of his subject.

"They have IQ of 140 or 150, while normal human scores around 100 or so. So if you are thinking about throwing at him everything that you have, you might do that."

"Placing him in the class with in his age group will be only a recipe for a problem." He scratched his chin and looked at Beast. He had a plan, but it sounded ridiculous or at least it sounded as such to him. "What about placing him with Rogue, Shadowcat and the rest of their group?"

Beast was silent for a bit and nodded. "I was thinking about the same thing, while I know that Storm won't like it, with younger ones he will bore himself to death."

"You know that you can outvote me and I will be forced to accept your decisions?" Storm asked and Scott could see that she wasn't happy about what was going on. "As you said, he is brighter and most likely more mature than some of the youngest X-Men, so while I think it's not the best idea, I won't argue with you."

"You do not consider placing him on the actual squad, are you?" He asked, he knew that Harry was most likely going to be eager to join an actual team or squad, there was an issue of his age and father.

"Not yet." Wolverine said and looked at him "I was thinking about placing him on Chevaliers training squad. Emma?"

Their attention was turned to Emma Frost, their former enemy and now reluctant ally. "Another one won't matter too much for me, even if he will be added, he will be quickly moved to one of the main ones. If what you saw is true about him, than he will be a juggernaut and well..."

"He will demand to see an actual action and not being stuck in the Institute." He finished and frowned "What did Professor tell about him?"

"That if he is like his father than we better get ready for one that will be rash, brilliant when in battle and love flying." Wolverine said "As well as there is a matter of who his father was when on Earth."

"Potter family?" Emma asked

"The same one." Wolverine said as he turned to look at her "You heard about them?"

"Who didn't." She shrugged off "Not hearing about them in certain circles is like not knowing about Tony Stark."

Scott sighed and looked at them. "His past is less important, at least at the moment. I'm more worried about that project on which Professor is working. Harry, whatever you say about him, is also a wizard and ones that will come here are wizards and they ain't subtle."

"Let them come." Wolverine growled as from between his knuckles emerged his claws "I will explain things to them and they will understand, also there is an old, good Crusher for them."

He sighed and looked at their rash and kind of brutal friend, although considering his background it should have been expected from him. "Logan, how many times we need to tell you that attempts to break everybody that arrives isn't the best idea? Sometimes words and example can be of bigger impact than beating them."

"Fine" Logan said as his claws slipped back into their pockets, Scott could easily tell that he wasn't happy and had a different opinion on the subject.

"I think that Professor will keep them on a leash." He said and looked at Storm "You know how he is and you know that he hates several kinds of people, including bullies and troublemakers, or at least those that aren't just mischievous and foolish troublemakers."

"Why are you looking at me?" She asked

"Because of the fact that you are Vice Principal and one that knows how he thinks the best. So if one is going to guess how he will react, it's you and you only."

Storm was silent for a moment and than nodded. "He will control them and do that in a manner that will make them understand that such ideas aren't approved or at least won't be tolerated."

"Good." He nodded and glanced at the clock that was hanging on the wall. "Goodnight, there is no point in staying up late and I need to be awake tomorrow."

"Night" They muttered as he slipped out of the room.

o-0-o

Fury stepped out of the lift and took a look around the dry-docks hid below the bottom of the Potomac River, he felt pride as he looked at the three, the newest helicarriers being constructed and prepared for their missions.

"They look impressive." Maria Hill said as she slipped to his side "Stark did a really good job of redesigning the first one and they should be more efficient by around ten percent."

"How soon they will be ready?" He asked as he turned to look at her, she was his right hand and Deputy Director, with a bloody track record.

" _Valiant_ in a year, the next two will take two or three years to finish." She said and indicated a large hole in the side of one of them "One of their arc reactors was almost overloaded and it delayed them by a couple of months."

"Saboteurs?"

She sighed and he could tell that she was gathering her thoughts. "Officially it was written off as an accident, in truth, yes."

He took a long look of her and than turned to look at the helicarriers. "I want you to head to Europe. You will carry out hunt for the former Death Eaters and all of their supporters, agent Romanov will brief you on them and their style of work."

She blinked few times and nodded. "Of course, sir, do I have any restrictions in what I can do and how?"

"All of high-profile and visible targets need my confirmation before their elimination. Other than that you have total freedom in what you do and how."

"I understand." She said and turned to look at the helicarriers "What about HYDRA cells?"

"What HYDRA cells?" He asked as his hand slipped into a pocket of his coat and gripped handle of his gun. This was supposed to be on the level that nobody excluding him had access to and she shouldn't know about it.

"Ones that are inside of our agency, ones that were responsible for this – she indicated the hole in the side of one of helicarriers – and ones that work on God only knows what."

He took a deep breath, controlling his nerves and reactions from slipping out of his control and looked at her. "Do not mention those things to anybody, not even people that you work with. You will do that and I will kill you. Is that clear?"

"Crystal clear" She nodded and he could see a flicker or two of fear on her face.

"The truth is that I don't know who is a mole, or at least who is an important one and in the leadership. I know that you are clear, as are Avengers, but the rest is an unknown to me." He said and paused "Trust no one and make sure that ones guarding the Death Eaters that you will catch are clear. HYDRA worked at least once with Death Eaters and I don't want it to repeat."

She nodded and walked out of the cavernous dry-dock leaving him to his musings, he pushed them aside and followed her out of it. He took the nearest lift and rode to the top floor where was his office. When he walked out of it his eye for a moment widened in surprise. He didn't expect to see him here.

"To what do I owe this visit, Peter?" He asked as he walked to a man that was standing in front of doors leading into his office.

"We need to talk, Nick, in a more private setting than this."

"Than come into my office." He indicated doors of his office and they slid open.

"How sure you are that we won't be overhead."

"As sure as I can be." He said and moved his finger over a button placed in the middle of his desk, glass in the windows became dull and shutters slid over them. He never saw his friend so afraid of something or worried about the secrecy of their meetings. "Now we can talk freely."

"Good" Wisdom nodded "It's about... _To be continued_


	10. Something new

**A/N – This is first out of many chapters that make let's say the second large plot of the story – X-Men Saga. Harry explores the Institute, his powers and some people try to play they game and Loki is meddling in the affairs of the world.**

 **I'm spoiling you a bit, but than since now till middle of May I won't have much time to publish – finals are coming and I want to get the best grades possible.**

"As sure as I can be," Fury said and moved his finger over a button placed at the edge of his desk, glass in the windows became dull and shutters slid over them. He never saw his friend so afraid of something or worried about the secrecy of their meetings. "Now we can talk freely," he finally said.

"Good, as I want it to stay secret," Wisdom said and looked at Fury, "It's about the Ministry of Magic and their doings."

"What did they do this time?"

"Fudge won't budge about dementors around Hogwarts and he still wants to hunt Sirius Black. I told him in the face that he plays with fire here and he ignored my words."

Fury looked at his friend and thought over those words, it wasn't a good thing for them as it only meant troubles, especially with things that he was hearing from Xavier's and Hogwarts. Also the fact that he himself heard from Sirius that Pettigrew was a Secret Keeper, not Sirius. He closed his eye for a second as he tried to find any solution that would work. "Can't you go through the government?"

"I have tried it, the Prime Minister talked with Fudge, but he got nothing concrete out of the Minister, who weaseled out from any promises and gave only vague answers. Answers that mean exactly nothing.

He sighed and considered their options for a moment, none of them was good and most of them was in various shades and colours of bad or really bad, some even was insane or extremely risky, not that he had anything against risky actions if they bore fruit. "Would an assassination attempt be a thing that wizards would accept?"

Wisdom winced and looked at Fury. "Some would understand as they also have no love for him, but the most of them, no. They love him as he defends their interests and gives them everything they ask him for. Also ones that love him have power and influence so they will be a pain if he gets killed."

He was silent for a moment, considering options that were left. He could have ordered assassination of Fudge, but that would most likely cause a civil war to broke out, if it was happening in a small and far away country, he wouldn't even shed a tear, but here it was in the middle of Europe and it was one of the most important countries.

"Would blackmailing work in this case?" He finally asked.

"If Fudge was a reasonable person, than yes," Wisdom said and sighed, "But he lacks any intelligence or brain and he will ignore anything you throw his way."

Fury sighed and looked at Wisdom. "I don't remember the structure of the Ministry very well, but isn't DMLE ran by Amelia Bones, who doesn't like Fudge."

"It is."

Fury smiled at those words, his smile predatory and dangerous. "If that's the case, could you ask her to call off the hunt for Sirius and to return dementors back to Azkaban?"

"I can try doing it, DMLE has a lot of power, most of it unused and with Dumbledore's backing, this would pass rather easily." Wisdom said, thoughtful expression on his face "Speaking about Dumbledore, he is working on a project with Xavier and if it works out, ground under Fudge might start to burn. Slowly at first, but given time he won't be able to do too much against it.

"Anything that hurts Fudge and helps us is a good thing. I heard about this project and I plan on shooting down any attempt to sabotage it." Fury said and paused for a moment, _should I tell him about it, or shouldn't I. Why not? It won't hurt him to know it._ "Maria Hill will be in Europe in few hours to help you with Death Eaters issus that seems to be popping out of nowhere."

"I would have lied if I said that I don't need or don't appreciate your help. I was thinking about sending Banshee to Hogwarts to keep an eye on things. But with her nosing around, he might be too much."

"Banshee?" Fury asked, _if he is pushed to sending Banshee to watch out for troubles at Hogwarts, it must be bad_ , he thought and took a better look at Wisdom. Previously unseen circles around his eyes and lines on his face became visible. Lines that were formed due to hours spent without sleep and hundreds of worries.

"Yes, it's dangerous with Malfoy rousing troubles and he is not the only one that smelled blood in the water," Wisdom said and looked at Fury, "I have a feeling that even those old terrorist groups that went into hiding some time ago, not to mention Purists and Friends of Humanity are rebuilding their structures."

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Wisdom, those weren't good news, if he was going to be honest they were bad, really bad. "If they are doing that, something or someone is trying to increase the stake of this game. Can I borrow Banshee for two and a half of a year or maybe longer?"

"I don't have any better assignment for him so, yes, you can have him. Just don't get him killed and return him in one piece and with all of his limbs working."

Fury laughed at those words and it took him a moment to compose himself and put back his normal mask. "I plan on him being at Xavier's, you should guess why and Charles won't mind some help. As with Purists meddling, Ross might have a brilliant in his opinion idea and attempt to move against mutants."

"I have thought that after this issue with Magneto was settled, there was made an agreement that he will stop his campaign of terror in exchange for mutants not being persecuted."

"There was made an agreement, but you know Ross."

"Point taken." Wisdom said and looked at the dull surface of the windows. "I will get things moving in the UK and hopefully get things under some resemblance of control."

"Good luck." Fury whispered as he watched Wisdom get out of the room. _He needs a lot of luck, most likely more than I need_ , he thought, _he is going against Malfoy, Death Eaters and Purists, who seemed to be rearing their ugly heads._

o-0-o

Harry blinked few times and yawned as he woke up to the sunshine, he was still used to the fact that in Asgard windows of his room were on the south side, while here they were on the eastern side. Which was unpleasant and hard to get used to.

He ignored the sun, got out of the bed and made his way to the bathroom to get cleaned and prepared for the day. He was still getting used to being on Earth and not on Asgard, but he didn't mind it. Here he could be himself and do not care too much about the rules of conduct and etiquette which on Asgard would be viciously obeyed. Also some of normal, kind of mundane clothes felt for him better than ones that he would normally wear on Asgard.

With a smile he stepped out of his room and made his way to the common area, it was than that he realized that today was 30th August and that later today he would meet his supposed cousin.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Tony said when he saw him.

"It's not that late," Harry said, sitting down and summoning a plate of toasts that he spotted laying around and looking tasty.

"Yeah, sure. It's only late enough for your dad and Steve to train."

"Which is still early," he said between bites.

"Maybe for you, but most of the civilized world is already awake," Tony said and looked into the air "Jarvis, is everything ready?"

"Yes, sir. Project Oracle is ready," Jarvis said

"Launch it," Tony said and there was a shimmer of air, when it was gone in front of them stood a woman in their late twenties dressed in business clothes and curiously looking around. Only thing that hinted that it wasn't a human being was a faint shimmer around the edges of the body. Otherwise it looked like a human woman, not a hologram.

Harry's eyes widened in surprise, he didn't expect Tony to figure it out so quickly. "You developed a corporeal body for her? That fast?" He asked as he glanced at Tony.

Tony smiled and ruffled Harry's hair. "Most of the components were already done, it just needed to be put together and here you have it."

"It's awesome," Harry said and finished his toast, he put down the plate and looked at Tony. "Where is Clint?"

"Where do you expect him to be?" Tony asked

"Right, archery range," Harry said to himself, walked back to his room and grabbed his bow and a quiver of arrows. When he entered the range he saw Hawkeye launch arrows into targets at the end of the lane. He was used to a really good archery on Asgard, but seeing Hawkeye fire with an even greater ease than Ullr made him gape like a fish.

"Still impressed by my shooting?" Hawkeye asked as he finally noticed that he was not alone in the room.

"Yes," Harry said and walked to another lane. Just in case he looked around to see if there were any people in his way. Spotting nobody, he notched an arrow and drew the bow, aiming at the target at the end of the lane.

He muted out the noise from the rest of the world and focused on the target in front of him, after he released the first arrow, the rest of his shots became mechanical, he was getting a new arrow out of his quiver, notching it and releasing.

"Good job," Hawkeye said getting him out of his musings, he looked at him, curiosity in his eyes. "All of your shots in the bullseye and I don't think that you want to play with a harder scenario today as it's your great day."

"No," Harry said and walked to the target to get arrows out of it and put them back in the quiver. "Clint, how did you get so good with archery?" He asked as he joined Hawkeye.

Clint looked at him for a moment, as if considering if he should tell him. "I worked in circuits for some time and I was always a good archer, you know that with practice you can get far, don't you."

"Can't you not remind me about practice part?" Harry asked and made Clint chuckle.

"It's a true thing," he said ruffling Harry's hair as they walked out of the range and came face to face with Thor.

"So that's where the two of you disappeared," Thor said, "I should have expected that, you spend hours there."

"Or climbing," Clint added with a smile, "So I don't see anything bad in it."

"Try climbing into Hogwarts in the middle of night."

"Did that, wasn't that hard honestly, this tower took me more time."

"What you didn't do?" Harry asked

"A couple of things," Clint said and looked at Thor, "Do you want me to drive the two of you to the Institute or are you going to fly there?"

Thor looked at Harry "It's up to you, although flying there might not be the best idea."

"Yeah," Harry said, "So can you drive us there?"

"Meet me at the garage of the tower, " Clint said before disappearing and leaving father and son alone.

"Are you going to take all of your weapons with you?" Thor asked as they slowly walked to Harry's room.

"Yes," Harry said as he glanced at his dad, "Should I not take them?"

"No, I was just asking."

Harry took a long look at his dad, something was not amiss, he just couldn't figure out what it was. "Dad, do you suspect troubles to follow me to the Institute?"

Thor sighed and was silent for a moment. "I will put it that way, the Institute tends to draw the attention of less than savoury elements of the society and all kinds of shady-looking individuals. So you should guess why I wouldn't mind you being armed when there."

"Yeah," Harry said, he heard more than enough about shady-looking people to know that they usually meant a lot of trouble. "Without, it could be a troublesome thing. So what should I expect from it?"

"That you will have fun, enjoy yourself, meet new people and learn new things. Also there is Warren Worthington III, your older cousin."

He nodded as he entered his room and looked around, thinking what else he was going to take to the Institute. He waved his hand around the room, making clothes, underwear and hundreds of other things fly towards his bag and fold neatly inside of it. "About Warren, what I can expect from him?"

"If he is anything like his father expect someone that is kind of arrogant, cold to ones that he doesn't know and or trust, if you get to know him, you will see a different person," Thor said and added after a moment, "Also he might be a bit of a show off, Worthington family is one of the richest families on Earth."

Harry nodded as he was focused on packing his stuff, he zipped the bag in which was his bow and two quivers of arrows, each containing twenty of them, as well as several other dangerous or lethal things. He lifted it and threw onto one that held his armor and several other things that he could need.

"What did you take from the armory?" Thor asked as he looked at those bags.

"The usual things," Harry said as he lifted them, threw over the shoulder and looked at his dad, "It was you who suggested, I should take them, so I decided to do so."

"I was just checking," Thor said, "Since you seem to be ready, let's go and find Hawkeye."

Harry nodded and followed his dad to the garages that were on the subterranean level of the Tower, just out of sight and mind of most of people.

o-0-o

The first word that came to Harry's mind when he saw the Institute was that it is interesting or at least it looked as such. He could see a castle located in the middle of sprawling garden and surrounded by an old forest. It didn't look as impressive as the Avengers Tower looked, but it had something special to it. Something that made it more unique and special than the Tower ever was going to be.

In the Tower everything was made out of steel or glass, or both of those things, here he could see stone, brick and glass, as well as plenty of wood. Also it was an old place, while the Tower was brand new, not even a decade old. This looked like it was at least a century, if not more, older than the Tower.

"It looks the same way it looked when I last saw it," Thor said, bringing Harry out of his musings.

"You were here?" Hawkeye asked

"During the War we used it to rest away from Voldemort and to heal. It was one of the most secure and best defended places, also SHIELD was closer than it was on the other side of the ocean, " Thor said and glanced at Harry, "What do you think about it?"

"I like it," Harry said, "While I also like the tower, this place has something special to it... Something that draws me towards it and puts me at ease."

"That would be an effect that Professor X has on everybody and it's combined with the powers of other telepaths," Thor said, "You know how Atalanta can influence your emotions and feelings if she wishes to?"

"Yes"

"That's the same, just much, much more powerful and on a much larger scale," Thor said, and smiled, "Considering that most of this place inhabitants are teens with various powers and temper issues, it's one of reasons why it is still standing intact."

"Well, we are here," Hawkeye said as he pulled his car to a stop in front of the entrance into the mansion, "Thor, should I wait for you or are you getting back to the Tower your way?"

"I will take a trip to Asgard first," Thor said, as they got out of the car.

Harry looked around curiously, noticing more of the details of the place that made it look and feel even warmer and more welcoming. However something deep inside of his mind told him to be on guard and watch out for something watching them. With a corner of his eye he saw a couple of leaves move, something that a human wouldn't spot. "We aren't alone, are we?" He asked, glancing at his dad.

"Good eye." Thor smiled "He is most likely trying to test you." He looked towards one of the bushes and said loudly, "Logan, you can come out of hiding. Unless you want me to make you come out?"

"No need for that," Came gruffy reply and they were joined by a man that Harry earlier saw with Professor Xavier at the Tower,"The name is Wolverine and by the looks of it I will be one of your teachers," he said as he joined them.

"A pleasure, I guess," Harry said and took a better look at Wolverine. _He looks like a warrior or a soldier and is far older than his look suggest,_ Harry thought.

"Professor wants to meet you so I will take you to him," Wolverine said and turned to Thor, "He will be fine here, so no need for your presence, also Storm dislikes when she can't control the weather and it looks like you brought a storm with ya." He indicated a swirling mass of clouds that was moving towards the Institute. They were dark and heavy, the kind of them that usually created storms.

Thor glanced towards those clouds and they stopped in their tracks, disappearing as quickly as they appeared. "Happy?" He asked turning towards Wolverine.

"Yes," Wolverine said and looked at Harry, "You don't freak out at such things?"

Harry only chuckled at those words, it was a funny question in his opinion, considering that Thor was his dad, which even after four years of living on Asgard still boggled his mind from time to time. He knew that it was true, yet sometimes it was so hard to comprehend that his mind was in denial. "I've living on Asgard for last few years, so no, I do not freak out when I see them."

"Than you will like it here." Wolverine looked at Thor. "I guess that you can come."

"Thank you for your graceful invitation," Thor dryly said as they followed Wolverine into the mansion.

 _They do not like each other, or at least aren't the best of friends,_ Harry thought as he looked at his dad and Wolverine, _Or they are just used to being in charge and when the other appears they have issues with each other. Though, there is something more to them, some sort of a respect and maybe even more._

The way mansion looked inside only confirmed Harry's original feelings about it. It was feeling warm and inviting, its wooden floors, comfortably looking worn-out armchairs and sofas, paintings adorning the walls and a sculpture or two only made those feelings even stronger. "It looks good," he said after a moment, carefully looking around.

"You didn't see the best part of it," Wolverine said, "But that will comes later, now the Professor wants to see you."

Harry nodded as they followed Wolverine into the mansion, they climbed up two flights of stairs and came to a stop in front of frosted glass doors. The moment Thor reached to open them, they slid on their own and they saw a spacious office and behind the desk was sitting Professor Xavier.

"Good to see you, Thor and Harry," He said when they entered his office, Wolverine followed them in and leaned against the wall, standing like a watchful bodyguard, just waiting for their mistakes. Even if he looked relaxed, Harry could tell that Wolverine was far from being careless and the moment someone would do something that didn't sit well with him, he would strike. "Thor, while I know that you want to accompany Harry, I would like to speak with him about few things in private. Do you mind that?"

Thor looked at him and Harry nodded. "Can you leave us alone, please dad?"

Thor smiled, ruffled Harry's hair much to his annoyance and left the room, followed by Wolverine.

"They don't like each other." Harry took a guess when doors closed behind Wolverine. He sat in one of chairs and threw the bags with his things onto the ground.

"In a way, yes," Professor X said and Harry looked at him, "But they hold each other in great respect, yet tend to compete. However I want to talk with you, without any foreign influence on you, influence that can make us make decisions that we do to please someone, while our heart wants something else."

"I understand," Harry said as he took a better, more detailed look of Professor X, he could see kindness and warmth in his eyes, yet there was also hardness and toughness hid behind those warm flickers.

"Do you have any idea why do I want to talk with you?"

"About being a mutant and me being at the Institute?" Harry reluctantly said and looked at the Professor "Or maybe it's also about my cousin?"

"Indeed," Professor X said and Harry curiously tilted his head, "At the Institute blood or your background doesn't matter, so I won't tolerate you using your Prince of Asgard status to get anything. You are free to do whatever you wish to do, as long as it doesn't endanger other people or it doesn't invade their privacy. Is that so far clear?"

Harry nodded, those rules made a lot of sense to him and he was kind of used to someone ignoring the fact that he was a Prince and on Asgard some of his tutors didn't even acknowledge his title, simply referring to him by his name.

"Good," Professor X said and smiled, "Now onto the matter of your cousin, he is a bit arrogant and might have issues with you being his cousin, at least until he gets used to it, so don't be hard on him."

"Okay," Harry said with a curt nod.

"About the Institute, I asked one of the students to give you a tour, you will be also his roommate," Professor said and at the same time doors opened, Harry's gaze immediately darted towards them he could see a dark-haired and dark-skinned teen with brown eye step in.

"What do you want, Professor?" Stranger asked as he walked past Harry and took a seat in one of free chairs.

"Harry, this is Roberto da Costa, Roberto, this is Harry Potter. Can you give him a tour and would you mind having him as your roommate?"

Roberto was silent for a moment. "Why not, so Harry, do you have anything else to do here?"

He looked at Professor X who shook his head and than looked at Roberto. "No, so how about I will show you the room and later give you a tour?"

"That's fine with me," Harry said as he got up and grabbed his bags.

"One more thing, Harry," Professor X said and Harry looked at the Professor and saw him holding a necklace in hand, it was a silver X placed inside of a black circle and it was hanging on a silver chain. He threw it at Harry and he easily caught it.

"What's that?"

"A symbol of the Institute and us." Roberto explained as he fished out a similar one.

As Harry followed Roberto through the Institute he could easily tell that he was going to like him, he seemed like an easy-going and friendly person. As they talked Harry came to like Roberto even more. They navigated through the maze of corridors and after a moment Roberto stopped in front of the doors that were at the end of the corridor. He pushed doors open and looked at Harry.

"That's my and from now also yours room." Roberto explained and he nodded.

As they stepped in, Harry took a look around and nodded in approval. It wasn't big, but was more than large enough to be comfortable, walls of it were painted in pleasant, neutral colors, there were two beds, over one of them were a couple of posters and there was a bit of a mess that suggested that someone used it, there were also few drawers and a wardrobe or two, a couple of shelves, desks and everything that they could ever need. There were also doors leading into en suite bathroom.

"Not bad," Harry said as he looked around the room with a smile on his lips, he threw onto his bed bags and plopped down. He felt good here, good and comfortable.

"Good that you like it," Roberto said, "There are only a few of us right now, as most of us or at least some spends whole or only a part of their holidays with their families, so they will return tomorrow."

"Oh, so that's why it is so empty," Harry said as he saw during their walk here that there were far too many rooms than there were people they had met.

"Exactly, which is also a perfect opportunity for the tour of the whole thing as nobody will be in our way." Roberto paused and frowned, "At least nobody that would cause issues or is an annoying person."

"Lead than." Harry stood up and walked to the doors, Roberto only smiled and nodded.

o-0-o

Amelia Bones was used to a lot of weird things happening, some of them weirder that the rest, but the thing that she didn't expect was to see a cloaked and hooded person sit in one of chairs inside of her office as if it belonged to him. He is either really sure of himself or just plain arrogant, she thought. "Who are you?" She asked as she leveled her wand at him.

"Who I am is unimportant at the moment," he said standing up and pacing inside of her office, not even caring about her wand following his every movement. He stopped and turned to look at her. "Important is the reason why I am here and what might be consequences of my presence being discovered."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously as she took a better look at him, trying to see if she could spot any hint of who he was and how he had gotten into her office. She didn't spot anything that hinted that he was a person she shouldn't trust, so she waved her wand and wards surrounding the room came alive.

"Good choice," Stranger said, she could swear that she had heard some satisfaction in his voice, "Now let's get down to business, what I want from you is a simple thing, call off the hunt for Sirius Black or at least make it stay far away from Europe and North America and make dementors be gone from Hogwarts. More important for me or at least for one that I'm representing is to make dementors be gone from Hogwarts."

She was silent for a moment, considering his words and trying to see if he was saying them in jest or not. _He is serious and want take no as an answer_ , she thought. "Who is the one that you are working for?"

"One that stood along your side during last war," he said and her eyes widened when she realized who was standing in front of her. She didn't expect to see him here, not now and not with Fudge looking for a single reason to fire someone.

"You are working for SHIELD?"

"For whom I work is not important, I think that we both know the importance of secrecy and being careful," he said and once again started pacing across her office, "Minister Fudge makes our job a difficult task and if you are able to remove dementors from Hogwarts we will be grateful. So what is your answer?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "I will do it."

Her guest moved upwards part of his hood and she blinked when she saw a blue eye looking at her, before she had a chance to say a word he was gone from her office. She looked around, trying to see him, but he was gone, as if the wards placed around the room were nothing.

She let out a sigh and walked to her desk, she sat down in the chair placed behind it and was silent for a moment, allowing her mind to wrap itself around what happened. If he is one that I think he is, than Fudge did something incredibly stupid, she thought and picked up a fresh sheet of parchment and a quill.

She dipped the tip of her quill in an inkwell and smoothed out of the parchment, she started writing and her thoughts turned into words.

o-0-o

"It doesn't look bad," Harry said as he stood on one of the terraces of the Institute and looked at the calm grounds, that surrounded it. He inhaled the air and easily smelled hundreds of flowers and trees.

"The best things you are yet to discover," Roberto smiled and Harry looked at him.

"What else is here that is going to impress me?"

"Things that are hidden here," Roberto smirked and indicated a set of basketball and volleyball courts. "Can you see a thin black line running between them? It's hard to spot, but you should be able to see it."

Harry squinted his eyes and followed Roberto's finger, he could see a faint line, almost impossible to spot. He frowned as he looked at it, it is too straight to be a naturally made one, so it must lead somewhere, he thought and looked at Roberto. "There is a line and it is too even to be a thing done by the nature, so I guess that it leads somewhere."

"You will discover where it leads in few days," Roberto said with a smug smile, "But that's not my thing to tell."

"If not yours, than whose?" Harry asked as he looked at his friend, _he knows it, yet he won't tell me,_ he thought.

"Professor and several other people, but I can't," Roberto said and looked at him, "Although you should learn about it rather quickly."

"Rather quickly?" Harry arched an eyebrow.

"You will see, but I would say in the first few days or weeks of your stay at the Institute, as long as you prove that you are one that can think and is somewhat intelligent, you will get it."

"It sounds like a challenge and I like challenges," Harry grinned

Roberto nodded "You can think of it as a challenge, as it is a challenge in a way."

Harry for a moment was silent as he was thinking about the things that Roberto had told him. _It seems like a nice place to be at and dad was right that there is more to it_ , he thought, he moved a strand of hair out of his eyes and looked at Roberto. "Why everybody is calling Professor Xavier, Professor X?"

Roberto looked at him and blinked a couple of times. "I didn't tell you about it, did I?"

"You didn't," Harry smirked, "So can you enlighten me about those things?"

"The shortest explanation is that all of us chose a nickname or a code name if you prefer, mutants in general aren't liked and we are safer with using nicknames. Also there is a second reason, equally important, when it comes to combat we want to have an enemy with a normal name ans a face that we can assign to it."

"So when they hear a random word they are unsure of whom they're fighting?" Harry asked.

"Yes, my nickname is Sunspot, your cousins is Angel, Logan is Wolverine, Vice Principal is Storm."

"Can I choose a whatever thing I want as a nickname?"

"Usually someone from staff or older students chooses them for newbies, but I guess that we can forget about this rule. Just make sure that it sounds ominous and has something in common with you," Roberto said and grinned.

Harry was silent for a moment as he thought about the name that he would like to use. _He wants it ominous and something that has a common trait with me_ , he mused, _on Asgard I use Black Wolf_. He paused when a nice idea wandered into his mind. "What about a Black Eagle?"

"Not the worst idea," Roberto smiled and looked at him, "Why did you choose it?"

"Because of my nickname on Asgard, Black Wolf," Harry said and Roberto's eyes widened in a mix of shock and surprise.

"Hold on for a second, you are an Asgardian?"

"Half-blood one and if you want to be proper use Æsir."

Roberto was silent for a moment and shook his head. "So let me get this straight, you are a half-blood Æsir that is also a mutant, Angel is your cousin, you decided to come to the Institute, is there anything more that I should know?"

"No," Harry said and looked at Roberto, "Do you have any problems with me being an Æsir?"

"No," Roberto said and looked at Harry, "It's just weird, crazy and freakish at the same time, but I should get used to it in a couple of days, after certain point you don't freak out when you hear something like that."

"Good," Harry said and looked towards the horizon, "So what I can expect from the Institute that you didn't tell me yet?"

"Slacking off isn't tolerated by some of the staff and they have rather interesting ways of motivating you to do what you should do," Roberto said and grinned, "But they are friendly and you should come to like them."

Harry nodded, he felt good at the Institute, safe and at ease. He smiled as they started to talk about less important and more certainly more pleasant topics.

o-0-o

Dumbledore smiled as he saw heads of houses enter his office, he could feel curiosity and interest in their posture and behavior. They didn't know why he had wanted to talk with them and about what. They just need to accept this project, he thought and waited for them to take places in seats around his desk.

"Albus, what's the reason for this meeting right before the beginning of the year?" Minerva McGonagall asked "You rarely call them and this one is without any prior warning or notice."

"I decided to call it because of an offer made to me by one Professor Xavier, one that you should know," he said and didn't miss slightly widened eyes of Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick, "Yes, one that has helped us in the war against Voldemort and is running school for mutants in the USA. He has offered to initiate a student exchange project with his school, one that would begin from this school year."

"What our students can learn from those mutants?" Severus Snape asked, his voice dripping with disdain and lack of respect.

Dumbledore only sighed and folded hands on his desk. _I should have expected that kind of reaction_ , he thought and looked at Snape. "Many things that they would be unable to learn here. I decided to accept it and we reached an agreement that we will send a group of four students during third week of September and my decision on this is final."

"So why did you want to see us?" Flitwick asked

"So that you can choose people that in your opinion are good choices for it, I want people that are bright, tolerant, can think and know how to behave. Also they need to have good enough grades to be able to keep up with their studies on their own and won't have difficulties with catching up."

"Which means someone from my Ravens, Pomona's Badgers or Minerva's Lions," Flitwick said and everybody focused their attention on the old dwarf, "I was thinking about Nyphadora Tonks, maybe Charlie Weasley, Oliver Wood and Cedric Diggory. How do they sound?"

"A good choice, I would like you to escort them to my office right after the Sorting and Feast is done. I will explain the thing to them and if they agree, they are going to be sent to Xavier's. I'm not going to reveal it during the feast to the whole school and I ask you not to reveal it to your house."

The moment they had left the room he heard a faint noise and felt someone with immense amounts of power appear in the room. "Perfect idea and it will be a good thing for them," Newly arrived said.

He turned around and came face to face with Prince Loki. "Your Highness, you could have warned me of your arrival." Dumbledore said and added in lighter voice "This will serve them well and help all of us."

"Indeed," Loki said, sly smile on his lips, "It seems that the matters around the world are getting more energetic and more players are coming into the game. Some of them choosing sides I wouldn't expect from them."

"Such as?"

"One Emma Frost or certain Dolores Jane Umbridge," Loki said and tilted his head, "Frost did a thing that I approve, while it seems that Dolores wants to tickle a sleeping dragon. But than, not everybody has enough common sense not to do stupid things. What they are going to do, only the time will show."

"Indeed." Dumbledore said, _hopefully no wars, or no serious wars will break out,_ he thought. "I just hope that it will calm down on its own."

Loki chuckled and shook his head. "You are a wise person, but a gullible one. This all goes towards a confrontation or two, question how soon and who will cause it. But for now there should be peace, at least for some time. For how long, we will see."

"Hopefully for long."

"Hopefully, I bid you a good day, but I will be watching you and looking for the slightest sign of your treason," Loki said and disappeared with a flourish. Dumbledore only watched the spot where the Trickster was, last words made him worried of the future to come.

o-0-o

"Roberto, where are we going next?" Harry asked as he looked at Roberto.

"Well, there are few places that I can show you," Roberto said and looked at him, "But please, don't use Roberto, it makes me feel old. If you want to use my name, use Bobby or Sunspot."

"Fine, I have the same thing on Asgard where everybody calls me His Highness or Prince Harald," Harry said with a grin as they once again started walking through the Institute, he was starting to really like the place. It was a maze of corridors, but they felt warm and inviting.

"There is a gym that you might like, classrooms I won't show you as I want not to think about them and school or learning things, at least not yet. We have a swimming pool and a couple of other things that you should like."

"We might start from a gym," Harry said and Bobby nodded and turned around the corner, walking into a smaller, narrower corridor. From the other side of it, towards them was walking a red haired girl, for Harry she seemed to be around sixteen or so, _but than the age can be misleading_ , he thought.

"Hello Jean," Bobby warmly said.

"Hey Bobby," She said and her gaze landed on Harry, he felt as if something was attempting to look through him and into his soul and mind. "A newbie?"

"Did you expect someone else?" Bobby asked and chuckled, "Harry, this is Jean Gray, Jean, this is Harry Potter. He is also a cousin of Angel."

"No," She said and Harry could see some amusement in her eyes. Yet there was something more to them, same hardness as he had seen in the eyes of his uncle or grandfather. _There is more to her than she shows,_ he thought. "Have fun showing him around the place. It was a pleasure to meet ya."

"She's a girlfriend of your cousin," Bobby said as they got away from her, "By the way how old are you?"

"How old do I look for?" Harry asked, sly smile on his lips.

Bobby was silent for a moment. "I would guess around fourteen or so." Harry at those words laughed. "Did I say something funny?" Bobby asked.

"No, " Harry said, trying to control his reaction, "I'm just twelve, we tend to grow up faster."

Bobby shook his head and looked at Harry. "You call that growing up faster? You just made me and probably a better part of the Institute jealous, very jealous."

"I try my hardest," Harry said and looked at Bobby, "So where is this gym?"

The rest of his first day at the Institute Harry spent discovering its nooks and crannies with Roberto as well as getting to know his supposed roommate and trying to memorize the layout of the building.


	11. The beginning of X-Men!

**A/N – Spoiling, but I don't have anything better to do at school.**

Harry yawned as he stretched in his bed and opened his eyes, he looked around and it took a moment for his mind to figure out that he was at the Institute. He could tell that it was still early as the room was bathed in various shades of red and orange. Which meant that the sun was still low and still rising.

"Already awake?" He heard from Bobby who also seemed to be getting awake. "I know that I'm a morning person, but I thought that as a Prince you would be lazing around until it is closer to noon."

"Tell that to my tutors on Asgard," Harry laughed. "Noon was a time I and most of my friends looked to as it is a time for break and getting something to eat."

"Here you will have an easier life," Bobby said and looked at him. "You never mentioned your education from Asgard and I'm curious about it. What was it?"

"The usual thing for a person from a noble or royal family on Asgard," Harry said, sittimg up and startimg to count on his fingers "Archery, fencing, hand-to-hand combat, basics of science, some magic, etiquette, some basics of diplomacy, basics of politics and few other things. As well as how to ride on a horse and how to steer some of the smaller ships that we have access to."

Bobby loudly whistled and Harry could see some respect in his eyes. "You were taught that since you were what? Eight? Seven?"

"Eight, so what's the plan for today?"

"Laze around." Bobby smiled "Your cousin should be here in a couple of hours and I might as well introduce you to several people that you should come to know before the school year actually starts."

"Cool." Harry said as he got out of his bed and groggily moved around the room. Even if he was awake, he was still half asleep, or at least his body was.

o-0-o

Warren thought over the topic of his last talk with his father as he drove through the highway towards the Institute. _He knows about something that I don't know and wishes for me to find it out on my own_ , he thought as he accelerated and enjoyed the speed.

 _If he knows, why does he hide it from me,_ he thought, _he usually is less mysterious about it, he only said that I will know what he meant when I see someone. Question is who is this someone as I can't name anybody at the Institute that would fit those words. He said that I had met him in the past and that I would recognize him when I will see him,_ he thought and his eyes widened for a moment in a mix of shock and surprise. _It can't be him, he is dead and dead for good. We have never found him and dad said that he doesn't know what had happened to him._

He pushed those thoughts out of his mind and instead focused more on the road ahead of him, he didn't want to miss the interchange that would take him to the road leading towards the Institute. It was a sunny day, thus a perfect one for driving and he was going to enjoy it.

o-0-o

Professor Xavier sat in his wheelchair and looked at the peaceful lands that surrounded the Institute, _it is not going to be that peaceful when Warren will get here,_ he thought. _He and Harry will need to get reaquinated with each other and knowing them, it wasn't going to be a peaceful or a calm event._

"Yes, it will be an interesting event," Jean said as she entered his office. "I've meet Harry yesterday and he seems like an interesting person, yet he isn't a human, at least for the most part isn't."

"He is a son of Thor," He said turning towards her "So he is a half-blood Æsir and he might have his father's temper. Anyways, what is your impression of him?"

"He seems like a nice person," she said and frowned "How old he is? He looks to be much older than he truly is, especially his eyes are unnerving and he behaves in a bit of a strange way."

"Twelve," he said and saw her eyes widen in surprise. "So don't be too hard on him and try to rein Warren as he might have some issues with Harry. I know that he had seen Harry, but that was when he was around four years old and Harry one, so they most likely do not remember it."

"Rein in as in bind him to the wall and keep there until he will behave? Or do it to the both of them," she asked with a wry grin.

"Not that extreme," he said and looked at her. "Just make sure that they will at least be cordial and do not kill each other."

"I will try," she said and added with a smile. "At least it will be entertaining event."

"Yes," he said and turned to focus on the landscape.

o-0-o

Warren pulled his car to stop in front of the Institute and got out of it. He looked around, his gaze slipping over familiar trees and buildings. He really enjoyed being and studying here, while he didn't mind previous private schools he had attended, here he wasn't pointed at because of the fact that he was a mutant and had an extremely rich father.

He pulled bag with his things out of the trunk, slammed it shut and walked towards the doors leading into the Institute. He walked inside and stood there, for a moment simply enjoying the feeling of peace and warmth that was so common all over the place.

"I see that you are finally back," said Jean Grey as she walked to him and left a peck on his cheek.

"Did you miss me?" He asked as he looked at her. He could see that she knew something that he didn't know, at least not yet.

"Of course, I did," she said and he smiled.

"So what's new?" They walked together to his room, he had a feeling that she had something more on her mind.

"Someone new is here," she said with a smirk. "One that you should come to like and enjoy spending your time with him."

"My dad said something about someone that I should like."

"Than we are most likely thinking about the same person. Also he has same wings as you have." When she said those words, his eyes widened in shock.

 _It's impossible_ , he thought, _he is supposed to be dead and that can't be him. But than, wings, they are a sign of my family._ He was brought out of his musings when he slammed into a pillar. Head first.

"Did you suddenly got blind?" She chuckled softly

"No, it's just I'm kind of surprised by your words," he said as he massaged a sore head. He glared at the pillar "When did it grow here?"

"When you weren't watching it."

"Traitor," he muttered

"It wasn't me that didn't pay any attention to his surroundings."

"True," he nodded as he opened doors of his room and threw his bag onto the bed placed there. Before closing them once again, he spared a one quick glance to see if everything was in order. All of his posters were in their places, laptop was standing on his desk and everything else seemed to be also in order. "So when you are going to introduce me to him?" He asked turning to Jean.

"In a moment," she said and closed her eyes. He knew what she was doing, she was using her telepathy powers.

o-0-o

Harry was about to say something to Bobby when he felt someone or something reach out to his mind, instinctively he pushed all of his emotions and thoughts as deep as he could and left the rest of it blank. He was prepared for the worst and was surprised when he heard a familiar voice rang across his mind. It was weak and hard to hear.

" _Harry, it's me, Jean, can you let me through._ " It was a calm voice and he didn't detect any malign undertone to it. He pushed his shields out of her way and when she spoke next words they were much clearer and louder. _"I'm sorry for the way of doing it, but I need to speak with you in such way. I don't want to be heard by anybody else than the two of us."_

" _About what?"_

" _It's about your cousin. I'm with him and before you meet him, I want you to know few things, he is a bit of an arrogant person and he might have a bit of a problem with you, so don't be rash or foolish."_

" _Where can I meet him?"_ He thought back, hope and excitement almost palpable.

" _Do you know where is the entrance onto the balcony, third floor? I will be with him there and you can talk outside, in the air, far away from other people and their ears."_

Harry was silent for a moment as he tried to remember where the balcony was. _"I know where it is, I will be there in a second."_

" _Good,"_ she said and he felt her presence retreat out of his mind.

He blinked few times and saw Bobby looking at him with concern. "What was that?"

"Jean wanted to talk."

"Oh, that would make sense why you had almost passed out. For the first time or so she has such an effect. So what did she want?"

"Meet me at the entrance onto the balcony," Harry said as he slipped out of the room. _I wonder how he will react_ , he thought as he walked to the spot where they were supposed to meet.

o-0-o

"He is coming," Jean's words brought Warren out of his musings. He could tell that she was curious about this meeting, yet she was on edge as he also felt something more to her. Something that she didn't normally show.

"Are you afraid of him?" He asked her.

"No, why do you ask?"

"Because you are all tense and ready to snap at someone."

"Sorry," she said and somewhat relaxed. "It's just that you and him are a hothead, so I would like not to destroy this building."

"That bad?" He asked and old memories that he had almost forgot about resurfaced. Memories of one family member that he had almost forgotten about and mostly didn't think about her. One that was killed during a period of unrest in the UK.

"You will see," Jean said with a smirk."Here he comes."

He followed her gaze and his eyes widened the moment he saw a winged person walk towards them, he had green eyes and long unruly black hair. As Warren looked at him, he had a feeling that he saw those black hair and emerald eyes, he just couldn't remember when or where he had seen. Only those black wings weren't fitting into any image that he had inside of his mind. _Who is he_ , Warren silently asked himself. Than it hit him. "Harry?" He asked as images of his uncle and aunt came to his mind.

"Yes," Harry said "So dad wasn't lying about you."

"Dad?"

"Thor, when he was on Earth he was known as James Potter," Harry said, drawling last few words.

Warren blinked few times as his mind wrapped around the fact that his cousin was a demigod. It was probably the least surprising thing that today he had heard. "So you are alive? We believed that you had died as dad couldn't find you and he has an awful lot of influence and power."

"I'm alive," Harry said with a smile as he walked towards French doors that led onto the balcony and pushed them open. "What about flying?" Stepping onto the balcony he unfolded his wings and took off into the air.

"You have a style," Warren said with a smile and followed Harry into the air. Warren could tell that his younger cousin, assuming that it was him, didn't have much experience in the air, or at least didn't fly too hard. Warren dodged Harry's wing and stopped mid-air. "You didn't fly too much, did you?"

"No," Harry said after a moment. "I didn't have too much time for it when I was on Asgard."

"We are going to fix it soonish as you will have a lot of opportunities to fly," Warren said and looked at Harry. "So for the past few years you were on Asgard and before that you were where?"

"Aunt, mine and yours second cousin once removed," Harry said and Warren could feel a lot of venom and rage in Harry's voice. Venom and rage that surprised Warren, he wasn't used to feeling such rage when towards members of a family. Sure, he had arguments with his father, but they were usually less venomous.

"I guess that you didn't like her."

"Can we not talk about her?" Harry growled and took a deep breath, Warren could see his attempts to calm down.

"Okay," Warren said and moved closer to Harry. "Want to fly more and talk away from the Institute?"

"Won't they be bothered by it?" Harry asked, indicating the Institute below.

"No," Warren laughed as he once again fly, he could see that Harry for a moment was hesitant, but than he joined him.

o-0-o

Harry folded his wings as he landed on the roof of the Institute to the side of Warren. He was tired from all the flying they had done, but he enjoyed it immensely.

"You're ain't a bad flyer," Warren said as they sat on the roof "Few weeks or months of flying and you should be much better."

"On Asgard I didn't have time to fly as I was focused on other things."

"You don't need to apologize," Warren smiled reassuringly. "Here few people will make sure that you spend some time in the air as mastering our powers is one of things that we learn here. Probably the most important thing that you will learn is how to harness and control your power or if you have more than one, powers."

He was silent for a moment, his gaze focused on the horizon and the things that he only could see. He finally sighed and looked at Warren. "When I was previously on Earth I didn't like it, I hated every day I spent here, now I like it, yet it seems like a dream."

"It's not a dream, baby cousin," Warren said as he placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "You will see that soon and about the past, forget about it."

"I will try," Harry said, almost whispered. He blinked a couple of times and pushed those thoughts away. "It's just hard to forget about it and it tends to return from time to time."

"Ask Professor X for help, he should be able to help you in one way or another," Warren said and Harry could see understanding and maybe something more in his eyes. "Did you talk with Professor, Cyclops, Storm or Wolverine about X-Men thing?"

"No." Harry shook his head. "I had other things on my mind."

"Well, they are going to hate me for doing that," Warren said, Harry could feel almost childlike glee in his voice. "But I might as well be the one that tells you about the whole thing. So in short we are a group that helps mutants all over the world and we had a couple of clashes with various groups that want to get rid of mutants. If I'm right about you, you could join one of teams, that is if you want to."

He looked at Warren, grinning. "I would love to do so." He wanted to do it as he knew that otherwise he would be sitting bored with a lot of energy to use and without an idea what to do with it. But also he wanted to do something more exciting than just doing nothing.

"Well, than I will talk with Wolverine about you and you should be placed on one of teams. Most likely on a training one as you need to get used to working with us and refine your powers," Warren said and looked at him. "What was your education on Asgard? Or how did it look?"

"Lots of physical training with weapons, hand to hand combat and several other things, some flying and a lot of academics, " Harry said and added with a smile "Also uncle made sure that I knew some of the classical pieces of Earth's literature, not to mention some of the newer ones."

"You should fit here," Warren said. "It's hard not to as tolerance and being open towards other people is one of things taught by Professor. Also you should enjoy most of the things you are going to learn."

Harry nodded and smiled as he looked at the sky, he felt good here and if he was about to choose, he wasn't going to leave it any time soon. He whistled quietly and his wolves appeared to his side, someone managing to come to him, even if he was on the roof.

"What are they?" Warren asked, some fear in his voice. His eyes widened and huge.

"Freki and Geri," Harry grinned. "My pet wolves, well, were my grandfather, but now are mine and they are supposed to deal with anybody wishing me harm."

"Remind me not to get you mad at me."

"I will try." He moved a strand of hair out of his eyes and stood up. "More flying?" he asked jumping of the edge, his wings opening in the air.

o-0-o

On the morning of 1st September Harry woke up early, quickly dressed and grabbed his bag. He heard from Warren and Bobby a thing or two about a self-defense classes being one of the most important things and one that they would have first thing in the morning. He also heard that it was being taught by Wolverine and that it was a thing that usually was able to exhaust everybody.

When he walked to the classroom where they were supposed to have it, he saw a lot of people that seemed to be around his age, maybe slightly older. He recognized some faces of them as yesterday Warren introduced him to some of them.

"So you are a new person about which the whole building is gossiping about." Said one of girls, one that looked like a Native American with her black hair and dark coppery skin. He could see that she had a grace that not many had and he made a note, not to get onto her bad side as he had a feeling that it was going to end badly for him.

"Yes, Harry Potter and you are?"

"Danielle Moonstar or Mirage." She introduced herself "So what's your nickname?"

"Black Eagle," he said and her eyes narrowed. "Is something wrong with it?"

"No," she quickly said. "It's just that in my culture this name has a special meaning, it's chosen only by war chiefs."

"I didn't know that," Harry said. "From where I come I'm usually known as Black Prince or Black Wolf."

"Who are you?" She asked after a moment "Excluding being Harry Potter."

"Prince of Asgard among other things and cousin of Angel," Harry said quietly "But please, can you not mention the first part."

"Prince of Asgard?" She asked playfully "You don't like it?"

"No, it's just that I want to get away from my really annoying fame," Harry said. "That's all that I want. Nothing more, it's just that simple."

"You know that many, including me would be jealous about being a Prince or Princess?"

"Yes," He sighed. "I saw few such people and they can be unpleasant, but let's stop talking about this topic. What can I expect from Wolverine."

"He will demand a lot and is a good teacher," She said after a moment and he saw her eyes narrow. "And has keen senses, really keen senses."

"He is behind me, isn't he?" He asked as he felt something getting close to him.

"Indeed," Came gruffy reply from behind Harry, forcing him to turn around and came face to face with a huge man. One that was scarred by war and looked quite dangerous. "I'm Logan, also known as Wolverine and your teacher. Though you should already know me." Harry nodded. " Congratulations for sensing me, not many are able to do that." As Wolverine said those words, he walked to the doors of the room and opened them, ushering the whole group inside. They entered a large and high room with floor covered by mats and with several dummies here and there. It was obvious what was the main use of this room, it was training.

Harry looked around the room and leaned against the wall of it, he was curious what Wolverine would show and how he would do it. He had quite a bit of training in hand to hand under his belt and was eager to get some more. His eyes swept over the room and he saw Wolverine stood in the middle of it and look at him in a manner that told him to walk to him.

"Yes?" Harry asked, he didn't bother to move into stance of few styles he knew as it would be a bad signal.

"Few people mentioned that you are supposed to know a thing or two," Wolverine said and glanced at the room. "Shadowcat, Mirage and Wolfsbane you know what to do, rest of you follow them. About you, Harry or Harald, you will have my personal attention."

He gulped and nodded, slipping into a familiar stance of one of martial arts known on Asgard. If Wolverine wanted to have a fight, he would get it.

o-0-o

Logan was used to a lot of martial arts, but as he looked at Harry Potter and the stance that he had taken, he couldn't place it in any of many styles he knew or had seen. It was similar to Krav Maga of Israeli Defense Forces, yet it was slightly different. But even such a small amount of data told him one thing, it was going to be beautiful, effective and lethal, extremely lethal.

"Go on, bub, show me what you have," he said, moving slightly away and preparing for the strikes to come.

"Bub?" Harry arched an eyebrow "You could have more respect for me."

"When you prove that you can fight, I will consider it," Wolverine said and the next thing he saw was a fist flying towards his head. He moved his own to intercept it and grunted when he felt the power that came with it. It felt as if a whole mountain decided to tag along for a ride and slam into him.

"Was it enough?" Harry asked

Wolverine only laughed and his claws emerged, gleaming lightly in the light. "That was merely the first shot. Now let's see what you can do," he said those words and his hand flew towards Harry, he didn't want to kill or injure the kid, but he knew that he would need to push him hard. Really hard, maybe even more than he pushed some X-Men.

o-0-o

"How did I do?" Harry asked after half an hour of a heated spar, he was panting heavily and a small trickle of blood was flowing down the side of his head, effect of badly dodged swipe of claws. Swipe that carved a line across his forehead and stopped just above his left ear.

"Way better than some did," Wolverine said, Harry could feel some slight respect in his voice. "If I were a normal human, they would have been picking me up from the floor. Dead. Some of your strikes would knock out someone the moment they stopped paying attention."

"Does it mean that I passed?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Sure do, you know how to fight, so we will polish any and all rough edges that you have and maybe I will show you a martial art or two." Wolverine said and Harry could already tell that he would like this school.

"I like it," he said with a grin, wiping the blood and sending a bit of healing magic to the wound, causing the skin to grow and cover it, cutting the flow of the blood.

"You did well," Mirage said as he joined her outside of the room. "Not many were able to make him fight the way he fought with you."

"Meaning what?" He asked, tying his hair into a ponytail and trying not to slam into other people.

"That you pushed him, rather hard I would say," said someone to his right and when he looked there he saw a girl that Warren introduced him to, Shadowcat. "Now you will need to survive Frost as she tends to be a bit of a pain."

"Oh?" He arched an eyebrow.

"Ethics and philosophy," Danielle explained with a sigh "You will see, it's hard to describe her as she is a bit weird."

"Okay..." he drawled as he followed them into a classroom and took one of free seats. When the bell rang, into the class walked in a woman that many would describe as a beautiful, yet cold.

"That's Emma Frost," Kitty whispered. "She is the teacher and tends to be an annoying one, but you will see."

"She looks _charming_ and cold," he said dryly, making them chuckle which was loud enough to get her attention and when he felt her look, he shuddered. He was used to seeing looks that made various people freeze in their place, but this one was more malign and evil.

o-0-o

Harry was packing his bag when he heard clicking of Emma's high-heels got louder as she walked to his place. He looked up and saw her stand in front of him. "Mr Potter, can we talk for a bit?"

He shifted uncomfortably, but nodded. "Yes, how may I help you?"

"You were placed on my X-Men team," she said, her voice cold and devoid of any emotions. Yet he could tell that she didn't want to do it. "So I expect you to be at the training session this afternoon, Mirage should know where we meet."

"Okay," He nodded, finished packing his bag and hurried out of the room, leaving her behind, she made him feel uneasy and he wanted to stay as far away from her as possible. When he joined the girls he was panting a bit and trying to catch his breath.

"I see that you saw White Queen's nasty side," Bobby said when he joined them.

"Yeah," Harry said and shook his head, sending away bad thoughts.

"What did she want from you?" Shadowcat asked

"She said that I'm on her team. Whatever that means."

"Well, it seems that we will be training together for an awful lot of time, not that I mind it," Danielle said. "It basically means that you are one of X-Men, originally there was just a one team, Jean Grey, Storm, Cyclops, Nightcrawler and Havok. After that Bobby and your cousin joined, followed by Rogue and Kitty."

"Sounds cool."

"It sounds cool for few first times, after that it gets challenging and a bit grueling," Bobby said "I need to get to my classes, so we can talk later."

"He is right," Kitty said. "Anyways, Biology with Nightcrawler and lunch."

"Nightcrawler?" Harry frowned.

"You will see." Danielle smirked.

o-0-o

Harry sighed as he threw his bag onto the desk and slammed against his bed that creaked dangerously under his weight. He closed his eyes and tried to find a spot where not a single muscle would ache him.

"Already tired?" Bobby chuckled when he saw him laying like such. "You didn't see training with teams and you seem exhausted."

"Wolverine did this," Harry said, without sparing his friend a single glance.

"That could explain it, he tends to do that when he gets carried away."

"Tell that to my poor, precious muscles," Harry sulked

"You should get some rest before the time for team meeting," Bobby said and Harry finally looked at him, he could see some understanding and maybe reassurance in his friend's eyes.

o-0-o

Loki appeared in the office of Fury and smirked when he saw a look of shock and surprise on the face of Nicholas. "Didn't you get used to me showing up from time to time?"

Fury sighed and glowered at him. "You can say thank you for that to White Queen of Hellfire Club and her petty games."

"White Queen? Isn't it one Emma Frost?"

"The same one," Fury said, typed a couple of things on his keyboard and on a wall of his office appeared her photo. "She is now working with X-Men, although there is something more to her. I spoke with Lord Imperial and there is something going on with her, he can't openly spy on her, but there is something going on with her."

Loki's brows furrowed as his mind tried to make a plan that would work, as well as spot all of its weak spots and situations when it would work really well. He grinned when an idea dawned upon him. "We might pay her a visit and warn her that any and all attempts to play against us might end badly."

Fury looked at him for a moment and than nodded. "Crude, but works, it might even work really well."

"Yes," Loki smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant smile, it was one that would make shark run away in fear. "She will be scared, thinking that someone in Hellfire Club is playing against her and she should behave, especially if you have Lord Imperial in your corner, he will support us and put some pressure on her. After all she is supposed to report to him and he can strip her of her title."

"He would need to have a pretty good reason to do so, but yes, I could ask him to do it," Fury said and sighed. "Even if she was loud, she is the least of my worries."

"Let me guess, Malfoy and some of other old Death Eaters are rearing their heads?"

"Yes," Fury grimly nodded. "If it was only her, I would jump at her and she would either play by the rules or would be dead. With them in play, she is the loudest, but the least dangerous out of the whole group."

Loki smirked and Fury looked at him.

"What is going through your head?"

"Well..." He paced around Fury's office, making him irked. "I have a gift of convincing people to behave and I might try to use it on her and make her play the way we want her to play."

Fury was silent for a moment, but than nodded. "If you can pull it off, do it."

Loki smirked and disappeared from the office. He was going to do that, but he wanted to have a good moment for it, one where his influence on her would be the biggest.

o-0-o

Dumbledore looked at five students that were brought into his office, he could tell that they were surprised about the reason of being called so soon after the year started. He could also see a bit of fear on their face and he could see gears inside of their heads slowly turn as they tried to figure out why he had summoned them.

"All of you probably wonder why I had decided to call you here," he said and all of them nodded. He smiled and with a wave of his wand he conjured five chairs for them. "Sit down as it will take me quite a bit to explain to you why I had called you here."

They nodded and sat down in those chairs, awaiting his next words.

"As you know or at least you should know in the USA there is a school called Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters, run by my dear friend and associate Professor Charles Xavier otherwise known as Professor X." He could see some widened eyes at those words, it seemed that they heard a thing or two about the school. "In the past we were working on a student exchange programme between our schools, but various factors forced us to put it on a shelf, however now we are ready to carry it out and you were chosen for it."

They exchanged glances between themselves and finally Oliver Wood spoke for them. "We are honoured and all, but why we were chosen by you and the rest of the staff to represent the school?"

"Because you represent the best the school has to offer and I believe that you are the ones that will benefit the most from taking a part in this exchange," he said and saw a look of understanding pass across their faces. "Do you agree to take part in it?"

They once again exchanged looks and yet again Oliver was one to speak for all of them. "I think that I can speak for all of us, we agree to take part in it."

"Perfect," Dumbledore smiled. "During third week of this month you will be sent there by a portkey and stay there until the end of this term. I want you to study there, but more importantly make friends with mutants there."

o-0-o

"Where are we going?" Harry asked as he followed Danielle into a part of the mansion he previously didn't see.

"Part of the mansion that is reserved for X-Men." She explained and took a better look at him, she knew how old or how young he was and it surprised her. He wasn't behaving like a child, she could tell that there was a mischievous side to him, but so far he didn't show it. _Who is he_ , she thought, _he doesn't behave like a child, more like a teen, while he is still twelve, also there is something that he seems not eager not show._ She shook her head and looked at a set of reinforced steel doors that was in front of them.

"That's the entrance?"

"Yes," she said, moving her hand through the reader placed to the side of them. They almost immediately opened, revealing what was behind them. She looked at the stainless steel walls and industrial style lightning without too much of a difference, but as she looked at Harry she could tell that he was impressed. "Do you like it?"

"Yes," he said. "It looks neat and simple, which is what I like."

"You don't like luxuries and expensive materials?" She arched an eyebrow.

"They are nice and all, but after some time you have enough of seeing gems everywhere," he said with a brief smile "So what's hidden in those corridors?"

"Medical bay, few dozens of training rooms, an even bigger gym than one in the main part of the building, hangars, briefing room and an armory." She said and Harry nodded, _she doesn't seem surprised by such stuff_ , she mused as she watched his reaction. _Asgard is completely different than the Earth is, customs, culture and everything seems to be different than it is here._

"Sounds nice," he said as they walked into the briefing room, she saw Rahne and Frost already waiting there, she couldn't force herself to say or even think first name of her team leader. She could feel some curiosity and interest in her Scottish friend gaze, she silently mouthed "Later." and Rahne nodded.

"Good that you two are finally here," Emma said, her cold voice bringing them out of their musings. "Black Eagle is a new addition to the team, he was given to us thanks to Wolverine and his cousins actions." Danielle almost breathed out in relief when she felt Frost's gaze switch to Harry. "You won't perform up to my expectations and you will be thrown out of the team, is that clear?"

"Yes," Harry nodded and she could feel something more to his curt answer. It was devoid of emotions and that surprised her a bit. _He is as unhappy with her as I am or maybe even more_ , she thought and glanced at Rahne who nodded in agreement.

"Good, ground rules that you need to know and obey. When we train you obey all of my commands and do not question them. We do not use radio communication for idle and useless chatter, use it for crucial and the most important things, the last thing and one that I will make sure that you obey. We train three times a week and unless you have a really good excuse, I want to see you during each of those sessions."

Danielle glanced at Harry and could see that he wasn't the happiest man on the planet, but after a moment, he nodded. _So he doesn't like someone that puts restrictions on him_ , she thought, _which can be good or bad, depending on his mood and situation. And how well he will get to work with her._

"Since today is the first day of school and you are still getting used to being here, there won't be a training session." Emma said bringing everybody out of their musings. "Go and do whatever you were doing."

She could tell that Harry was ready to explode the moment they were away from Frost. "Calm down," she said, placing her on his shoulder and looking into his eyes. Hoping that it would be enough to calm him. "She is such for everybody."

He took a couple of deep breaths and nodded after a moment. "I noticed, she is _pleasant_."

"Although this time she was a bit nastier than she usually is," Rahne said with a thoughtful expression on her face. "As if she had a bone to pick with you."

"Even better," Harry sighed. "I wonder what she wants from me."

"Your cousin or Professor might know or have at least an idea or two why she is doing it," She suggested and looked at him and Rahne. "Are you going for a late evening jog?"

"Why not." They chorused and followed her.

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy wanted to scream in rage as he heard the news that dementors were recalled from Hogwarts and that Sirius Black wouldn't be so furiously persecuted. It was a really bad news as he assumed that nobody would be able to recall those creatures from the school or send hunt for Black into places where he wouldn't be hiding.

He poured himself a glass of fire whiskey, emptied it in one go, poured himself another and started to pace furiously across his study, trying to find a way to get back into the game. Those moved made by SHIELD, as he assumed that it was their doing, were a bit of an annoyance than anything else.

Sure, they shattered his short term plans, but for ones that would take more time, they meant nothing as Hogwarts and Sirius Black were one of hundreds of variables he needed to take into account – they wouldn't change the outcome too much.

He saw an owl land on his desk, drop a piece of paper and leave the room through the same window it came. He picked up the piece of paper, looked at it and on his lips appeared a thin smile. "Well, well, it seems that there is a new White Rook in London Branch. Question is where he is and who is it this time." His eyes widened for a moment "He? No, it's impossible."

o-0-o

"Did you also feel something in Harry?" Professor asked as he watched Harry jog around the Institute with Rahne and Danielle. It was getting dark with the sun hidden behind the horizon and last remnants of its light disappearing with each moment.

"Yes," Jean said. "Whatever it is, it is a vile and dangerous thing, if he was brought up on Asgard I wonder why it is still there. They have means of dealing with such things."

"The same reason why we think that a bow isn't a dangerous weapon," he said and she looked at him. "It's too primitive for us to think of it as a weapon, so they missed it because of the same thing, or it was asleep and woke up when he arrived back on Earth." He closed his eyes and reached out towards Harry, making sure not to get him alarmed that he was there. He wanted to see what it was without getting Harry's attention. "It is weak and almost nonexistent."

"So what are you going to do with it?" Jean asked.

"Can you ask him to come to my office tomorrow or so? I will explain the whole thing to him and get rid of that thing as the sooner it is removed, the better."

"Of course," she nodded and left the room, leaving him to his own musings.

"Who are you going to be?" He asked himself as he looked at Harry Potter, a person that seemed to be an enigma to everybody. He was so similar to his father that it was almost impossible to believe, that at the same time he was so much different than Thor or James Potter was.

o-0-o

Harry smiled as he felt blood in legs flow faster and the cold, crisp air of the night hit him straight in the face. Witch each moment he was liking the Institute even more, only that Frost was an annoying person and one that he didn't wish to be close to.

"What do you think about the Institute?" Rahne asked.

"It looks and feels nice," he said and after a moment added. "Also the fact that nobody is bowing when he sees me is a nice bonus."

"You don't like it?"

He laughed at those words and almost tripped over a root that he didn't spot. "Not that I didn't like it, it's just annoying thing when everybody, even friends at times bow to you. Here, nobody did that, at least for the time being."

"And won't do," Danielle said. "So you should enjoy it, before you say a thing about White Queen, you simply need to get used to her."

"Why do I have a feeling that I won't like it?" He pouted.

"Because she is a pain?" Rahne suggested with a smile.

"Thank you," he said and whistled, making his wolves appear to his sides. Both girls looked at them in fear and later at him, as if they wanted some sort of an explanation from him. "Those are my pet wolves, Freki and Geri," he said as he scratched them behind their ears.

"Cool," Rahne said and he saw her take a better look at them. "They're big, they aren't from Earth, are they?"

"No," he said "They are from Asgard, they were my grandfather pets and now are mine as he gave them to me. You should know them from Norse Myths."

"What about Fenrir?" Danielle asked. "He is the most well-known wolf from Norse myths."

"In a way he is my cousin," he grinned and watched as they almost tripped over roots, making him and his wolves stop. "Just read all of myths, you should learn more from them than you are going to pull out of me. And talking about it while running, doesn't seem like the best idea."

"No" She nodded as they once again started to jog. It seemed that the life couldn't get any better for him as he had everything that he wanted to have and could enjoy himself.


	12. Training and Bonding

**A/N - I spoil you too much, but you have another chapter. Read and review.**

 **o-0-o**

Harry walked out of his room, when he saw Jean walking towards him. "Hey, what do you want?" He asked

"Professor wants to see you," she said "He said that he would like to see you as soon as possible."

He arched an eyebrow and looked at her.

"Don't arch an eyebrow on me, I'm not his mind and sometimes his reasons are an unknown." He could tell that she was telling the truth, yet there was something more to it than she was willing to admit.

"Fine," He nodded. "It's just that I like to have some more informations."

"Who doesn't," she said as they walked through the hallways of the school. He could see that even if Jean was also a student, she had a lot of respect from the rest of it as they tried to stay out of her path.

"Why do they move out of your way?" He asked and when he glanced at her face he could see a slight grimace flicker across it.

"It's a long story, one that I don't want to tell you, at least not yet as I do not trust you enough to tell it," she said and looked at him "It's nothing personal, but I don't like to talk about it with you, at least until I know you better."

"O-Okay," he nodded, a bit surprised by her behavior. She seemed for him like an open person, yet her behavior was strange at times. He didn't have too much time to think over those things as before he could notice they arrived in front of Professor X office. Doors in front of them opened on their own.

He glanced at her and she motioned for him to go into the office, he nodded and walked inside. He saw Professor X sat behind his desk and look at him. "Harry, do you have any idea why I asked you to come here?"

"No, Professor," he said, shaking his head and sitting down in one of chairs.

Professor X nodded "The reason why I had called you is hidden inside of your mind, there is a parasite inside of it. One that shouldn't exist and from what I know it feeds on your energy."

Harry's eyes narrowed as he looked at Professor X. "How sure are you of it?"

"As sure as I can be, otherwise I wouldn't bother you with it," Professor said and looked at Harry "I know how to deal with such things, so can you drop all of the shields surrounding your mind and allow me a safe access into your mind."

He was silent for a moment, but than nodded. He whispered several phrases in language of Asgard and upon the surface of his skin appeared rows of black runes. They formed circles around his eyes and a swirling pattern across left side of his face and neck.

"Impressive," Professor X said, before closing his eyes, the very same moment Harry felt something lurking into his mind. He fought an urge to squash it and remove from his mind. He knew that it was a friendly person so he let it do whatever it was doing. He felt it pull on something and than he let out a hoarse scream of pain as he felt as if something had stabbed him, multiple time, with a white hot iron.

o-0-o

Somewhere deep in the dark forests of Albania Voldemort let out a loud shriek as something or someone destroyed a part of his soul and weakened him. During past eleven years he was growing in strength, but now a good part of it was gone, simply gone, as if cut away with a knife.

He hissed as he considered who did it, when I'm going to find him, I'm going to slowly and painfully kill him, he swore to himself and flew towards the nearest snake he could spot. He needed its energy to sustain himself and get energy for even the most basic magic.

o-0-o

Wanda Maximoff was in the middle of her meditation session when she felt something activate one of few spells she had left on Harry. Her eyes snapped open and she focused on that spell. When she saw the issue with it, her eyes narrowed dangerously and flashed a dangerous shade of scarlet. "He wouldn't do that, would he?"

She summoned herself a portal and stepped through it, it seemed that she needed to speak with some people about being stupid and doing rash things.

She stepped out of the portal in Xavier's office and looked around, balls of energy in her hands. "What did you do to him?" She asked as her sight landed on a bald mutant that was in the office.

"I did nothing," Xavier said and her eyes narrowed. "I only removed a leech that tried to live on his energy and magic."

"Leech?" She asked as balls of energy disappeared from her hands and she looked at Xavier. _He is telling the truth_ , she thought. "What kind of leech?"

"I have no knowledge of magic, but it was a part of some wizard and was connected with the scar on his forehead."

"Part of some wizard?" She asked, her voice getting a dangerous and sharp edge to it.

"Yes," Xavier said and paused for a moment, as if he was looking for a word. "It felt evil, it was tainted with death."

She nodded as almost immediately knew what it was. "Horcrux, than."

"What's that?"

"In short, a way to cheat death, one that makes them can live even if his body is killed. If I had to guess on the night when James and Lily were murdered, Voldemort wanted to make another one. When he was hit by his own curse his soul shattered and a shard of it lodged behind Harry's scar." She said and looked at Xavier "Where is he?"

"In medical bay, sleeping," Xavier said and looked at her. "Do you want someone to take you there?"

"No." She shook her head. "I will appear in a couple of days as now I want to track down the rest of those things as there must be more of them."

"How many more?"

"Maximum that you can make is seven including main piece or shard of soul, more than that would turn you into an abomination that isn't a human being," she explained and summoned another portal for herself. "I will be watching him, don't make a mistake," she said before stepping through a portal and disappearing from Xavier's. She needed to hunt down an annoying wizard to get data out of him.

o-0-o

Harry opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times when he felt strong, bright light hit him straight in the face. He could hear soft beeping of medical machines, he looked around and saw that he was in some sort of a medical facility. He felt a throbbing, dull pain in the back of his head. He sat up and groaned as his muscles protested.

"It seems that you set a new record in how fast you can land in medical bay," someone said and when he looked in a direction of that voice he saw a large mountain of blue hairs.

Harry arched an eyebrow when he looked at that thing. It didn't look a lot like human, he was used to seeing weird mutants, but even this was a bit of a stretch. It reminded him of Kree he had seen when on Asgard. But they weren't so furry and certainly were more human-like.

"I'm Hank McCoy, also known as Beast." The mountain introduced himself. "I normally teach Biology, Chemistry and few other things, as well as heal the X-Men and students that did something stupid."

"Did I do something stupid?" Harry frowned as a stream of memories hit him. "Ouch." He rubbed back of his head.

Beast smiled and Harry could see some amusement in his eyes. "You didn't do anything stupid, just Professor needed to be a bit brutal when he dealt with that thing that decided to live in you. What are those tattoos covering left side of your head and neck?"

Harry looked at himself and saw that tattoos that normally stayed hidden were visible. "Part of defenses of my mind, they help me with pushing out of my mind psychic attacks or any probes that want to learn about things that I don't want to talk about."

Beast nodded and was silent as he seemed to be checking something on his tablet. "You seem to be fine and as healthy as I'm or even more, so you are free to go. Just don't get send here as quickly as you will leave it."

"I don't want to disappoint you, but knowing my track record when training on Asgard you will see a lot of me," Harry said as he got out of the bed.

Beast sighed and looked at him. "Between you, your cousin and X-Men it seems that I will be busy this year."

Harry chuckled lightly and looked around. "Where is exit out of here?"

"Behind me," Beast said. "Than second doors on the right should get you to the main part of the mansion."

"Thank you," Harry said and looked at Beast "I will try to stay out of troubles, but I do not look for them."

"They just find you and you can't do much about them," Beast finished, making Harry arch an eyebrow. "Your cousin uses the same excuse when he gets injured."

"Oh." He made a note to talk with Warren about a thing or two. It seemed that there was more to his cousin than he at first thought.

"Just stay away from them and we will be good," Beast said and Harry nodded, walking out of medical bay and leaving the ape-like mutant to his own devices. It was less important to him than the fact that he was thirsty, hungry and felt as if he ate a lot of Styrofoam, which wasn't pleasant. He walked round the corner and almost crashed into Bobby and Warren.

"What had happened to you?" Warren asked the moment they got over their surprise and managed not to bump into each other. "I saw you being levitated by Jean to the medical bay, but I didn't get a single word out of her."

"A thing attempted to leech on my magic and Professor was forced to deal with it," Harry said and winced. "He did it in probably the least subtle manner he could."

"Meaning what?" Bobby asked "Also you look like hell."

"Thank you," Harry said dryly and thought for a moment about explaining what he meant. "He used a simple brute force attack to get that thing out of my head."

"Ouch." Warren winced as they walked into the main part of the mansion.

"Yeah, very ouch," He nodded and sent a trickle of magic into tattoos covering his body, they shimmered and disappeared out of view.

"How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Not have tattoos, than have them and again not have them," Warren clarified.

"Magic," Harry said with a smile. "They are a more nasty set of protections that surround my mind."

"If they are supposed to protect your mind." Bobby started and Harry glanced at his Brazilian friend. "Than how the heck that thing managed to stay inside of your mind."

"It was there before they were inscribed onto my skin and it simply avoided being spotted," Harry said as they got to the canteen. He lazily waved his hand and smiled when food simply flew towards it. "It seems that I can still do my magic," He said as he sat down at one of free tables.

Warren's mouth was wide open as he stared at Harry and later at the food that he just summoned.

"What?" Harry asked as he looked up at his older cousin, who was still a bit taller than he was.

"How did you summon food?" Warren managed to say after a moment.

"Magic" Harry smirked.

"So what magic can do?" Bobby asked

"Better would be what it cannot do," Harry said and paused for a moment. _How much I should tell them,_ he thought, _all of it or only the most basic and boring things._ "It can't raise dead, other than that it depends on the power, knowledge and creativity of one that uses magic."

"Okay," Bobby stuttered and shook his head "Since you are a son of Thor, do you have any bonuses from it?"

"Excluding being a Prince of Asgard and in line to the throne?" He grinned.

"Excluding that." Bobby nodded.

"In theory I should be able to have some sort of control over weather and lightning, to what extend is an unknown."

"Storm is going to be jealous," Warren chuckled and Harry looked at him. "She has control over weather."

"Oh," He said, he didn't yet hear too much about Storm, that is excluding her reputation. He knew how she looked as it was quite hard, not to see her, but he didn't see her powers.

"And she is most likely the one that will help you in getting them under control," Bobby added. "So I suggest that you meet her, by the way, what do you think of your team?"

"Frost is just _charming._ " Harry said said with a lot of disdain visible in his voice.

"She is, isn't she," Bobby agreed. "Although with Mirage and Wolfsbane you shouldn't complain too much about her."

Harry nodded and focused back on eating, he wanted to sort out some of his thoughts and this moment of silence was a perfect opportunity to do so.

o-0-o

Sean Cassidy looked around as he entered Xavier's, he was here a couple of times and his daughter was a student of it. He easily spotted Wolverine who was leaning against the wall and waiting for him.

"I see that Fury sent you here to help us," Wolverine said. "Not that we mind it."

"He did," Sean said as Wolverine joined him and they walked into the Institute. "So who or what is new?"

"Black Eagle, younger cousin of Angel and a son of Thor. He seems to have issues with White Queen, who is his team leader," Wolverine said and Sean mindlessly nodded.

 _White Queen was a hard one to get on with, so him having a problem with her is a thing that they should have expected_ , he thought. "Usual butting heads about who is in command and arguments about some rules?" He asked

"Yes," Wolverine nodded."If she won't change, she loses her team leadership and someone else will need to be placed as their leader." At those words Sean looked at Wolverine.

"You want to outright change leader of the team even before they will have their first training session?"

"She and Black Eagle seem to dislike each other to the point where it can be a problem on the battlefield and since you are here, you might as well be their leader," Wolverine said.

Sean was silent for a moment as he mulled over those words, it wouldn't be the first time when I was given a team to lead, he thought and looked at Wolverine. "I will speak with Charles first and than with them."

"What about your duties as an agent of SHIELD?"

"Fury sent me here and it means that for a really long time I'm stuck here," Sean said with a smile."Not that I have anything against his decision. I always loved being here and maybe finally I will have more time to spend with Siryn and a couple other people."

"You should as they are a training team, at least for the time being," Wolverine said. "Although the moment some other mutants will show an interest and will in joining the roster, they might be upgraded to an actual team."

"Excluding Black Eagle who else is on the team?"

"Mirage, Native American, archer and can create powerful illusions and Wolfsbane, Moira's daughter, she can change shape into a wolf. He is an enigma as with each day we learn more and more about him," Wolverine said and paused for a moment. "According to what he said, excluding his usual set of traits that come with being an Æsir, he will also have control over the weather and has wings."

"Wings?" Sean asked, if he was right about it, he would hit a goldmine with him. Usually winged or connected with air mutants are good with flying and steering the plane, he thought.

"Yes," Wolverine said and Sean could see some flickers of amusement in his eyes. "If you are thinking about the same thing, I am thinking, we are most likely correct. I didn't have time to ask Cyclops to take him to the simulator or an actual plane."

"Do it as soon as you can," Sean said "If this year will be as bad as previous one was, we will need every single pilot we can get and now we have me, Storm, Cyclops, Angel, Havok and that's all. One more pilot would be ideal as we could rotate them and keep everybody fresh and ready."

Wolverine was silent for a moment and than nodded. "You are right, you can be sure that I will talk with them about it, today."

"Good," Sean smiled as they stopped in front of Xavier's office. He looked at the doors and later at Wolverine. "I will find you once I'm done with him and everything is settled."

He saw Wolverine nod and with a small smile he stepped into the office of Charles Xavier, probably one of very few people that could make him be careful.

o-0-o

Freyr walked through the halls of the Citadel and was surprised, it was so silent and peaceful that it was almost impossible to believe that it could be so quiet. During last few years it was much louder than it was now. He kind of missed the times when it was louder than it was now. However, on the other hand, it being so quiet wasn't that bad as it allowed him to clearly think without any need to watch out for a small bundle of energy that might have decided not to watch where it was going and crash into him.

"To think that just only one person caused so much noise," someone said to his right and when he looked there he saw Sif, she was wearing her normal armor with a sword slung over her back.

"Yes," he said. "I wonder if we should pity inhabitants of Midgard or be thankful that they need to deal with him."

"I would say pity," she said and looked at him. "Although with what I heard about how dangerous it can get there for him, I would say that I much more prefer him being here."

"He has his wolves with him and Wolf Guard will join him the moment there is danger," he pointed out and was silent for a moment. He knew that they were missing something from a bigger image, something crucial that could be a problem or a good thing. His eyes widened when he realized what they were missing. "Did one that killed Lady Lily and injured His Highness was killed for good or captured?"

Sif was silent for a moment, he could see her eyes narrow. "No, according to my knowledge he neither was captured nor was he killed," She said slowly.

"Well, it seems that we need to speak with His Majesty about this little annoyance that needs to be hunted down," Freyr said as they turned around the corner and entered into a much wider and extremely lavishly decorated corridor with banners hanging from the walls and pieces of art placed along them. He rolled his eyes in amusement when he saw this obnoxious and loud show of wealth and power, he could recognize pieces of art that came from at least several different cultures that weren't a part of the Nine Realms. They were brought from Olympus, Kree Empire and Heliopolis to just name a few.

"Are you going to lead the hunt?"

"No." He shook his head and glanced at her. "Hrimhari will be the one as it seems that I will need to travel to Kree and negotiate with them. They requested someone from one of the leading noble families or from the royal family and since I'm Prince of Vanaheim I'm one of few that can do it. My dear sister could do it, but she doesn't want to and Eitri is playing his usual game against Giants and makes a lot of money in the process."

"Kree?" Sif arched an eyebrow. "What do we want from them?"

"It's the other way around," he said and sighed. "Midgard even if it is a rather useless planet when it comes to its location, has a lot of things that everybody wants and we either negotiate with them or we will have a war."

"Even with that alliance signed just a couple months ago and the fact that they are battling Skrull and would like our help?"

He nodded and sighed. "They do not think clearly when it comes to that little planet and the fact that we extend our influence irks them." He frowned and paused. "It doesn't irks them, it's just a world that they want to keep out of the game or get an agreement that will give them some rights to it. Also Chitauri are once again getting loud and may cause troubles in the future."

"They won't get bored with losing a war after a war, will they?" Sif sighed. "We had beaten them ten or so times in the last century and they got mauled pretty badly above Midgard. Yet they still want a war."

"Intelligence doesn't seem to be their strong side and it looks like this time their leaders are pretty bad," he said and nodded to guards that stood at attention to the sides of the doors. They soundlessly moved, revealing a massive circular chamber behind them. It was a Chamber of Privy Council, he entered it and took his usual seat at the lavishly decorated table. He saw three empty chairs, _not a surprise there_ , he thought, _Thor, Loki and Harald are on Midgard, so their spots are free_. He pushed those things out of his mind and focused on his liege, it was going to be another dull, but important meeting.

o-0-o

"Why do I have a feeling that it will end terribly?" Harry asked as he stood with Rahne and Danielle in Danger Room. White Queen decided only to watch the exercise, for which he was grateful as he knew that he might have issues with working with her. He was dressed in his Asgard forged plate armor, he turned down an offer to use a traditional X-Men suit, which was worn by girls. It consisted of heavy, black leather boots, pants covered in layers of composites to reinforce them and protected one wearing them from at least some injuries. and a jacket reinforced with pieces of armor.

"You are a big boy, you will be fine," Mirage said. "Also you have your plate armor, while we have our normal suits."

"True," He briefly smiled as he looked around the room. It was changing as the walls shimmered for a moment and in place of usual blue walls and floor was a part of a ruined city, also there was an actual piece of sky above their heads.

"I've seen this one before," Wolfsbane said "We need to get into one of those buildings and wait out the thing that will happen."

"Thing that will happen?" He asked as he looked around, his eyes slipped over pieces of concrete that covered the street, burned out cars and some blood between them. Than they moved over to the buildings along both sides of the road, they seemed to be low, up to two floors, but usually just one and they were missing doors and windows were in pieces.

"You will see," she said as she ran into the nearest building. They followed her into it and he crouched behind the wall when he was inside. He slipped _Tyrfing_ back into its scabbard, instead he grabbed his pistol. It wasn't a normal pistol, no, it was a pistol made by dwarves of Nidavellir and it didn't use something as crude as normal ammunition, instead it fired runic one. It was far superior to anything that humans were able to construct and far more accurate.

"Good idea," Mirage nodded. "Sword would be too bulky."

"Can you help me here?" Wolfsbane asked, she seemed to be fighting with some doors that didn't want to open.

"Open them?" He asked as he joined her and took a look at them. They looked like typical ones made out of wood and reinforced with a bit of steel or other metal.

"Yes," She said.

He nodded and kicked them a couple of times. At first they held strong, but after second kick they gave up and fell apart. He looked at Wolfsbane and she smiled.

"Follow me," she said. "And for the sake of everything precious, be silent."

He sensed that she wasn't joking and nodded, he stepped through the remains of doors, half a step behind her and looked around. It was dark and he could feel some faint smell in the air, he glanced backwards and saw Mirage join them.

Wolfsbane raised her finger to her lips and than pointed forward. He nodded in understanding as he recognized it as one of few signals he had already learnt. He gripped tightly his gun and focused a bit of magic in his eyes, everything became much clearer and the darkness was mostly gone.

o-0-o

Sean Cassidy smiled as he watched the trio that most likely would be his team walk through the city. "They know what they are doing," he said as he looked at Wolverine. "I feared that Black Eagle would have issues with not being in command, but he seems to be able to listen to orders and does them without questions."

"I also saw it," Wolverine nodded. "It should help him as it will be a long time before he gets a command post."

"Exactly. He is also able to think which is a thing that I didn't expect him to posses. Not many would be willing to switch their weapons, at least not without prior training."

"He was trained on Asgard. And I think that it would be one of the very first lessons he would get. To think and be careful, in close quarters sword is a bit too large to freely move, especially one that he has. While I have a feeling that his gun is something more than a normal one."

"Let's see," Sean said and turned to the console responsible for this simulation. He changed a couple of settings and turned to watch the display. Soon it was going to be much more interesting.

o-0-o

Harry's eyes slipped over the walls covered in damp patches and paint that was peeling away, under the ceiling were sparse light bulbs that provided some light, but even with them most of it was covered in various shades of darkness.

"There should be a door on the left," Wolfsbane whispered.

He looked at the wall and placed his hand on it, he was willing to trust his touch more than he was going to trust his eyes. He looked for any line that was too straight and even to be a natural made one. His fingers slipped over a line. "There is something," he said as he glanced at her.

"Can you open it?" She asked

"I should be able to," he said as he lightly pressed door handle, with a loud creek, that made him jump up, doors moved.

"Wa-" Wolfsbane started to say when he stepped into the room and felt a heavy piece of wood slam into his helmet. "You should first wait," she said pulling him backwards,"Those things are generated as realistically as possible and they leave the same amount of pain as you would normally feel."

"You could have said that earlier," he sighed and let her take the lead. In the room there was another set of doors and two windows to the sides of them. He crouched below one of them and looked out. He could see two gray robots move through the street accompanied by a couple of mercenaries. They were hovering above the ground and it looked as if they were looking for someone or something.

"Those are Sentinels," Mirage said as she joined him. "Robots that hunt us, aim for head and if you have armor piercing, use them."

"What about those mercenaries?" He asked indicating a couple of humans that were with robots.

"I will deal with them," she said, grim expression on her face.

"O-Okay," he said and took a careful aim at the closest robot, he depressed the trigger and watched as a couple of supersonic darts flew through the air and impacted the robot in its head. They punched through the metal and exploded inside of it, sending it to the ground. He didn't marvel the destruction he had caused, instead he quickly moved his gun towards the other robot and fired a couple more darts into it.

When the second robot slammed into the ground he looked at the mercenaries and saw that they were laying on the ground, unconscious.

"Good job, but we need to get going," Wolfsbane said. "They will most likely see that we had dealt with them and we can expect them to hurl something more at us."

He nodded and they followed Wolfsbane through the maze made out of building and small, and narrow streets. It seemed as if the city was deserted, but he could feel someone or something getting close to them.

"Watch out!" Mirage shouted as she pushed him out of the way. He had a second to see what was the reason for her behavior and he saw a dozen or so of Sentinels converge on their position.

"Crap!" Wolfsbane said before she changed shape and in place of her normal nails she had claws and her eyes turned into lupine ones.

He nodded in agreement and started to focus magical energy in his hands. Sentinels didn't wait to see what he was preparing and started to fire at him. However none of those shots hit him and with a nasty smirk he pointed his hand in general direction of those robots. From his fingers erupted a stream of energy that cut the first two in half and burned a couple more.

"Wow," Mirage said when she saw the amount of damage he had caused.

"Thanks," he said and sent an invisible blast of force towards the remaining Sentinels and they were crushed by it, falling to the ground in dozens, if not hundreds of pieces.

o-0-o

"Who is he?" Sean asked when he saw Sentinels ripped by something that he didn't spot. "He can fly, has superhuman level strength, agility, endurance and is almost impossible to kill, can summon bolts of energy and now this."

"That didn't look like telekinesis, did it?" Wolverine asked and made Seam pause for a moment.

"No, it looked more like a some sort of weird form of energy manipulation. It wasn't the same thing that Magneto has, no, it was more similar to what I have," Sean said and frowned. "Yet it wasn't sound as it would simply scatter them, it crushed them so it was something that covered a large area and didn't leave them room to maneuver."

"He also knows how to fight in hand to hand combat."

"What he doesn't know?" Sean asked in exasperation. "He must have some weak point or more as so far he looks too good to be true."

"He dislikes White Queen and seems to have issues with control of his temper," Wolverine said. "As well as he seems to focus on attacking when in fight." Sean looked at his friend "It doesn't mean that he doesn't know how to defend, but he doesn't use it a lot."

"That can be his bane when he will run into someone that is better than he is," he said, thoughtful expression on his face. _If he is so focused on attacking and doesn't like to defend, he needs someone to beat some intelligence into his thick skull,_ he thought.

"The Crusher?" Wolverine asked. "Or something else?"

"The Crusher isn't bad, but not thrown onto him right away, let him get used to being here and if I'm right someone else will explain to him the need to be more cautious when fighting." Sean said and saw Wolverine nod.

"Sunspot or Angel should be able to do it, sooner than later or even Phoenix as she knows the issue with control of your power and should know how to explain it to him."

"Phoenix?" Sean arched an eyebrow.

"New nickname of Marvel Girl, she changed it around last year or so."

"Okay," he said and turned back to displays that showed the simulation, he was impressed by how well they were doing for their first time. It was still an easy one, but they didn't make too many mistakes and he was glad that he sent White Queen away from them. She would be more of a pain than of help.

o-0-o

Maria Hill looked around as she stepped out of the Quinjet that landed in a small hangar that was a part of the main SHIELD base in Europe. Her gaze slipped over steel pillars and rough stone that was visible between them. It was still in the construction stage so wires and plumbing was visible all over the walls.

"Director Hill, welcome to the Rock," Natasha Romanov said standing to attention.

"Thank you, Agent Romanov," Maria said. "Can you take me to the command center?"

"Of course," Natasha nodded. "It's still a bit rough around the edges, but it should be sufficient for your mission."

"He mentioned that, he also said that you are the one that is supposed to tell me about ones that I'm supposed to hunt.

"Death Eaters, they are a rag-tag group of wizards from old and rich families that think that wizards are superior and the rest of society should serve them. Their leader is supposed to be dead-"

"Supposed to?" Maria asked, she was used to knowledge being more precise.

"He was supposed to get killed when he attempted to murder Harry Potter some ten years ago, but the problem is that excluding his robe and wand they didn't find a single piece of him. And wizards have a tendency to survive odds that should have killed them."

"Just great, so leader that can be in hiding," she said and looked at Natasha. "What about the rest of them? I would expect them to be safely locked away and or dead."

Natasha snorted in amusement and Maria glared at her. "In normal society they would have been imprisoned, with wizards, they are still happily roaming the country. Heck, one of them is one of the closest advisors to the Minister of Magic and the rest of them have lofty positions inside of that institution."

"So the Ministry will be totally against us?"

"Not exactly, there are some that attempt to fight with this thing and they also have high positions. In fact they have two the most important ones, one is a Director of their law enforcement and second is of mysteries, which is a mix of research and intelligence division."

"What about MI-13?"

"MI-13 is good, but doesn't have power necessary to deal with this organization, not when they need to battle the Ministry. If it came just to removal of some rogue ones, they would do that, but not when against the biggest force on the Isles."

Maria nodded and took a look around the command center into which they had entered, it was a large circular room with rows of workstations and a large holographic map of the world and even more detailed one on one of walls. However excluding those things it felt extremely bare as otherwise walls were rough and unpolished and wires were hanging from the ceiling, reminding her more of a construction side than of an office. She walked to the map and motioned for Natasha to join her. "Where would you start looking for ones that are our targets?"

Natasha was silent for a moment. "Russia, Belarus, Bulgaria and other countries associated with Durmstrang school of magic," she finally said.

"Durmstrang?"

"One of the three most prestigious and the best schools of magic on the Old Continent, known for dark arts and shady students. They also tend to provide shelter to ones that have sentences for dark arts or murders."

"Lovely group," Maria snorted and looked at the map. "Where that Durmstrang is supposed to be?"

"That's the problem with this school, it moves from country to country," Natasha said and indicated a spot on the map. "One of the last times I saw it, it was here."

Maria followed her finger and whistled quietly. "St Petersburg, no wonders that we had so many issues when in Russia."

"Among other things."

"Can you track it down?" She asked as she looked at Natasha.

Natasha was silent for a moment and than nodded. "I can do that, I still have some contacts that should know where it is going to be."

"Do it and try to look around it," Maria said and looked at the map, she had a pretty large area to check for terrorists and not a lot of man. Or at least for a moment not a lot of man as Fury held back some that were supposed to get here ahead of her.

She sighed and walked to her office, she sat down behind a desk that was most likely installed only a couple of hours ago and opened her laptop.

o-0-o

Harry rolled out of the way of falling piece of debris and turned to look at the thing that sent it towards him. He was getting annoyed by those robots and the fact that they seemed not to end, to make matters worse he somehow got separated from Wolfsbane and Mirage. They were ambushed at the intersection and split. He channeled a trickle of magic into the triskelion set in his bracelet and in his left hand appeared a round shield, at the same time he drew his sword and looked at those annoying robots.

He was tired of them shooting at him and with shield in front of him, he charged at them, when he was in front of the closest one, he jumped into the air. He brought down his sword in a overhead strike and with some satisfaction watched as it cleaved through the composites that made up most of Sentinel's head.

He jumped away, ripping the sword from the wreckage, he spun around and slammed into one that was to his side, runes engraved on the blade of _Tyrfing_ flashed dangerously and it cut through the body of Sentinel. It came out of it on the other side and in a fluid motion he opened the chest of the last one.

He watched parts of Sentinels slam into the ground, he looked around, just to see if there were more of them coming his way and when he spotted none, he kneeled. He drew on the ground a couple of runes and sent a small trickle of magic into them. They activated and he smiled when they pointed straight ahead. Putting sword into his scabbard he stood up and walked in direction from where he had came.

"So where are you?" He asked himself as his eyes scanned the landscape, most of buildings that previously were standing here were demolished by them and their fights with Sentinels. In the air were thick clouds of dust thrown up all the explosions and crushed stone, he knew that it was a simulation, but it was so darn realistic that it wasn't funny.

Squinting his eyes he looked around, he sighed as he saw only dust and even more dust. He spread his wings and jumped into the air, he knew that he would be targeted by every single Sentinel and sniper that was in the area, but he needed to see what was going on.

o-0-o

"Risky tactic," Wolverine said as they saw Harry fly to get above all the dust and sand that were in the air.

Sean nodded in agreement. "Risky, but he doesn't have many choices when it comes to his tactic," he said after a moment. "That or he relies on senses and in this cloud of dust maybe Wolfsbane or one of telelaths would be able to find the rest of the group."

"They shouldn't have split."

"We both know that this was the only good choice that they had," he said and sighed. "They should get their earpieces and get tied into the net, it would be much easier for them. But they didn't and now they need to find each other, in a more traditional way."

"And avoid getting shot into pieces," Wolverine added, he only glared at his friend or comrade and nodded.

"There is also that, but they should be fine and the moment they find each other it ends."

"You want to talk about it with them or not?"

"Yes, they are good, but everybody makes mistakes and it's better to know about them now, than get injured or killed because you did something wrong."

"It seems that they are getting to the end of the simulation," Wolverine said, drawing his attention back to the display.

o-0-o

Harry hovered above the ground and his eyes scanned the ground, he was looking for Mirage and Wolfsbane as he knew they should be somewhere around the place. From above it looked even worse than it looked from the ground, as he could see the true extend of damage done to the town and it looked like a landscape taken from the moon. Almost every single house was damaged or destroyed and everywhere were parts of Sentinels.

He spotted a brown wolf pass between one piece of rubble and another, he folded his wings and dived towards it. His wings unfolded as he neared the ground and slowed him down, so that he didn't crash into it, but instead gently landed. Brown wolf that he had previously seen was gone and in its place was standing Wolfsbane, over her face was smeared grime and some blood.

"Good that you are here," she said. "I couldn't find you with my nose and got worried."

"I'm not that easy to kill," he laughed and looked around. "Do you have an idea where Mirage is?"

"Yes, follow me and watch where you place your feet as ground isn't as firm as it looks to be."

"Okay," he said and followed her through the rubble, he watched the landscape and was still surprised by how realistic it looked. If it wasn't destroyed by their fights with Sentinels, he would say that it looked beautiful as it used to be a picturesque town. Now it was a giant pile of rubble and debris.

Wolfsbane entered a small building that seemed to be the least destroyed and he followed her in, from time to time looking around to see if there were more Sentinels coming. He didn't spot any. Mirage was leaning against the wall, bow in her hand and a half empty quiver to the side.

"Where did you find him?" Mirage asked when she saw that he was also there.

"Somewhere in that pile of rubble." Wolfsbane said, indicating everything around. "I think that this simulation is over."

"Yes," Harry agreed as he saw the landscape around them slowly shimmer out of view. In its placed appeared blue on blue walls of the Danger Room.

"You did good," Wolverine said walking towards them, Harry didn't have the slightest idea how older mutant managed to slip into the room unseen by them. However much to their surprise he wasn't alone, Harry looked at girls and saw that they recognized who it was. He was a tall, lean person with blonde hair and blue eyes, he was wearing uniform worn by X-Men, but with a red trim, not a usual yellow one. "That's your new leader, Sean Cassidy, also known as Banshee," Wolverine explained.

"Thank you, Wolverine," Banshee said and walked to them. "From today I'm a new leader of this team, White Queen was removed by Professor X and he chose me as a leader."

Harry breathed out in relief. "Honestly speaking, anybody will be better than she was," he said sincerely.

"Well, I will try to be better than she was, but be warned that you won't get any preferential treatment from me. I will demand a lot from you and I the training won't be easy, you are going to dream about such simulation as this one."

Harry smiled at those words, he wanted someone like Sean.

"Are you sure of yourself?" Sean asked him.

"No, just sure of my abilities," he said. "I'm used to demanding training from my time on Asgard."

"Will see," Sean said in such way that he almost instantly gulped in fear, he knew that he was not going to enjoy a couple of next training sessions. "Anyways, for the first training session you did good, there are things that there could have been done better, but we will work on them at a later date."

o-0-o

"You can change into a wolf?" Harry asked as they walked out of the Danger Room.

"Yes," Rahne said and briefly smiled. "You seem not surprised by it."

"Well, uncle can change shape into whatever form he wishes to take and some of them are much, much more interesting than a wolf," he smiled. "So, no, I'm not surprised."

"Is there anything that can surprise you?" Danielle asked.

"Maybe," he laughed. "But it will be a hard task."

"We'll see," she smirked as they walked to the changing rooms to get out of their clothes and get into something cleaner and fresher. As well as much more comfortable as he felt in his armor as if he was slowly boiling.

o-0-o

 _Vampireking40_ \- she is up to something, but she plays her cards really slowly and Banshee caused her a lot of problems, let's just say that he is neither a good, nor a bad character. Just tries to end in a place that gives her a lot of money and comfort.


	13. The calm or the storm?

**A/N – I need to improve my mood a bit and I might not have time to post, so I spoil you even more. Though, I don't know if you deserve such a lengthy chapter, 10k words or so.**

o-0-o

Harry gathered all of the loose strands of his hair, tying them into a ponytail, he stepped out of the changing room. He now remembered well, why he had hated to wear full plate armor, inside of it was hot, plates of armor loved to move into uncomfortable spots and he couldn't scratch any of aching spots. So he gratefully and quickly changed it for more comfortable clothes that consisted of a pair of loose sweatpants, t-shirt and over it a hoodie with Xavier's logo on the back of it.

"You know that you look good?" Rahne asked when she joined him.

"You're not the first one that told me so," he said with a smile.

"It's still truth and nothing will change it."

"Well, there's that," he said and saw Danielle walk towards them "What was that power that you had used on those mercenaries?"

"Telepathy in a way, I can use the greatest and the most secret fears that people have," she said and smiled nastily. "I just showed them what they feared the most."

"Can you see something in me?" he asked as they walked to the briefing room.

She looked at him and he saw her narrow her eyes. "No," she finally said "There is nothing in you that I could use. I can tell that you have a mind, but it throws me away.

"Good," he smiled. "I have magical protection against anything coming towards my mind."

"Sounds cool," she said and at the same time doors in front of them opened. When they stepped into the room they saw Sean Cassidy, sitting inside and waiting for them. He seemed to have a smile on his lips, but Harry knew that a smile was not equal to a smile. As he looked at this one, he could tell that it was a friendly one.

"As you know White Queen isn't your team leader, I'm the new one," Sean said when they sat down on the other side of the table. "Sorry for doing it without any warning, but there was no time for it and I didn't want to lose your focus before this exercise."

"No problem," Harry said as he took a better look at Sean, he could see toughness in him, one that didn't bode too well for ones that would cross him. Hardy frowned as he tried to recall something about person in front of him, he knew that he had heard about him from someone. "You work for SHIELD, don't you," he finally asked after a moment.

"Among many other agencies," Sean said, Harry could tell that he was not happy with how much he knew. "But my past is the least important worry for you, as I wish to discuss with you what you did wrong and what you did correct during that session in Danger Room. As well as how you can improve."

"It's already better than it was with White Queen," Rahne said from her spot and Harry looked at her. "She only told us about what we did wrong and that was it. She didn't even mention how we can improve."

"Everybody has his own style of leadership, some are better and some are worse than others."

Harry nodded at those words as he heard them in a multitude of versions from his dad or uncle. As he looked at Sean he felt more at ease than he ever felt when he was close or on his own with Emma Frost, it was not that he was afraid of her. He simply disliked her and an aura she had around herself.

"From what I had seen you only made a couple of mistakes that could be dangerous," Sean said bringing Harry out of his musings. "You decision to separate wasn't the worst one you could have done, but it was a risky one."

"Than what we were supposed to do?" Danielle asked "They were attacking us and we didn't have a choice."

"Did you think about getting earpieces and using wireless radio? One that is a common equipment for all of X-Men."

"No," they chorused, causing him to smile.

"Exactly. While it wouldn't be a huge help, it would still help you in a way and you would be able to find each other more easily. You will need to get used to it, but it is a thing that you should do easily, from my experience I know that's a matter of getting used to the feeling of having something in your ear."

They nodded and saw him smile in a way that didn't bode them too well. He walked to the wall and activated a display hidden inside. "Since we had agreed on what was your biggest mistake, let's get to analyzing it from the very beginning to the very end of it." he said making them groan. Harry was hungry and wanted to rest and as he looked at the girls he saw that they wanted to the same thing.

o-0-o

Natasha Romanov crouched behind a large evergreen bush and took a look around, she was on top of a large hill and in front of her was spread a huge valley, from two sides framed by the tall peaks of nearby Carpathian Mountains. Slopes of them were covered in thick, old, almost ancient forests that were a dangerous area for one that didn't know how to avoid large predators. From her place she could hear roars of bears that were living there. However for ones that knew how to do so, they were a safe haven and hideout, one where they could hide and await for their target.

As her gaze swept over those peaks, she could recognize some that she had seen from different side and passes between them that she had crossed during one of her numerous missions. For a moment her gaze darted to the sky above, black and covered in hundreds of stars, but immediately it went back to the peaks she was watching.

Her gaze slipped from those high peaks onto the floor of the valley in the middle, it was a meadow, covered in some parts of it in a sparse forest, with a couple of streams flowing lazily through it and a small lake at one end of it. It looked just like one of small valleys placed between peaks of mountains.

She placed binoculars in front of her eyes and her gaze once again swept over the landscape. _Well, that was worth a try_ , she thought and set her binoculars to infrared vision. Instead of a plain, normal looking landscape she could see faint ripples in the the air, they weren't natural and on her lips appeared a smirk when she saw that they weren't one time occurrence, but were happening at regular intervals.

"Well, well, it seems that it is were it was the last time I was looking for it." she said as she lowered them and felt a faint pop to her far right.

She froze in place, trying not to make the slightest sound or move. _It was a wizard_ , she thought, _so they either upgraded security or are lucky_ , she thought and waited.

She waited without move for five, almost ten minutes. She kept her breathing even and her heart didn't even quickened as she waited. She froze as if she was a part of the landscape, not a human being.

Her gaze slowly darted towards the area where she had heard the noise, she could see a completely undisturbed forest, but she knew well that wizards had means of disappearing out of view. Her gaze slipped over the easiest approach to the spot where she was and she looked at the ground and leaves covering it. She could see some of them being moved and some of them snapping.

 _It seems that they are as predictable as they were in the past_ , she thought before she jammed her dart gun out of its holster and depressed the trigger. With a soft pop dart flew out of it and slammed into invisible object that was walking towards her. It threw it onto the ground and revealed where exactly it was.

She waited a moment for the tranquilizer to take effect and walked forward, she slipped gun back into its holster and kneeled in front of the thing that was laying on the ground.

"Well," she said and moved her hands across the thing that was laying on the ground. She was looking for his or her wand to disarm them, she smiled when she found a small stick that was too even to be a twig. "Sloppy work," she commented "Probably was bored and wanted to have fun."

She stood up and looked around, _if one is here, there might be a second one,_ she thought and looked for a good perch to watch the area. She removed dart from one that it hit and walked away from him. He was going to remain tranquilized for more than half an hour, so she had time to hide. Also her job was done, if he was here, she was right about the location of her target.

Now she just needed to get out of the forest and cross the border that was running across peaks of the mountain range in front of her. Her eyes kept sweeping over the forest as she quickly walked, even if she was doing it quickly, she was making sure not to make a lot of noise.

o-0-o

"I heard that you have a new leader," Warren said with a smile when Harry and the rest of the team managed to drag themselves to the Quite Lounge. One of few places that quickly became his favorite ones inside of the Institute. Fire roaring in the fireplace calmed his nerves and allowed him to focus on things.

"We have," Rahne said and winced slightly. "Although as I look at him, it feels that White Queen wasn't that bad."

"Oh?"

"Danger Room training session," Harry said. "I'm used to training and crazy teachers, but it was a different experience."

"Are you getting lazy?" Warren asked and Harry glared at him.

"Warren, do not test my patience," Harry said, summoned himself a bottle of water, took a sip from it and looked at Warren. "He took a lot of pleasure from pointing out all of our mistakes and how we could have avoided them."

"He needs to get to your mind and sometimes you need to be direct to get to someone."

"Subtlety is a word unknown to him," Danielle said as she was looking for a more comfortable spot in her armchair. "He was very direct in how he explained what we did wrong and how we could have avoided it."

"You will get used to him," Warren said with a smile. "Also if you even dream about joining one of actual teams, you will need to train more."

"Tell that to my poor muscles," Harry sighed. "I didn't even know that there are so many of them and so many of them can ache at the same time."

"You were brought up on Asgard, where you most likely trained in several types of martial arts and you still complain about sore muscles?"

"Yes, I do that," Harry said and paused for a moment, thinking how to explain what he wanted to say. "I'm used to training, even exhaustive one, but normally any of tutors or teachers there knew some limits in how far he or she was willing to push us."

"Life isn't fair, little cousin," Warren chuckled softly and added more seriously "Especially for us, mutants."

"Why it is not fair especially for us?"

"Because we aren't generally liked by the society," Danielle said. "Most of students either ran away from their families out of their free volition or were forced to flee persecution. You, Warren and Rahne are more of an exception. You all have families that accept you and where you can go when you wish to, my family was killed because of my powers. Most of other people that you will find here had the same experience."

"Oh," Harry said, shocked by those words, he knew from his dad and uncle that it wasn't going to be all rosy, but he didn't know that it was going to be that bad.

"But don't get so gloomy," Warren said and Harry looked in his direction "It's bad, but it is getting better than it was just a couple of years ago. And much better than it was in the nineties or so."

"Okay," Harry nodded and sipped some more water. "I must say that I like being here."

"Let me guess," Warren said, getting his attention. "You like it because you are just another person, not a person that everybody bows to or show respect."

"How?"

"He is the sole son of Warren Worthington II, one of the richest people on Earth," Rahne said. "So I think that he knows how people tend to behave around you or someone in power."

"Yeah," Harry said and looked at Warren "Dad mentioned that you were my cousin, but he didn't mention the fact that you were from such family."

"He probably forgot about it," Warren said and looked at him. "Aren't you tired?"

When Warren said those words Harry realized how tired he was, he stiffening out a massive yawn, glowered at his cousin and walked to his room. Even on Asgard he rarely felt so tired as not many pushed him that hard and had so little mercy to not stop it when they were almost laying on the ground, panting.

o-0-o

Harry was finishing packing his bag when he saw Cyclops walk towards him. He came to like this mutant, so he didn't instantly get edgy as he was getting when he saw White Queen getting close to him. She was a cold woman, he could tell that she had disliked him for something that he didn't know about.

"I know from Sunspot that you are supposed to know how to fly planes." Cyclops said when he stood in front of his desk.

"Yes," Harry said with a grin. "That was one of many things I learned on Asgard."

"Good," Cyclops said. "Do you know where is briefing room in the X-Men part of the building?"

"Yes."

"I will meet you there on let's say Saturday afternoon and teach you a couple of things about our planes," Cyclops said and gave him a flash drive. "I think that you can guess what is hidden on this stick."

"Yes." Harry smiled. "Technical data that I need to remember for those flying lessons, don't I?"

"That would be right, you will find there everything about the plane that we use," Cyclops said and looked at him, light shining across ruby glasses. "While I don't expect you to know everything inside of it, it would be a good thing for you to learn it."

"I should manage to do that."

"Even with all the homework you are being given and team training?" Cyclops arched an eyebrow.

"Yes," Harry smiled, threw the stick into the bag and looked at Cyclops. "I did harder things than read few dozens of pages in a three-day time."

"If you say so." Cyclops said, he nodded and left older mutant to his own musings. He was curious of what was hidden on the data stick as he already had a pretty good idea of what to expect, so he couldn't wait for the classes to end so that he could spend some time digging through all this data.

o-0-o

The moment the classes ended Harry hurried to his room, fished out of his bad data stick given to him by Cyclops and plugged it into his laptop. He was curious what was hidden there, he grabbed his laptop and plopped down on his bed.

It took a while for laptop to load up all of the files that were hidden on the stick, but when they were loaded, on Harry's lips appeared a smile. "So Blackbird," he said to himself and opened the first file, his eyes slipped over the schematics of it and landed on details. When he saw how fast it was he whistled quietly.

He was used to fast flyers, but this was on a completely different level than most of things that he had flown. They were a bit slower than this, but much nimbler and agile.

"What are you doing?" Bobby asked as he entered the room.

"Looking through blueprints of Blackbird," Harry said, his attention still focused on the images in front of him, not on his friend. "And they are amazing."

"Who would expect to see a Prince of Asgard getting excited over some of our primitive human technology," Bobby chuckled

"What I can do when it is amazing?"

"But still, I bet it is primitive compared to what you have access to on Asgard."

"In a way, yes," Harry said after a moment "But should it stop me from saying that something is good?"

"I guess no, it's just that I'm surprised."

"Happens," he shrugged off. "It's still darn good and I wonder how it will fly."

"As good as it looks," Bobby said. "Just be careful when Cyclops is going to set difficulty of simulation to the highest level."

"Because it will get nasty?"

"You could say so," Sunspot said and sat down on his bed. "Since you were brought up on Asgard, do you know other languages than English and one used on Asgard?"

"A couple," Harry said and frowned "From ones that you should know, I know some German, Latin, Portuguese, Greek, Russian and I think that's all that I know."

"You learned all of them out of boredom?"

"More along the line of uncle suggesting that they can be useful as it seems that I'm going to spend a lot of time on Earth and I still don't have access to Allspeak or All-Tongue. Not to mention that some of things on Asgard are written in Latin or Greek, which forced me to learn them."

"What's that?" Bobby asked. "All-Tongue, it sounds weird," he said after a moment, as if tasting the word.

Harry was silent for a moment, wondering how to explain it in a way that would be the easiest one. "Ability to speak in one language, whatever it is and being understood by everybody around you. Kind of nice, especially when you want to be understood."

"Yeah, but I guess it can be annoying."

"Very," he laughed. "Especially when you don't want to be heard by too many people."

"So I guess that you enjoy being here?" Bobby asked.

"Yes," Harry flashed a smile "But now let me read the whole thing that Cyclops gave me."

Bobby nodded and let Harry fully submerge in data about Blackbird, his eyes swept over numbers and blueprints, studying them and trying to remember all data that there was. He was used to learning a lot of things, but as he looked at the images and their descriptions, he felt a bit overwhelmed.

o-0-o

Maria Hill looked at the map of Eastern Europe, than her gaze switched to Natasha Romanov. "How sure are you that this is the place where Durmstrang is at the moment?" She finally asked.

"As sure as I can be," Natasha said "I didn't enter the protective bubble around it as it would tell them that there was someone approaching, but it is there."

Maria was silent as she looked at the map. _Of all places, why does it need to be in Romania,_ she thought. Finally she nodded and once again looked at Natasha. "How hard it would be to find this Karkaroff?"

"He is one that when he wants to is almost impossible to track down, and he never or almost never leaves his school."

"School which is full of children and teens," Maria said and winced as possible consequences flashed through her mind, she was not going to order an attack on this school, unless she was insane. "So any direct attack at it is a political suicide and I don't fancy losing my head."

Natasha only nodded in confirmation, making Maria's gaze focus on a detailed map of Eastern Europe. "How easily he would be convinced to get out of his hiding and get captured?"

"As easily as Fury would be."

"So he is a dead-end as I'm not insane enough to order an attack on a school full of children, especially now as everybody is looking at us," Maria said, looked at the map and tapped her finger on it. "I want you to go there and try to get whatever you can from your old contacts."

"Moscow?" Natasha asked as she read the name that was written under the spot she was pointing at.

"Yes, the UK I'm going to leave alone, at least for the time being as Nick mentioned something about taking care of it," Maria said and looked at Natasha. "You are one that knows Russia the best and one that can get the most out of it, so I want you to go there and learn as much as you can."

"Of course," Natasha said and walked out of the room, leaving Maria alone and allowing her to freely think about the whole situation. She looked at the map and tried to imagine how placement of forced looked like. _If he is there, than someone is most likely in Kiev and Warsaw or Kiev and Minsk,_ she thought and paused for a moment. _But than, the question is what is his main goal to reach, he wants to stay out of the way, so he does a darn good job, but why there._

She walked to her laptop and looked for a detailed map of Romania with things of importance marked on it, she quickly added to it current position of Durmstrang and smiled when she saw where it was. _Well, that's a brave or foolish man_ , she thought and tapped her earpiece. "Get me overhead photos of all valleys in the Carpathian Mountains, full spectrum ones." She said and sat down behind her desk. It was going to be an interesting time and if she was right about that valley, even deadly.

o-0-o

Harry looked around the simulator of Blackbird with some curiosity, controls looked similar enough for him to know what was what. He only needed to get used to different symbols and names, but that was the least of his worries. "It seems spacious," he said as he looked at Cyclops. "For the first time I have all the space I need and there is still room for second pilot. Usually planes on Asgard are designed in a different way."

"Beast designed it or at least redesigned," Cyclops said, taking second seat. "So he tried to make it as user friendly as possible. Sometimes we need to spend hours inside, so he wanted to make as comfortable as he could. Anyways, do you know what is what?"

"Yes," Harry said, placing his hands on the controls.

"Good," Cyclops smiled. "Than let's see how good you are." He turned to a console set in the back of the simulator. "It is set to pretty normal, so it shouldn't be too hard for you."

"Too hard?"

"In some of the nastier ones I and Beast set several things like malfunctioning engine and so on."

"Lovely," Harry snorted and focused on the controls. He didn't expect such creativity on the part of Cyclops.

o-0-o

"Not bad," Cyclops said as he watched Harry execute one of harder maneuvers in simulator of Blackbird. _He knows how to fly and Banshee was right about the fact that he is natural in the air, Cyclops thought._ "But normally you need to watch out your tail as you can loose a finn or two and without them flying is hard."

"I know," Harry said without diverting his eyes from displays and controls. Which earned him a couple more points in Cyclops book. "It's just that on Asgard I'm used to faster maneuvers and more agile planes."

"I can see that in your moves. You make too many small corrections of your flight path. As if you were accustomed to plane reacting immediately to what you do. Try to relax and do not correct them so much."

Harry nodded and moves became a little smoother, without plane moving in all directions as he tried to correct mistakes that were nonexistent.

"Better, much better," Cyclops nodded as he watched moves of the plane. "Now something like few more hours and we can go on a ride in real one."

"Why so long?" Harry pouted as he steered the plane into a steep dive, controls blinking as he cruised through the air, each second bringing him closer and closer to the ground. With a sharp jerk of joystick he exited the dive and entered an even path of flight.

"Because I want to be sure that you know how to fly it and I don't want to crash into the ground," Cyclops said. "And you need more experience, how many hours did you fly recently?"

"Maybe four or so," Harry said after a moment of thought.

"Not enough," Cyclops said after a moment. "In last six months I flew something like eighty or so hours and much more as second pilot or when teaching other how to use planes. You need to fly to stay in shape, by the way what type of plane do you have on Asgard?"

"Something the size of this one, but slower, yet with better acceleration and heavily armed."

"Heavily armed?" Cyclops asked with raised eyebrow.

"One turret on underbelly with plasma cannon and two cannons facing forward, also ability to carry eight people, two bays for weapons in wings and quite a lot of external attachment points."

"Nice plane," Cyclops whistled. "Is there any chance for you to get it here?"

"Without getting attention or with being chased by a horde of planes?" Harry asked.

"Preferably the first one."

"Not any time soon. As normally it would be simply sent through Bifrost and it would be seen by everybody."

"We can work without it," Cyclops said. "It's just that having another plane would be nice."

"I know how do you feel."

"Going back to simulation," Cyclops pressed several buttons and watched as it changed. "It's the hardest one, I wonder how you are going to deal with it."

o-0-o

Harry dragged himself back into his room once the whole training session in the simulator was done, he felt as if something decided to jump up and down inside of his head. He thought that he was used to hard training when on Asgard, but there they knew the word mercy, to some extend, here it was almost forgotten.

He quickly changed into his pyjamas and closed his eyes hoping for a moment of rest and peace. The moment he fell asleep he landed in a world covered in a thick layer of mist. He looked around, in the distance he could see faint outlines of a large tree that was calling him, summoning him to itself.

He slowly walked forward, looking around, he didn't have good feelings about this whole situation and being here. _Where am I,_ he thought as his eyes scanned the mist, excluding the thick, almost milk-like mist he didn't see anything. Even if he wasn't seeing a thing, he had other senses and they were screaming in danger.

He heard a loud howl straight ahead and he almost jumped out of his skin, it was piercing and so low that it rattled his bones. He wasn't afraid of wolves, but this one made him scared and afraid of whatever was a cause of it.

He took a couple of steps forward and at him pounced a huge white and gray wolf, he reacted instinctively and in his left hand appeared a shield onto which he took the impact of the wolf. It was so strong that he didn't stop it and both of them landed on the ground, wolf's head just inches away from his throat.

"Don't die," he whispered to himself and used his free hand to keep snapping jaws of the wolf away from his head. He grunted from the exertion, but he managed to push it away and get some breathing room. "The hell you are?" He asked as he let go of his shield and used both hands to throw the wolf of himself and away.

The wolf didn't pounce again at him, instead bowed its head and turned into mist.

His eyes widened when he saw it. "Magic," he whispered to himself. "That wasn't a real wolf, but a construct of magic."

"Very good," said ethereal voice that came from nowhere and everywhere, it was full of power and mighty. "You passed the first test, now you need to find the tree and the answer you seek will be revealed to you there."

"I do not seek any answer!" he shouted at the thing that said those words.

"Do not tempt the Fate, Prince of Asgard," voice said, making him shudder from its power and anger. "You are nothing compared to us, we are older and far more powerful than you are. We remember the time when Asgard was young and your grandfather wasn't even born."

Those words made him pale in fear as he realized how old the things speaking to him were, he summoned _Tyrfing_ to his hand and gritting his teeth he walked forward. His eyes were sweeping over the mist that surrounded him. Trying to pierce it and see what was hidden behind it.

That wolf hurt his pride and he didn't want to be once again surprised by such thing, he heard claws scrapping the stone behind him. He turned to face that direction, yet he didn't see a thing.

His eyes scanned the mist, trying to see if there was coming anything at him. He didn't see a single thing, so he turned around and started to walk towards the tree that he was seeing in the distance.

The tree seemed to be right in front of him, yet it felt for him as if he spent hours walking to it, when he finally stopped in front of it he saw the biggest tree he had seen, it was massive. As he looked upwards he couldn't see the top of it and most of the upper branches of it were hidden by the mist. There was a body hanged on the trunk of it, rope wrapped around its throat was an old and bloodied one.

His eyes widened when he saw the thing that was hanged on the trunk of it, it was a corpse of an Æsir. It's hair white from age, on his head was placed a crown, he was holding in his hands a golden gauntlet with spots for gems to be placed in it. His fingers were like claws around it, as if they didn't want to lose it.

"Grandfather?" he weakly asked when he finally recognized who was hanged on the tree. It was his grandfather, Odin, yet this was a different one, this one was devoid of any energy and weak.

"Yes, this is your grandfather," said a woman that appeared in front of the tree, she looked truly beautiful, in deep green gown covered in runes that flower across it, golden jewelry adoring her wrists and neck. Her hair were black and long, reaching below her waist. "But this is also one of many possible fates of Asgard and the whole Nine Realms, one that can happen or cannot, depending on your and your family choices."

"Who are you, and how did you get into my mind?"

The being in front of him laughed. "Child, you know who I am and I'm more than able to walk through the mind of your grandfather as if it was a walk in the garden, so your defenses, while formidable are nothing to me."

"What do you want from me?" he asked, pushing fear deep into the back of his mind.

"Now train and do not ignore signs of things to come, that you will see," she said and smiled nastily. "Wake up."

He was about to say something when the thing ended and he woke up back in the real world. With a scream he sat up in his bed, sweat covering his whole body as he shivered in cold and his heart was beating extremely fast, he could almost hear it trashing inside of his chest. For a moment he simply sat there in total darkness as he wait for the shivers to go away.

"Bad dream?" Roberto asked as he sat up in his own bed on the other side of the room. "Your scream woke me up."

"More along the lines of freaky one," Harry said.

"Freaky dream that made you scream in fear?"

"Fine," he sighed. "Mix of bad and freaky." He checked the time on his phone and cringed, it was too early to do anything useful. "Night," he muttered and dragged quilt to cover his shivering form, wings wrapped around his upper body, their feathers providing another layer of warm and soft insulation against the cold.

o-0-o

Warren walked into the part of the mansion used by X-Men when he heard the sound of fists hitting the punching bag in one of training rooms. He frowned as he from what he knew it was supposed to be empty as one team was away, checking something for Professor, while the second was relaxing.

He stopped trying to see from where exactly the noise was comimg and he walked there, he stopped in front of the doors that weren't fully closed. He could see his cousin inside of the room, punching the bag, his torso bare and covered in sweat, his hairs turned into long, messy strands that were dripping with sweat.

It made him worried as from what he knew his dear cousin was not a person to drive himself into exhaustion and here he was on the best way to do so. Also as Warren looked at Harry's form, he could see some determination that made him a bit afraid of what was going on with Harry and inside of Harry's mind.

"What are you doing here at this hour?" Warren asked, stepping into the room.

"Training," Harry said without stopping what he was doing. "I need to do it."

"You know that you are going to exhaust yourself and tomorrow you will be useless."

"And?" Harry asked as he finally stopped and turned to look at Warren.

"And there is no point in doing so," he said as he walked to his cousin and looked at him, "You won't prove anything by it and only get exhausted. Believe me, I did the same thing when I was younger and more foolish than I am now."

"I need to do it."

"You don't need anything," Warren said, placing his hand on Harry's shoulder and making him look into his eyes. "Not anything, you need air to breath and energy to keep living, but everything else you don't need to do or have. You can do whatever you want to do, so now get rest and go to sleep. Tomorrow there is also a day."

He could see Harry fight with himself, but after a moment he nodded and sighed. "I guess that you are right, it's just that something unsettled me."

"But it is not a reason to drive yourself into exhaustion," Warren said and pushed Harry towards the exit. "Do I need to make sure that you get to your own room or are you going to do it on your own?"

"You don't need," Harry smiled. "I know my way around the Institute well enough."

"Good." Warren smiled in return. "Now scram and good-night."

o-0-o

It was perfect silence when Odin and Freyr were in the council chamber, excluding them, inside of it was a pair of guards at the doors leading into the room. The rest of the council left the room earlier, leaving the two of them alone and undisturbed. Odin's eyes were focused on one of many hunting tapestries adorning the walls, he finally stopped looking at it and his gaze slipped to Freyr.

"How sure are you of it being true?" Odin asked.

"As sure as I can be," Freyr said. "From what I spoke with Heimdall he said that he isn't dead, so it suggests that he is alive, in one form or another."

Odin was silent for a moment as he looked at his cousin. "I had thought that he was killed by the spell he had used on the wife of my son. How it is that he is still alive?"

"He cheated Death in a very crude and primitive way," Freyr said with an unpleasant sneer on his face, one that told more about his feelings that his flat voice. "He split his soul into several parts and hid them away from each other."

Odin growled at those words. "I want him brought to Asgard to see the justice, nobody will get away with murdering my daughter-in-law and an attempt to murder my grandson."

"Of course, Sire," Freyr said, bowing his head lightly. "I will ask Wolf Prince Hrimhari to lead the hunt. I would have done it personally, but I'm supposed to negotiate with Kree."

"Kree can wait for some time," Odin said dismissively and looked at Freyr. "I will explain to their ambassador why they need to wait and they will understand that. He cannot."

Freyr bowed his head. "I will do it at once," he said and walked out of the chamber, leaving Odin alone in the room.

There was a change coming, he could feel it as other great players were rising stakes and for the first time in ages in the Vault there were two Infinity Gems. Even if he wasn't going to admit that the stone set in his son scepter was a Mind Stone, he could feel its power. Which meant that someone caused them to end up in his possession, his eyes widened when he realized who it was.

"Thanos," he whispered and through the chamber passed a cold blow of wind. "The Mad Titan comes and wants to find them."

o-0-o

Fury tilted his head as he listened to the rambling of General Ross, he never had a high opinion about him and his recent idea only confirmed his suspicions that he was an idiot and one that shouldn't be placed in charge of any of sensitive project, neither he should be allowed to see classified data.

"No," he said and Ross looked at him. "I won't accept this project, do I need to remind you about the agreement we had signed with Magneto to avoid all-out civil war with mutants. War that we weren't able to win and now there is even smaller chance."

"But they can be an advantage over our enemies," Ross said. "So we need to use them in one way or another and this is the best approach."

"Yes, they can be an advantage," Fury said and saw Ross perk up. "But this project is a direct violation of the agreement with Magneto and experiments on children or teenagers aren't a thing I will approve."

"Magneto is a terrorist and we need them to unlock their full potential!" Ross shouted, but calmed down the moment Fury looked at him. While a powerful person, here Ron was still just a guest and could be thrown out of the room the moment Fury had enough of him.

"My answer is no," Fury said and looked at Ross. "We need to convince them to help us, not force them to do so."

"Very well," Ross said as he got up. "The Committee on Armed Services will hear about your lack of approval for this project."

Fury snorted in amusement and looked at Ross. "I don't answer to the Senate, unless something has changed the only person that can order me is the President and I don't think he is insane enough to break an agreement without a good reason."

Ross didn't say a word, instead charged out of the office. Fury had a really bad feeling about this idiot and his lust for power and fame. His previous attempt ended with Hulk about this one the feelings he had were worse, much worse.

"He wouldn't do that, would he?" Fury asked himself as he turned around and looked at the Potomac River. _If he does it, the fallout will be terrible_ , he thought and shuddered, _Worthington will be all over the media and Magneto might decide that the agreement was broken and its time to once again start his campaign._

o-0-o

"It's too quiet," Loki said as he stood on the balcony of the Avengers Tower, he still didn't know how he was convinced to join this group, but he was forced to agree that they were a likeable bunch.

"Yes," Hawkeye said as he joined him. "As if something was about to happen."

"Fury is chasing Death Eaters all over the Europe and he might have poked the wrong tree with this move," Loki said as he looked at the sky, he could tell that there was a storm brewing on the horizon. Question was when it would happen and how badly it would hit the world or the universe.

"What do you mean by that?"

"He might force them to unite, assuming that he won't catch all of them during his first attempt and it seems like so," he said, twirling his scepter. "Or worse, he might force them to consider allying with HYDRA or some other organization that lurks in the shadows, just waiting for any mistake."

"What are you going to do about them?"

"About them, I will do nothing," he said with a sly smile, "But I'm going to do a thing I should have done long time ago."

"That is?"

"Teach my dear nephew some more of magic and introduce him to true battle magic. I think that he is more than ready to learn something more than basic manipulation of energy."

"Manipulation of energy?" Hawkeye asked. "I was always taught that magic is a thing that is impossible to explain."

Loki laughed at those words. "It is manipulation of energy, either it comes from your mind, which is easier, but more exhausting or you call it from the environment."

"So how are wizards changing shapes of things or changing things from one form to another?"

"Energy comes from their mind and body," he said and paused, wondering how to explain it "If there is a pillar of fire launched at you, it is far easier to send it back, than it is to change let's say a needle into a matchstick. With fire, you just need to change direction where energy flows, while with a matchstick and a needle you need energy from your body to change metal into wood and later add missing material."

Hawkeye nodded in understanding. "I think that I know what do you mean, previously we had only contact with our normal wizards, not even the Sorcerer Supreme and they didn't know how to explain it."

"Asgard is far older than your whole civilization, we had time to develop and understand the theory behind the magic and many other things," Loki said. "Better part of spells used by wizards, if not most of them come from what we and other pantheons had taught humans in the past. They had adopted and changed them to suit their needs, but the most basic forms are coming from the spells taught by us."

"Runes?"

"Yes," he smiled. "Creation of my father, or at least in their final form. Probably the most deadly form of magic we had ever developed or came across during our conquests."

"Because you don't know when they will activate?"

"Among other things," he said and glanced at Hawkeye. "When did you learn about them?"

"Missions for SHIELD in the mountains of Norway, almost every single tomb or cave there is full of them."

"There are ways to safely disable them, or at least weak ones. I will show them to you when I will get back."

"Where are you going?"

"To Xavier's, I wasted more than enough time and someone needs to teach him," Loki said and disappeared in a vortex of energy. He stepped out of it in the office of Charles Xavier and looked around, he didn't plan to arrive here. He looked around and saw Xavier sitting behind the desk with a look that said that he expected his arrival. "How did I land here?" He asked looking at Xavier.

"I pulled you here," Xavier said. "I need to speak about something with you, something that worries me, I discovered it when I looked into the mind of your nephew and there are several other things that I would like to speak about with you."

Loki narrowed his eyes. "Tell me that you did it without his agreement and you are dead."

"I did it with his permission, I never invade mind of person without his or her permission," Xavier said. "You should know that the mind is the most sacred thing that every being, no matter his age, skin color or race, has."

"Yes," Loki nodded, conjured for himself a comfortable armchair and sat down. His gaze swiped over the gardens spread behind the office, he could see some of the students there doing their assignments and relaxing. It lingered there for a moment and focused back on Xavier's "So what is so important that you had pulled me here?"

"Do you know that there was a leech in the mind of your nephew? I know that you are more subtle and better in magic than Thor, so I want to talk about this with you."

Loki was silent for a moment, but than nodded. "I suspected that there was something, but I couldn't find it. I guess that you had removed it."

"I did, it was something so vile and dangerous that I had seen only once or twice."

His eyes narrowed when he heard those words. "I see, I guess that you had removed it from his mind, permanently at that?"

"Of course," Xavier said and winced. "It took a lot of my effort as it didn't want to go away, but I removed it out of his mind."

"Good, as if I'm right about what it was, it is a remnant of one that attempted to murder him."

"Wanda told me the same thing, but that is not a reason why I am in need of talking with you. It is something entirely else and I would say more dire."

"You speak like my father when he doesn't like something," Loki chuckled softly and looked at Professor Xavier, he couldn't feel any lies coming from him, so he only prepared for what was to come.

"Harry has changed, something in him I would have said, snapped and made him more determined," Xavier said and looked at Loki. "Logan and Warren found him a couple of time training well into the night, as if something shook him. Do you have any idea what was it?"

He was silent for a moment as he tried to think who could have been the one to shake him so badly. "I have a couple of ideas, each and every single one of them worse than the previous one. If I was to guess, I would say that it was done by Them."

"Them?" Xavier asked "I'm not an inhabitant or citizen of Asgard, so something obvious to you, isn't obvious to me."

"My bad," Loki said in apology "Spinners of Fate would be the best name to name ones or one that did this."

"Who are they?"

"Ones that can change the fate of Asgard and even with all of our magic and technology we can't do anything to them. For most of the time they spin the yarn and do nothing, but from time to time they advise us."

"And this was a hint from them?" Xavier asked

"It could have been, I was going to show Harry some of more battle oriented magic, so I might as well do it and talk with him about the whole thing with them," Loki said and looked at Xavier's "Do you have any idea where is he?"

"Most likely somewhere around the school as now it is a time for break and he should be moving around. If you want, you can take him and find yourself a quiet spot for teaching him magic."

Loki nodded in agreement and disappeared in another vortex of energy. This time he didn't get pulled by someone to a different location and stepped out of it right behind Harry. Who jumped up and turned around.

"Uncle," Harry said, lightly bowing his head. "I didn't expect to see you here."

"Someone needs to teach you magic and your father isn't the God of Magic," Loki said and saw as on Harry's face appeared a wide smile. "Yes, I'm going to teach you more powerful magic and maybe the last part of shape-shifting wouldn't be bad." He said with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Really?" Harry asked, excitement and curiosity gleaming in his eyes.

"Yes," Loki smiled. "Were you trying to meditate as much as you could?"

"Kind of," Harry said, shuffling his feet uncomfortably.

"Which means none," Loki said and saw Harry's cheeks turn red "So I think that we will start from shape-shifting," Loki summoned for themselves a portal and stepping through it they were send to a small clearing in the forests surrounding Xavier's.

"Where are we?" Harry asked looking around, he was such for a moment, until he realized where they were. "We are in the forests behind the school."

"Very good," Loki smiled and sat down on the ground, motioning Harry to join him there. When Harry sat down he looked into his eyes. "Did you have any idea when you were last meditating what is your second form?"

"Something furry, large and with fangs," Harry saw, his brows furrowing. "White fur and red eyes."

Loki looked at Harry, not sure if he heard it right. "How sure you are of this red eyes and white fur?"

"As sure as I can be."

"Well, ice wolf of Jotunheim, it seems, is your second form," he said and summoned a thick scroll, he placed it on the ground and saw Harry's gaze dart towards it. "It's a scroll with data about them and their traits and habits, so that you can better understand changing into one."

"So what can I expect from it?" Harry asked.

"Sharp fangs, even sharper senses than you have now, silent step and something special for your bites," he smirked. "But now, start on your meditation as it will take you maybe an hour or two to finally get the form and before you get it, we won't start on battle magic training."

Harry pouted, but seeing his expression nodded and closed his eyes, starting to control his breath and heartbeat.

o-0-o

Two hours later Loki glanced at the sun that was slowly moving across the sky and later glanced back at Harry. He could tell that he was almost done, the question being how soon he would change.

He heard a soft pop and looked at the spot where used to be his nephew, he was gone and in his place was a large pup of an ice wolf, it was whole four feet tall and most of its snow white fur was still soft, not a thick, hard fur of a mature wolf. It sat there, looked expectantly at him, human intelligence gleaming in its red eyes, it's fluffy tail beating the ground behind. "Good job," Loki said and the wolf looked at him. "You just changed into your animal form, now let's see if you can change back."

Wolf in front of him closed its eyes. After a moment shook its head and whined softly. He smiled and sent towards it a beam of energy that changed him back into his human body.

"For the first time you did well," Loki said reassuringly as he saw Harry look at him, "Now do it once more, try to change back into your normal form as well."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment and changed into the wolf, he ran around him and changed back to his normal form. Loki smiled lightly when he saw his expression after he successfully changed to a normal form.

"It seems that you know how to do it," Loki said and looked at Harry. "We need to talk about that dream you had, Professor X told me about your behavior and it is strange." At those words Harry glared at him, "Don't glare at me, I'm an older one and I can help you with it, so what did you see in that dream?"

For next couple of minutes Harry was telling him his dream and with each moment lump of ice in his stomach was growing. He had a bad feeling about this from the very beginning, but now it was getting worse with each moment. He managed to keep his features straight and looked at Harry. "Don't worry about them and what they had told you, it's nothing to worry about and," Loki placed his hand on Harry's forehead, muttered a couple of words in Norse and saw another set of runes form around his eyes and make swirls on the left side of his head and neck get bigger and darker. "This should make lurking in your memories and mind a very unpleasant adventure for anybody that attempts it."

"So what now?" Harry asked.

"Battle magic training," Loki said and summoned his scepter. "I only showed you how to create blasts of pure force, right?"

Harry only nodded at those words.

"Than I think it is a good idea to start more serious magic, you can choose from ice, lightning, fire or wind magic."

"Lightning," Harry grinned. "I'm supposed to know something from it."

"Another God of Thunder in the making," Loki muttered, but nodded. It was going to be a couple of interesting hours for him. Even if he was only going to introduce Harry to this branch of magic, his father domain may awake inside of him, which would make this an interesting experience.

Loki collected his thoughts and looked at Harry. "Lightning is the easiest one for you to control and master, so let's start with it. Normally I wouldn't do it, but this will help you," he said and pointed his hand at the sky which quickly got covered in black, stormy clouds, "It's harder to create element when you can't draw from the environment."

"So what I am supposed to do?" Harry asked.

"Try to channel a lightning bolt from those clouds to yourself or your sword, I would suggest sword as it won't blow up or fry you," Loki said. "Also it will be a more stable thing than you."

Harry nodded and soon in his hand that was pointing into the air was gleaming blade of _Tyrfing_ , Loki could smell ozone in the air and that meant that the lightning was to strike something. He was right as moments later a white bolt of energy shot from the sky and slammed into Tyrfing.

"Very good," Loki smiled looking at the blade pulsing with energy. "Now release the energy,"

Harry smirked and that told him to place some sort of barrier between the two of them. He did it just in time as a bolt of energy flew from Harry's sword and in his direction, but was stopped by the barrier. He destroyed the barrier and looked at his nephew, it was going to be a long, long day.

o-0-o

Amelia Bones was a patient person, but even her patience had some limits and she was trying not to explode as she looked at this disgusting toad that invited herself into her office. She took a long sip of firewhiskey, placed the tumbler back on her desk and finally looked at Umbridge. "No," she said "I won't do that."

"But the Boy-Who-Lived is our national hero and he needs to be rescued," Umbridge said "He doesn't deserve to live with those brutes, he needs to be brought up in a wizarding family."

Amelia sighed and tilted her head, wondering if the toad in front of her was insane or power-hungry or both of those things. "Mr Undersecretary," she finally said, forcing herself not to smile protectively "He is on the other side of the ocean and we don't have jurisdiction there, and even if we had, I would strong advise against it. He is son of Thor and Asgard won't take kindly kidnapping of their Prince."

"Asgard which is just a myth," Umbridge sneered. "So we do not need to fear reaction of some brutes, also that Thor that was in the Ministry was a fake one."

Amelia sighed and poured herself another glass of firewhiskey, she was against drinking when on duty, but she needed it to stay sane. She took a long sip of it, enjoying its taste and warmth, she placed the tumbler back on her desk and tried to formulate kind reply that wouldn't insult anybody.

"Was he a fake one?" she mused. "He had blown a hole in a couple of walls and he can fly, so we can assume that he was a true one. Also you are only an undersecretary with no power over me, so get out of my office!"

Umbridge face turned into a beautiful shade of purple as she tried to comprehend what Amelia just told her. "Did you-"

"Yes, I did. Get out of my office! Now!"

"Cornelius will learn about it!" Umbridge shouted before storming out of the office. Amelia only snorted at those words.

She locked doors with a simple spell and walked to the fireplace that was in the corner, she threw a pinch of Floo powder into them and said. "Albus Dumbledore office, Hogwarts."

She stepped out of the Floo in a very familiar looking office in Hogwarts, Dumbledore sitting behind his desk and Fawkes on his perch. "How may I help you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Fudge is getting insane," she said and sighed. "He wants to hunt down Harry Potter, both of us know that he doesn't want to be hunted down and his family will violently oppose it."

"Indeed, this is a problem." Dumbledore said and conjured for her an armchair. "There are some things at play that you do not know about, but might prove crucial for you to understand what is going on."

She looked at him and nodded, _by now I should have get used to him doing something behind everybody's back_ , she thought and focused on what he was saying. She only arched her eyebrow a couple of times at some of his more crazy revelations.

"So you are preparing an exchange programme with Xavier's school, not that I have anything against it, and do that behind the Ministry back?" She finally asked

"Yes," he admitted "I wouldn't have done it, but-"

"But the Ministry is full of fools," she finished. "So you want to avoid possible troubles and you are not going to mention it to Fudge."

"Among other things," he said. "Harry Potter is at the moment at that school and it needs to remain as a secret. I know that his uncle would be more than able of smashing into pieces anybody that would threaten him, but the risk is still great."

"I understand, do you want me to divert attention from it?"

"No," he shook his head. "The smaller amount of people suspects that there is something like that, the better. I need to speak with heads of houses, so I think that we need to end our meeting."

She wanted to protest for a moment, but than nodded and walked to the Floo. It seemed that she had a rat to catch and Fudge to amuse, both of which were going to be interesting.

o-0-o

"It's kind of quiet without Harald, isn't it?" Atalanta said as she blocked Ulf's strike, they were sparring under the watchful gaze of Sif who was standing to the side.

"Yes," Ulf said as an axe in his hand twirled and she almost didn't block the strike. "I came to like him and now it is way too silent without him."

"At least your ego can get once again inflated," she chuckled. "He managed to beat you in almost all of your spars."

"There's that," he smiled and sent another strike towards her, forcing her to dodge it. "The truth be told, he is good and knows how to use his sword."

She rolled away from Ulf and looked at him, she smirked as she slipped her kopis back into its scabbard and reached for her two wicked hunting knives. While she was getting better with her sword, she still preferred her knives and her smirk widened when she saw Ulf gulp in fear.

"Ready for the second round?" she sweetly asked before charging straight at him.

"Yes," he said as he grabbed with his left hand a shield and waited for her strikes. Her knives flashed and he only had a miniscule amount of time to move his shield in an attempt to block them. "Sloppy, are we?" He said when her knives screeched across the steel covering his shield, sending showers of sparks in every direction.

"In your dreams, maybe," she smiled and jumped away, watching for any opening or mistake that she could use. She saw him move his right leg forward too much and she smirked when she saw it, her daggers flashed and she flew towards him.

The next thing she remembered was getting hit by the shield in the face and being thrown onto the ground by the force behind it. She saw an axe being placed at her throat and grinning Ulf standing to her side.

"How did you do it?" She asked him as she pushed away the blade and sat up.

"You got caught by a simple feint," Sif said as she joined them. "If you were more focused you would have seen that he moved his feet forward intentionally, counting on you falling for it."

Atalanta muttered a couple of things under her breath and nodded, she grabbed Ulf's hand and used it to stand up. She picked up from the ground her knives and placed them back in their scabbards. "So what now?" she asked looking at Sif.

"More training," Goddess of War said. "You are getting better, but not good enough for my taste and you should have spotted this trap."

Atalanta ans Ulf groaned, but after a second nodded as they both knew and learned in a not so pleasant way that arguing with Sif meant running around the Citadel until she decided it was enough or something equally boring and tiring.

o-0-o

Reviews:

 _SeanHicks4_ – This is a matter that is always a questionable one, but generally normal longbow will fire a bigger arrow than a composite bow, while it's true that they don't need to be as big as longbows they have some limits. Also remember that she is shorter than he is, by not much, but still and he can use a bigger bow than she can. Which means that he has a bigger draw weight. Grammar and word choices, I know, but I **AM** not a native speaker of English so let me live.

 _UnitedOsprey1991_ – Killing yourself sounds like a stupid idea and it was one of the worst ideas in the whole series, so I decided to remove it out of the way. He will have enough of near death experiences even without it and he doesn't need a link with Voldemort, not that Voldemort would be able to do a lot inside of Harry's mind, not to mention that when in full defense mode t would turn him into an insane person. Wolves aren't Hedwig, she is one thing and they are another, treat them like a pair of furry bodyguards that can sniff out almost every assasin.


	14. Fate is unpredictable

**A/N - Next chapter, this part of the story is going to be slow, but after it, the speed should increase. I can't believe how far this story has gotten - 701 favs, 878 follows, 226 reviews and it is in 26 communities. As always read and review.**

 **o-0-o**

Harry grunted from exertion as he summoned another bolt of lightning and sent it flying towards the nearest tree. Sweat was pouring down his brow and he was panting heavily as he tried to summon yet another one, his uncle didn't know the word mercy when it came to training magic.

"Not bad," Loki smiled, he was standing away and behind a powerful shield, just in case Harry wasn't able to direct lightning away from him. "Few hundred years of training more and you might be on the level of your father."

"Doesn't Mjolnir helps him with summoning lightning?"

"It does, but also you didn't develop your powers, so you are only using magic to make those lightnings, not an actual ability to control them," Loki said and walked to Harry. "For today it will be enough, you did what I wanted you to do and even more."

"And I burned most of my energy," Harry said, sitting down and looking at the charred stumps of nearby trees. "And blew up a good number of trees."

"Trees," Loki said and Harry nodded. "I will fix them." Loki snapped his fingers and stumps of trees were gone and in their place were fully mature trees, that didn't seem to be even in the slightest affected by the things that had just happened. It looked as if the time was reversed to the moment before Harry started to throw around bolts of energy.

"If you just could fix my issues with a lack of energy like that," Harry sighed getting up and stretching his pained muscles that wanted to scream in protest, "As now I want to eat, drink and sleep at the same time."

"Happens," Loki said and with a snap of his fingers, they were back at the spot from which they appeared in the forest. "Get rest and try to practice what I showed you today."

"Uncle, when you will be back?"

"In a couple of days," Loki smiled. "While teaching you is a thing that I enjoy, you also need to learn other things and I have many more duties to attend to. Some of them more, much more important than teaching you is."

Harry nodded and watched as his uncle disappeared in another of his trademark vortex of energy. He stood there, watching the empty spot in space for a couple of seconds, thinking what to do. It was cut short by the grumbling of his stomach that decided what he needed to do, sighing he walked to the canteen to grab something to eat.

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy sat in his office, frowning, his Master was nowhere to be seen and any way to kill Boy-Who-Lived was out of his reach. No, there is a way to get to him, he thought as he looked at a ring with H out of diamonds set on a golden band.

"James Potter was a member of the club," he said to himself "So it is safe to be assumed that his son is also treated as a member of the club," He smiled nastily as he realized how easy it was going to be. Members of the club were known to plot against each other and some of them turned violent, really violent and some ended as open assassinations.

Now he just needed to find a somewhat competent mercenary or assassin to do the job, which wasn't going to be easy. He knew that someone in the highest echelons of the club was leaking data, but he didn't know who, which meant that he needed to be careful, even extremely careful in using club's resources. As that could be his downfall, he managed to learn that James was Thor, he also knew that he was working with the Avengers and through that with SHIELD.

SHIELD was a name that he didn't dare to speak, he hated it, organization that stood behind it and it's leader. Fury was a man that he grudgingly respected, but he also hated him, for being so deviously clever and ruthless as well as for destroying his first wand and making him limp on his leg.

He wasn't afraid of them, but he was forced to respect them, they had sources everywhere and he wouldn't have been surprised if they had some in the Ministry and the Hellfire Club. But SHIELD was far away, the bigger problem, at least for the moment was closer to him, its name was MI-13 and it's Director Peter Wisdom.

Wisdom was an enigma, with each question answered, two more appeared and Lucius hated that feeling when the smallest glimpse of information learned by him or his agents caused more questions to appear. Only two things that he for sure knew about Wisdom were that he was deadly, one of his agents saw Wisdom hunt down one of werewolves and kill the beast without a single problem, and that Wisdom was hated by the Ministry.

Ministry's hatred for Wisdom was partially Lucius doing, he spent years and a lot of money undermining position that MI-13 had and now it was going to pay off. They would be able to stop Wisdom's attempts to search his mansion and other estates, but also he could use them for some wetwork, one that he didn't want to get tied to him.

He pushed those musings aside and instead summoned himself a sheet of parchment and a set of his golden writing utensils. He needed to write a couple of letters and make sure that beginnings of the plot were put into motion.

o-0-o

Harry was a bit on edge when he was asked to come to Professor X office, he came to like and respect the principal of the Institute, but there was something weird in this summon. He knew that he didn't do anything bad or wrong, so he was curious what was the reason.

He walked to it and saw that he wasn't the only one as it seemed that Kitty and Rogue were also asked to come. "Any idea what he or they want from us?"

"Not the slightest," Kitty said "Though Warren said that we are going to enjoy it."

"Sense of humor of my cousin is an interesting one," he sighed and looked at them. "You didn't yet learn it?"

"I try to ignore it as much as possible."

"Well, there's that approach," he said and looked at silent so far Rogue. "What about you?"

"I don't have an idea, but it shouldn't be anything bad, we were after all asked to come to his office, not ordered or dragged there," she said and sighed "They could be less mysterious about it."

"Well, let's see what they want," he said as he opened the doors and stepped inside. He saw Professor X, Storm and Cyclops inside of it, waiting for them.

"Good that you are here," Professor said. "I've summoned you here because of a thing that will happen in a week time. A couple of students from Hogwarts will arrive here as a part of student exchange programme that I and Professor Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts initiated."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Rogue asked, Harry could tell that she was not that happy with how the things were going.

"I want you to be their guides," Professor said "You are from different teams and ones that don't have too many duties in them."

"We understand," they chorused

"But why we, not someone else from the teams?" Harry asked "I can see a point why me, but why the girls?" He felt Kitty's glare and looked at her. "It's not that I have anything against you, I'm just curious."

"You are the least I would say scary and the most easy-going out of the whole X-Men roster, or at least you won't scare them as much as some other people." Scott said, his ruby glasses gleaming. "So we think that you are the best choice for this."

"If you say so," Harry said. "Can we leave?"

"You can," Storm said. "Black Eagle, I want to meet you on the afternoon of the day after tomorrow on the roof of the Institute."

"Of course," he nodded and followed the girls out of the room. He leaned against the wall there and slowly exhaled, "Why does everything needs to happen to me?"

"What do you mean?" Rogue asked as she looked at him. "Don't you have everything you want or need?"

"In a way, yes," he said and sighed. "But I was supposed to attend this school to escape from all the events that constantly happen on Asgard and its noise."

"Weren't you told that boring and quiet aren't the adjectives that can be used to describe this place?" Kitty asked. "The best two that you could use are exciting and loud."

"I noticed that," he dryly said and sighed. "At least it's not as bad as I thought it would be and I start to like it."

"So can you stop being so gloomy?"

"I will try," he said and sighed. "It's just that I want to relax and rest, not be a babysitter to some wizards."

"It won't be that bad," she said and added with a smile. "We might play a round or two of powerball to forget about it."

"Powerball? " he asked as he looked at them, excitement and curiosity visible in his voice.

"You will see," Rogue smiled. "It's a fun game, one that you should enjoy and have a lot of fun with it."

"Meet us at the entrance to the gym," Kitty said with a smile that didn't bode too well.

o-0-o

Harry could see that he wasn't the only one eager to play it as he could see most of the both teams of X-Men and from the training one as well. "The rules are simple." Bobby said as he looked at Harry, he was holding a ball in his hand. "You can do everything that is allowed in normal volleyball, but with our powers. However do not target people when playing the ball as it can be a bit dangerous."

"Okay," Harry nodded. "I think that I understand it." He slipped off his hand his bracelets, they were simple bands of steel inscribed with rows, upon rows of runes. He placed them on the ground and threw onto them his hoodie, stretching his arms he walked to Bobby.

"I see that you are ready," Bobby smiled.

"Yup," he grinned as he took a look around. He could see that all of them were eager to play and were done with warm-up.

"Want to start?" Bobby asked throwing him a ball.

"Sure," he grinned as he grabbed the ball and walked to the end of the court to serve the ball. As he stood there and watched the whole court. He could see that Warren gulped and over the face of Rahne flickered some fear as he jumped into the air and threw the ball up. His hand slammed into it with a loud clash that sounded like a thunder, it flew over the net and towards the other side of the court where everybody dodged as it flew past them, it slammed into the floor and flew towards the wall without slowing down too much, where it crashed into it with a loud noise.

"The hell was that?" Warren asked. "Did you try to kill us?"

"No," he smiled sheepishly. "I've got a bit carried away."

"You won't be serving." Bobby said as he looked at him. "Or the next time the wall might not survive." He indicated a spot where the wall was cracked a bit and some paint fell onto the floor.

"O-Okay," Harry stuttered, shocked by the amount of damage he caused. He knew that he was strong, but not that strong and he never expected to cause such amounts of damage.

"It happens," Bobby said as he reassuringly patted his shoulder.

"I guess," Harry said as he took position close to the net and waited for someone else to serve the ball. On his face was a smile as he saw a ball being sent over the net and Angel play it, his muscles tensed as he prepared for one of them to try to make an attack. As he jumped into the air he could feel as good as he rarely felt, all of his tensions and tiredness were gone. He could be truly himself, not a person that he was forced to be when on Asgard.

o-0-o

"That wasn't the worst game that I ever played," Harry smiled as they sat several minutes later sprawled over various couches and armchairs. He sipped half of his Coke and looked at Warren. "Although the next time we are playing it we need to do that outside."

"So that you can take a pleasure of breaking every single bone in our bodies?" Warren asked with an arched eyebrow.

"I'm not that bad," Harry smiled. "So I don't know what are you talking about."

"Really?" Bobby chimed in and Harry glared at him, but Bobby didn't crumble. "Some of those balls were easily able to break bones and outside they will cause even more mayhem."

"So?" Harry arched an eyebrow.

"Not everybody is invincible and not everybody is able to survive such a ball." Bobby quietly explained and Harry looked in his direction. Curious where his friend was going with what he was saying. "What I mean is while some of us have some level of superstrength, not everybody has body that will survive a mountain crash onto it. You are an exception to this rule as you seem to be made out of steel."

Harry was silent for a long moment as he mulled over those words as looked at the warm glow of the fire that was happily roaring in the fireplace. Crackling of it was the only sound other than beating of his own heart that he heard. He finally averted his gaze from the flames and looked at Bobby. "You are right," Harry quietly said. "It's just that I'm used to most of my friends being able to survive such things."

"But not everybody will survive it," Jean Grey said as she approached them, her long red hairs falling down her back in waves. They seemed to be even redder when she got close to the fire and hecould see some flicker of understanding for him and how he felt in her eyes. "You need to adapt to that idea and get used to it, I know that with the great power comes a great thirst to use it, but you need to control it."

"You know?" he arched an eyebrow.

"Harry," Warren quietly said and Harry could easily feel subtle warning in his voice, drop that topic and do it as soon as possible.

"What?" Harry asked as he looked at his older cousin. Some challenge visible in Harry's eyes, he hated being told what to do and what not to do.

"That's not the best topic for now, you-," Warren said.

"He needs to know," Jean said as she interrupted Warren and glanced at him, Harry was surprised when his cousin crumbled under her gaze. Harry was used to seeing Warren shrug off gazes as if they were nothing, yet here he was afraid of her.

 _No,_ Harry frowned _, he isn't afraid of her, it's more that he has some or a lot of respect for her. And there is this fact that she is his girlfriend._

"I thought that you weren't willing to tell who you truly are," Warren said.

"I wasn't willing, but it has changed," Jean agreed with him, Harry could see that there was something going on between the two of them. If he was right about it, they were dating, heck, he was going to bet on the fact that they were dating. He knew from Bobby that the two of them was supposed to be dating each other, but he didn't see it yet. Now it was so obvious that hard to miss.

He closed for a moment his eyes, focusing on his Sight, when he once again opened them he saw everything as it truly was, without a single veil placed in front of them. When he saw Jean he focused on the inside of her and spotted a roaring inferno of fiery power, the moment he focused on it, the force formed an image of a large, golden bird with a widely spread wings and power coming of it in waves, upon waves. "You are a Phoenix," he simply said and at the same time Warren's, Bobby's and Jean's eyes widened.

"How?" Warren asked.

Harry shook his head, closed his eyes and the moment he once again opened them he looked at Warren. "Sight, ability to see through every single veil and layer of mist that is in front of your eyes, that is how on Earth it is called."

"How is it called on Asgard, than?" Warren frowned.

"Third Eye," Harry explained and looked at Jean. "No wonders you know about power."

"Yes," she nodded and looked at him. "I will help you with it, I know how it feels, so I can help you with learning how to fine tune it."

"Thank you," he softly said. "It means a lot to me."

"No problem, Eaglet." She laughed.

"Eaglet?" Bobby laughed. "Out of all possible nicknames I didn't think about this one for him."

"I like it." Warren smiled.

"If you want to use Black Wolf," Harry said and looked at them. "Okay?"

"Eaglet sounds much better than Black Wolf," Jean protested as she sat down in one of free seats. "What do you want from it?"

"Maybe I don't want it to be used?"

"How many times I need to tell ya, that I will use it just to annoy you?" Warren laughed and Harry slumped, he had forgotten how annoying Warren could be.

"Point taken," he sighed and after a moment looked at Jean. "So how are you going to help me with it?"

"Can you meet me tomorrow once the classes are over?" Jean asked.

"Not today?" he asked, his emerald eyes glowing softly with excitement and happiness.

"You are exhausted," she pointed out. "So no and I do not want to drag you back to your room."

"Fine," he nodded and looked at Bobby, "Fancy a game?" He asked, indicating Playstation.

"Why not." Brazilian teen nodded as they reached out for controllers.

o-0-o

On the following day the moment the classes ended Harry walked into the part of the mansion reserved for X-Men and into one of smaller training rooms inside of it. He sat down on a bench and waited for her. He was kind of curious about what she would show him as he have never suspected her of being so strong due to the fact of being a Phoenix. He should have figured that out when he heard her nickname, yet he didn't do it.

After all Phoenix was one of those beings that he was taught about when on Asgard and he knew that it loved to take on human hosts. So she was kind of an obvious choice and that nickname was telling a lot about who she was, yet he was blind and didn't see it.

Now everything made perfect sense for him, he was brought out of his musings when he heard footsteps echo through the corridor, he glanced in their direction and saw Jean walk to him. "Eager to learn?"

"Kind of," he said and sighed. "Normally I don't have such issues with control of my strength and I can choose how much I want to use. But it seems that magic that my uncle showed me, caused them it to awry,"

"Not only you," she nodded and he glanced at her. "I also have similar issues with control as you have and it is a matter of training and reining you emotions. Training with your uncle might just caused them to become more powerful and the control you had went out of the window."

"Training?" he snorted. "How is it supposed to help me?" If he knew what was about to happen, he would keep his mouth shut and wouldn't mutter a thing.

She only looked at him and he was slammed against the wall, his hands spread to the sides and without any ability to move. She walked to him and he could see mischievous fires in her eyes. "If I did it too strong I could crush you, too weak, I wouldn't send you to the wall. Do you see what I want to show you?"

"Yes," he managed to say as she released him and he fell onto the ground, breathing heavily. Even if physically he wasn't injured, his pride was trashed.

"Also meditation helps with it," she added and he stood up. "So for the next couple of hours I will help you fine tune your control and maybe I will teach you some meditation."

"Okay," he nodded as he followed her to the center of the room and sat down on the floor.

"While telekinesis is a thing completely different than your superstength," she said and he nodded. "There is the same principle, you need to choose force to the thing you try to lift or pick up. Too much and it will get crushed, not enough and it won't get crushed and you might not lift it of the ground."

"Yeah," he nodded and saw her throw in his direction a small ball, it shone brightly as it flew through the air. He easily snatched it and looked at it, it looked as if made from metal.

"Try to squeeze it harder," she said and he looked at her, making her roll her eyes in amusement, "Just do it, it's nothing bad or nasty."

"If you say so," he muttered as his fingers closed around the ball, slowly increasing amount of force that worked on it.

"Enough!" Jean said the moment the ball started to creak and deform. He opened his hand and on the surface of the ball there were imprints left by his fingers. "I wanted to see how much force you need to squeeze it, by the looks of it not a lot."

"What's the point of it?"

"So that you know where is the point where you start to cause damage," she said and briefly smiled "This ball has almost the same hardness as your average bone has, bones are slightly more elastic, but they would start to break around the same level as this did."

"So what now?"

"Learning how strong you can squeeze something so that you won't damage it," she said and smiled "It does sound terrible, but if you have fine control of your body and mind you should do it relatively easy."

He glumly nodded and focused on the ball, his fingers slowly squeezed it as he tried to see where was the point where it was going to break. It was going to be a long day as it seemed neither easy nor pleasant. Pushing those thoughts aside he focused on the task at hand, wondering how he could get it done.

o-0-o

Maria Hill looked at the photo of the valley where Durmstrang was located and tried not to smirk, she was right about the thing that was hidden there. She just didn't know that she was that lucky, this thing gave her more breathing room than she previously had and was a powerful lever if used properly.

Now she just only needed to get all other targets tracked down and located so that she could make a move against all of them at the same time. At the same time her gaze darted to the name Moscow that was written on the map, if Natasha's mission was going to be successful, she was going to have all the data or at least most of it, if she was not going to succeed in obtaining it, it was going to be a minor problem. Minor problem, but one that was going to hold her back a couple of weeks.

o-0-o

Natasha schooled her features as she walked out of the airport, everybody here could be a spy or agent working for one of hundreds of organizations. She corrected hat that casted a shadow onto her eyes and swept her eyes over the crowd, trying to spot less obvious agents. She tried not to roll them when she saw two agents that were hiding so badly that it was amusing for her, she slung her bag over the shoulder and called the nearest cab that lined the road.

She wanted to blend with the crowd and this was the best and fastest way of doing so, she was a native born Russian, so she had a huge advantage over most of spies that were attempting to get into this country. But even she needed to be careful.

" _Take me to the Lubyanka Square,_ " she said in perfect Russian, when she opened the doors of one that stopped for her. Driver looked at her for a moment, but nodded, it was a strange destination, not many traveled there unless they were working for intelligence or government.

She watched the streets as the cab rode to the center of Moscow, it was so long since she was for the last time here and so many things changed. She payed the driver generously and stepped out of the cab, she stood there for a moment, gaze of her eyes swiping over the landscape of the city.

She was silent for a moment, before she finally shake away those thoughts and walked to the large yellow neo-baroque building. It was Lubyanka Building, feared by many headquarters of KGB and Red Room and recently of FSS, one of many shards of once mighty KGB. The fall of the Soviet Union changed a lot of things and one of them was fall of KGB which fell apart and spawned a dozen or so of various agencies. She only hoped that her past friends still remembered her and were still in position of power as otherwise she could end up in prison.

She pulled out her old ID card and showed it to the guard that was standing in the lobby, he glanced at it, later at her and once more at the photo she had in her ID card. She could see a moment of uncertainty flicker across his face, but he nodded and waved her in.

With a small smile on her lips she walked in, it seemed that she was still remembered by them, she only needed to find her way to one of her friends. Friends that would provide her with all data she needed to aquire for Director Hill.

o-0-o

Freyr gripped reins of his horse as he and a large group of hunters and warriors stepped through Bifrost, they were accompanied by several dozens of wolves and hounds. He heard their howls and barks of excitement as they felt the time for hunt.

He was the first one to step out of Bifrost on the surface of Midgard, he looked around and saw a grim forest surround the spot where they landed. He could feel the stench of death linger in the air, he jumped into the saddle of his horse and placed helmet on his head.

"He is close," Hrimhari said as he walked to him "I and wolves can feel him."

"Heimdall?" Freyr asked looking at the sky that was mostly covered by a thick layer of leaves and branches, that was not letting through a lot of light.

" _His Highness is right, he is close,"_ Heimdall said in his mind. _"He doesn't know that you are coming for him and he is an elusive one. I know where he is, but this is as close as I was able to get you to him. From now on you need to hunt on your own."_

Freyr nodded and looked at Hrimhari. "Lead us, we will follow you and the wolves."

"Of course, Your Highness," Hrimhari nodded changing into a wolf and disappearing into the forest, wolves and hounds following him. Their howls low and piercing through the air.

Freyr allowed them to get few meters ahead of him before he blew his horn and spurred his horse into gallop, guards and hunters spread into a line to his sides. As they raced through the forest, his eyes were focused on the wolves that were running in front of them and were looking for their target.

 _He must be somewhere here_ , he thought as his eyes were swiping over trees and hundreds of small nooks and crannies that could have been used by wraith to hide. He was allowing the horse to keep running without him steering it, it was trained to do it and so far it didn't fail him.

o-0-o

Voldemort was hovering above the ground when he heard howls and barks that sounded foreign to ones that he usually heard. He looked in the direction from where they were coming and he saw massive black wolf, accompanied by dozens of snow white wolves that were running towards him with fangs bared.

A lump of ice appeared in his stomach or what used to be his stomach and he started to run, gathering energy to perform some magic. He didn't recognize them, but the way they were running told him that they were hunting him and nothing would stop them. Also there were two things that told him to run as fast as his legs could carry him, one, black one wasn't a normal wolf, if he had to guess, he would say he was a shape-shifter, and two, behind them he felt an extremely powerful wizard.

He flew through the trees and had only a moment of warning when a massive wolf almost tore him apart, its jaws missing him only by millimeters. He paled when he looked back and saw that hunters were getting closer, as they rode through the forest they looked like ethereal beings – tall, beautiful, glowing with power, dressed in golden armor.

He used all the magic that he had to apparate out of this forest and somewhere far away, he didn't care where he landed, he just wanted to be away from them and their wolves. Wolves that somehow were able to see him, suggesting that they weren't from this world.

o-0-o

Freyr saw a flash of light in front of him and stopped his horse, if his sight was right it was some crude form of teleportation. He looked around, his eyes scanning the forest for any signs of the wraith. "Hrimhari! Where is he?"

"Gone," Leader of Wolf People said as he trotted to Freyr's horse, "We almost had him when he disappeared out of the forest."

"Heimdall?" Freyr asked, shouting at the sky, "Can you find him?"

" _At once, Your Highness,"_ Heimdall said, he could tell that he was as unhappy as the rest of them was. _"He somehow managed to get to Hogwarts, place of one of our battles with Frost Giants, be careful Your Highness, ghosts of the slayed are still in the area and they are hungry."_

Freyr nodded, muttered a curse and looked at his warriors. "Gather around me, I will use magic to get us to the place where he is. Be careful as there are spirits of Frost Giants and other enemies of Asgard." He waited for warriors and wolves to make a circle around him before he started to say incantations for one of the most powerful spells used for teleportation. There was a flash of extremely bright light and they were gone from the forest.

o-0-o

Loki smiled as he walked onto the balcony of the Avengers Tower and saw Thor there, he wanted to speak with his brother, preferably alone.

"Where were you?" Thor asked when he spotted him approach him.

"Teaching your son how to use some of battle magic and how to change shape, at least into an animal form," Loki said and came to stop to the side of his brother. "You know that he has your gift for controlling storms and electricity, as well as strength?"

"I suspected that he will develop them," Thor said and looked at Loki. "How sure are you of it?"

"As sure as I can be, I helped him by making a storm above him, but other than that, he is able to summon and control bolts of electricity and does it quite easily," Loki smiled slyly and looked at Thor. "Also his animal form is one that I didn't expect to see, at least not with him."

"Oh?"

"Ice Wolf of Jotunheim, he is still a pup of it, but we both know how dangerous they are even as pups," Loki said and frowned. "I wonder if that is not because of his bond with our father wolves."

"You were one that was better in magic than I was," Thor said as above them rumbled a thunder. "At least in the theory of magic and creation of new spells."

"It's nothing to worry about as it will be a thing that will help him more than it will hurt him," Loki said and looked at the clouded sky. "Though he might hate me for accidentally unlocking full potential of his strength, as his bracelets will be insufficient in controlling it."

"Even if it is important, I guess it's not the only reason why you decided to talk with me," Thor said and looked at him. "You are worried by something that relates to him and don't know how to put it in words so that it will be less dangerous than it is."

"I'm known as Silvertongue, don't underestimate me," Loki chuckled, but as quickly as the chuckle appear it also disappeared with the same speed. "There is something that troubles me and is about him, even two things. One of them I will need to check in the books and scrolls that we have on Asgard, but second is more troubling, though not yet and it's a murky thing."

Thor growled and at the same time above the tower passed another rumble of a thunder. "Can you stop beating around the bush and tell me what's the problem?"

"Them, They are starting to play another game with us and it seems that they decided to choose Harry as Their target, though the dream he was shown is a worrying one," Loki paused and frowned. "I wonder what They want to achieve with this dream and the message sent by it, if the situation was as dire as They are portraying it, They would have spoken with our father."

"Did you forget that last time They were thrown into dungeon when They arrived in the Citadel without any announcement?"

"Because They interrupted hunt that father was organizing and They were lacking patience to wait for him to return from it," he said and looked at Thor. "But you are right that it doesn't fit Their normal way of doing things, it seems that someone will need to ask Them what is going on."

"I'm not going to do it, They always liked you, so you have a better chance of learning something from Them than I have," Thor said.

"If you wish I will obey your command," Loki bowed his head. "Though They might be more willing to speak to the Crown Prince and father of Harald, he is still a minor for three years."

"Than tell Them to explain Their behavior to our father, he will be certainly lacking understanding for Them doing such things," Thor growled. "And I assure you that he won't have qualms about throwing them into a dungeon."

"Yes, that would work," Loki said and twirled his scepter. "I will leave you brother dearest and go and talk with Them. I believe that it will be a very enlightening talk, for both of us."

He summoned himself a portal and stepped through it. Even if he had on his face his confident mask, inside some bones were rattled by what They had said.

o-0-o

Freyr looked around the spot where his magic deposited him and his group, he could feel a lot of mortal and even some Æsir magic in the air. Ahead of them was a massive castle perched on the shore of a lake and it was surrounded by a thick and dark forest.

"He is close," Hrimhari said, sniffing the air. "He is hiding somewhere around."

"Find him," Freyr said. "We will follow you, but you need to give us a trail to follow."

"Of course." Hrimhari transformed into a wolf and for a moment was standing in place before charging towards the castle, howls piercing the air. He kicked his own horse into gallop and followed Hrimhari.

o-0-o

Voldemort breathed out in relief when he appeared close to Hogwarts, he knew that he was somewhat safe here and nobody would hunt him here. He was about to head to the castle to find himself a host when he heard wolf howls.

"How did they find me?" he asked, nobody in particular and started to run towards the castle. Hoping that it's wards were good and strong enough to stop whatever was chasing him.

o-0-o

Dumbledore was walking out of the Great Hall when he heard low, piercing howl of a wolf close to the castle. He whipped in its direction and walked out of the castle to see the strangest sight he had seen in ages. A line of wolves was running towards the castle, led by the biggest wolf he had ever seen and behind them was a line of warriors on horses. Their armor shining in the sunlight and manes of horses flying in the wind. They looked ethereal and he could feel power surround them, power ancient and majestic, one that he didn't wish to tamper with or he would have been destroyed.

"We need to erect defenses of the castle," Snape said when he joined him. "They don't look friendly and are running towards the school."

"Wait," Dumbledore said, his gaze following one riding in the middle of the line. "I think that we are only witnesses and unwanted witnesses, at that."

"Than who are they?"

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, "If I was to guess, I would say Asgard. I had seen similar warriors when I was on Asgard."

They stood silent there, watching as those riders changed direction and were riding along the castle, not towards it. Howls and barks of animals accompanying hunters became more excited and louder, as if they were getting closer to something that they were chasing.

o-0-o

Freyr pulled reins of his horse and looked at a thing surrounded by wolves and hounds, he could feel evil flow from it in waves. He snapped his fingers and binding spells surrounded writhing form of a wraith.

"Hrimhari, are you sure that it is him?" He asked looking at the Wolf Prince that changed back into his human shape. "Bringing wrong person to Asgard would be an unpleasant and highly unwanted mistake, also His Majesty said that he wants to see one that almost murdered his grandson."

"It's the one, Your Highness," Hrimhari said. "I was able to get his smell from Your Highness cousin and it matches perfectly."

"Well, than, Tom Marvolo Riddle, you will come with us," Freyr said and reached out to lift the ghostly form from the ground.

"You can't do nothing to me," Wraith hissed "I'm great Lord Voldemort."

"And I'm Prince Freyr of Vanaheim, so watch your tongue." Freyr tied Voldemort to the saddle of his horse and looked at the sky. "Heimdall! Open the Bifrost! We have for what we had come."

A bright beam of light descended from heavens and whisked them away to Asgard to deliver their prisoner to His Majesty.

o-0-o

Harry made a circle around the Institute and dived towards the roof where he saw Storm waiting for him. He folded his wings and with a wide smile on his face he dived through the air, howl of the wind in his ears.

He opened his wings when he was just above the surface of the roof and gracefully landed on it, just in front of Storm. "You know how to fly," she said. "and know how to show off."

He nodded and looked at her, curious what she wanted from him.

"I know who is your father and I guessed what your uncle was showing you," she said without any formalities. "As you know one of many goals of this school is to help young mutants in mastering their powers. Your powers include flight and I would guess weather manipulation."

"If my uncle and father are right, those are powers that I should have," he said and looked at the horizon. It was cloudless, without a single speck of cloud coming towards them and a light, cool breeze was blowing from the ocean. "Though nothing yet showed up, excluding flight."

"Than how did you summon those lightning bolts when you were training with your uncle?" He saw her look towards the sky and somehow several clouds appeared on it without any visible cause. "Try to channel a lightning, those clouds should help you."

He looked at them, raised his hand into the air and he could feel all the power, just waiting for him to call upon.

Wild and temperamental power, but still a huge source of magic and power that he could call upon.

He reached out towards them with his mind, focusing on not getting intoxicated with the power he could call upon. He violently moved his hand towards a point in space that he saw and a lightning bolt flew from the cloud, to his hand and from there to the ground.

It impacted the ground with the force of a cannonball and left behind a large crater, he looked at it and blinked a couple of times. He never imagined that he could have so destructive power. Smashing trees was something completely different than this.

"Not bad, but it took you a lot of time," Storm said and he looked at her. "It took you over ten minutes, while it should take you a couple of seconds at most." She walked to the edge of the roof. "Watch."

He focused on her and saw her raise her hand into the air, but she almost immediately pointed it towards the crater made by his lightning. Electricity flew from the clouds, into her and through her it flew towards the crater done by him.

"Wow," he managed to say when he looked at the crater done by him, now it was much deeper and wider.

"That's how your lightning bolts should look like," she said. "Ideal would be without a single need for cloud and almost instantaneous, but that will take a lot of training that will take you a couple years."

His head slumped as he realized how much time and energy it was going to take.

He looked up when he felt her touch his shoulder, he saw her look at him. "It will take a lot of time, but you should see your power grow as you train. You are young and it will take something like two, if not more years for your powers to fully develop and reveal. So for your age it is good."

He nodded and was silent for a moment, gathering his stray thoughts. "So how we are going to train this power or ability of mine?"

"Through blood, sweat and pain," she said with a smile on her face. "the same way you train anything else. There is no other way to learn how to use it and you have this advantage that you have someone that can guide you." He looked at her, curious what she meant by those words. "When I was learning how to use my powers, I was doing it on my own and I needed to experiment a lot. You have someone that can tell you what you are doing good or not."

"There is no other way, is there?" he asked.

"There is not a single other way, so let's get to it," she said jumping into the air. "Join me here and we will start training."

His wings unfolded and he jumped into the air, following her and fully focused on her. He didn't want to miss a single thing she was to say.

o-0-o

Loki waited patiently as doors leading into the dungeon slowly opened in front of him and revealed hundreds of cells behind them. He walked through them and into the dungeons, he wanted to meet one of new additions to them, one addition that he had a large bone to pick up with. Personal bone at that and he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to have some fun.

Finding one that he wanted to talk with was far easier than he expected as someone was thoughtful and placed him in the closest cell. He smirked when he saw the wraith try to force his way out of the cell, but failing miserably.

"You won't get out of this cell," he said coming to stop in front of it.

"I'm mighty Lord Voldemort and those walls won't stop me," Wraith screeched, his voice high and annoying.

Loki only smiled at those words. "Believe me, those cells are designed to contain beings that are far more powerful than you are, ever were and will be. They are designed with gods in mind, not some loud and weak wraith."

Voldemort calmed down and was silent for a moment. "Who are you?"

"Finally some more intelligent question," Loki smiled. "I'm Loki Odinson, God of Magic, also known as a Trickster, Prince of Asgard."

"But Asgard was just a myth that our ancestors believed in, you are not real!" Voldemort screeched.

"I'm real and I know about your plots," Loki snapped at Voldemort, his gaze piercing and cold. He smiled when he saw Voldemort flinch. "You attempted to kill my nephew and you won't live for long."

Voldemort paled, remains of colors gone from his face, it was almost silver in color and devoid of any emotions. Loki could feel Voldemort's fear, even if the pale face was not a dead giveaway of his emotions.

"Good that you fear death," Loki smiled as he paced in front of the cell, guards that were patrolling dungeons completely ignoring his presence. "Everybody will face it, some sooner and some later. Nothing will stop it, not a single thing." He stopped and turned to look at Voldemort, "I know about your horcruxes and they are just trinkets, fancy ones, but nothing else."

"How do you know about them?"

Loki sighed and tried not to roll his eyes in amusement and disdain, he had bigger hopes for the supposed darkest wizard of his generation. "I pushed magic and its understanding further than some of my father's scholars dared to. I was one that taught magic to humans in the Northern Europe and one that guided them. So horcruxes are as I said fancy trinkets and nothing more, they won't save you from death."

"You dare to question me?" Wraith hissed, somehow finding courage and daring nerve to do so.

Loki sighed and stopped to look at Voldemort. "How simple it would need to be for you to understand that I'm far more powerful, far older and I had seen and know much more than you know or will ever know," he said and took a better look at Voldemort. "Also you have an extremely slim chance of getting out of here, alive. Better would be, no chance."

"But I am Lord Voldemort and I am immortal."

Loki snapped his fingers and Voldemort was launched against the far wall of his cell. Force field that made one of the walls of the cell disappeared and Loki stepped into the cell. "You almost killed my nephew, murdered my sister-in-law and hurt my brother," he said slowly, pronouncing each word, "Also you cheated Death, which is a thing that I won't accept and you used necromancy which is a branch of magic banned for a very good reason."

He could see Voldemort pale, from realization into what situation he had gotten himself. Loki turned around and stepped out of the cell, force field appearing back. He looked at Voldemort for one last time and walked out of the dungeons.

o-0-o

Reviews:

SeanHicks4 - You weren't mean, it just annoys me when people repeatedly say that grammar was bad when in my profile it is obvious that I'm not from an English speaking country.

Bows are always a questionable thing. Composite ones give bigger amount of force per size, but when you get into those proper size bows and by now he is using them, it really doesn't matter. Composite bows are great when you want to fire from a horse as they don't get stuck on too many things, while longbow is big and can get stuck. But when you have stable platform and full range of moves a longbow will be better.

Animagus form, well, I wanted something that would be different than something that can be found on Earth and since Rahne can change into a wolf and he has wolves as pets I thought about some magical breed of wolf. And quoting my friend 'God only knows what's running on Utgard/Jotunheim'. Good that you like it as I wasn't sure how it would be accepted.

Albionia - She looks like a toad and Amelia is rather civil, so she was forced to use it. When Harry will see her, his reaction will be less civil. Much less civil.


	15. One can never be too careful

**A/N - I'm spoiling you too much...**

o-0-o

Sean Cassidy smiled as he moved his pawn across the board and looked at Harry. One thing that he quickly learned about the youngest member of his team was that he was intelligent and knew how to use it. Playing chess with Harry quickly confirmed his suspicions as beating him, was a thing that required a lot of Sean's concentration and he needed to watch out for traps and moves that were something more than simple moves.

"That's a trap, isn't it?" Harry asked indicating the pawn that was just moved.

"Who knows," Sean said with a smile. "I'm your opponent and I won't give you any clue, use your brain and think about it."

Harry was silent for a moment and than on his lips appeared a mischievous smirk that didn't bode too well. He moved his rook and removed the pawn.

"Not bad," Sean said approvingly, took a small sip of a coffee and looked at the board. He moved a figure and frowned as he once again looked at it. "You are used to thinking in three dimensions, not just two like you need in normal chess," he said and Harry looked up at him. "Your lines are designed in a way that suggest that you expect something to attack from above or below."

Harry followed Sean's gaze. "On Asgard we play a similar version of chess, though in three dimensions, so attack there can also come from above or below."

"Here you need to get used to attacks coming from straight ahead or from the sides, but not above or below," Sean said. "You are good, so you should do that rather quickly."

"But this is not the main reason why you are talking about this with me," Harry said, making Sean's eyes widen in surprise.

"Yes, this is not the reason. I'm playing chess with you, so I can see how good you are in creating strategies, if you are going to stay here for a longer period of time, one day you might be a leader of a team, " Sean said and paused, thinking how to explain what he wanted to say, "So I want to make sure that you know how to solve problems and make, but more importantly adapt plans to what is happening."

Harry didn't say a word, instead moved a figure on his own. Sean smiled as he saw that it was going to be one of their long games of chess, that would most likely take a couple of hours to finish. He didn't mind them as they forced him to think in a way he rarely had an opportunity to do and it allowed him to learn more about Harry. So far he learned two things, Harry was smart and knew how to think. The second being the more important one, he saw a lot of intelligent people that didn't know how to use their intelligence.

o-0-o

Harry smiled as he sent another log into the air for Freki and Geri to play with, they were old and big wolves, but wanted to play as much as pups and younger ones. He heard footsteps behind and saw Rahne and Danielle walk out of the forests surrounding the Institute. They were one of those to whom he was closest at the Institute, training together usually forged such bonds.

"Your wolves look kind of scary," Danielle said as Freki and Geri ran towards them.

"They only look like such," he said with a smile when Freki came to stop in front of him, panting happily and showing his impressive set of teeth. "You just need to get used to them. Also unless provoked, they won't bite you."

"They are something more than wolves?" Rahne said and he looked at her, he saw her watch them closely.

"Yes, they are," he said and they looked at him. "They are bulletproof, almost completely immune to magic and their teeth can chew through steel. Also far more intelligent than normal wolf ever will be."

"Nice," Rahne whistled, "No wonders you keep them close to you."

"Yeah, they are the reason for my nickname on Asgard, also I like them very much."

"Who doesn't want to have dogs or some other type of pet," Danielle chuckled as she reluctantly moved her hand and placed it on the head of Freki who looked at her, but didn't move.

"Go on, he won't bite you."

She looked at him and later at Freki who was laying on the ground, not caring about her hand. She slowly moved it through its fur and he didn't move away.

"You see," Harry said. "You don't need to be afraid of them."

"Yeah," she said. "It's just that they look kind of scary."

"Well, wolves look kind of scary," Rahne chuckled. "After all they are predators and they need to look such."

"Says one that can change shape into a wolf," Danielle pointed out.

"Says one that can use people's greatest fears against them," Harry said and looked towards the horizon, where sun was getting close to hiding behind it. "I'm going for a run." Standing up he dusted off his clothes and looked at them. "Are you going to join me?"

"Why not," Rahne said and after a bit of reluctance Danielle also nodded.

He smiled as he started to run, keeping in check his speed as not to leave them behind, too much, he knew that he was faster than they were and ever could be.

o-0-o

"He is good," Scott said as he looked at Warren "You know that and I know that."

"Who is good?" Warren asked as he turned to look at Scott.

"You know who, your younger cousin, Black Eagle. I'm still surprised that he didn't demand to be placed on an actual team, instead of a training one."

Warren was silent for a moment, he was a bit surprised by those words. "I don't know him as good as I would like to, but I think he is a patient one and he likes his team. Also he wants to be away from the spotlight."

"Right," Scott nodded. "I forgot that he is also a Prince of Asgard and he might want to be just a normal person, or as normal as we can be."

"Yes, also I think that he came to like Banshee and his style of leadership."

"Which is a bit specific, but he knows how to rein more foolhardy people. After all he has been working for SHIELD, MI-13 and a couple of other organizations for last fifteen or so years," Scott said and Warren nodded.

"You don't need to remind me about it, after all he took a great pleasure in explaining to me why you need to wait before charging straight into the battle," Warren said with a smile and looked at the sky, it was lacking a single cloud and it was relatively warm, which was a bit weird for this time of the year. "It is too quiet, way too quiet."

"You mean no troubles and no new mutants appearing?"

"Yes," he nodded "While I don't mind it, I also don't really like it. It feels as if the storm was gathering and will strike soonish."

"Hopefully it won't," Scott said and Warren could see that his friend and mentor was not really happy. "Tomorrow those students from Hogwarts will arrive and the last thing which we want is something disturbing their stay."

"Good thing is that weather should get awful enough to keep most of people inside of their houses and away from troubles. Nobody will be able to rally a mob with snow and frost, humans are animals that love warmth and safety," Warren said with a grin and looked at Scott. "Speaking about those Hogwarts students, do you know anything about them?"

"Not really, we only know that they should behave and are more open-minded than an average wizard is."

"Let's just hope that they will be okay as dad mentioned to me that they can be an awful lot of people," Warren said and sighed as a loud thunder rumbled above their heads. "They could choose a better moment for training, not now."

Scott only chuckled as they walked into the building.

o-0-o

 _He has much more energy than I had at his age,_ Ororo thought as she watched Harry summon another bolt of lightning. Sweat was dripping from his whole body and he was starting to pant heavily, but he was still doing it. His stubbornness at trying to achieve his goals was a thing she needed to praise as many people gave up well before this point.

"Enough," she said and he looked at her. "For now it is enough as you will exhaust yourself and tomorrow you will be useless."

"I still can train," he protested as he summoned yet another bolt of energy.

"I know that you can," she said. "But what's the point of exhausting yourself and making you sleep through most of the day." He looked at her and she snorted "I was some time ago as stubborn and young as you are, so I know how you think."

He nodded, though she didn't know if he did it, just so that she would let him live or if he was truly convinced.

"Good," she said with a nod and sat down on the roof, trying to find somewhat even spot. She waited for him to do the same before she said anything else, "You know how to summon lightning bolts and you are doing it better than you did it before, but I do not think it is your main power."

He looked at her, not understanding what she meant by those words.

"I mean that while you are able to summon lightning bolts, your main gift is somewhere else. Not lightning bolts," she said and looked at him, to see if he understood what she meant. He nodded, but remained silent, "Good that you are willing to listen, I can control all aspects of weather and I will try to show you how to manipulate them to see what's your main power."

He nodded and she could see determination and focus in him that she rarely saw in most of students of the Institute. Truth to be told, she kind of expected it from him, she saw him interact with other people long enough to have at least the faintest idea of who he was. He reminded her a bit of Warren, but with few other things thrown into the mix.

"Control over storms and thunders is just one of many aspects of control over the weather," she said and looked at the sky, easily summoning a massive cloud, from which rain started to pour, "It can also summon and banish clouds, cause rain, summon winds." She closed her eyes for a second and massive gust of wind came from nowhere. "It is limited by only three things, your power, imagination and creativity. You can make whatever you desire to do and as long as you have energy to fuel it, you will do it."

"So can I summon a tornado or hurricane?"

"Assuming that you can control weather and wind, yes," she said and saw him perk up. _At least I know how to keep him focused and motivated,_ she thought _, who would think that such a simple way would work on him._

"So what are we going to do?"

"Now?" she asked and he nodded. "Nothing as you are exhausted, but let's say on tomorrow afternoon, assuming that there will be time, I will show you how to manipulate various other aspects of weather."

"But-," he protested, but stopped when she glared at him.

"I'm still your teacher, even if you are an X-Men on training team, it doesn't mean that you can ignore my orders. I'm still Vice Principal and while X-Men have a certain leeway, you still need to obey me," she said and looked at him. "I know that you are used to be one that is ordering other around, but here you do not have such position and won't have. Is it clear?"

"Yes."

She smiled briefly when she saw him so quickly understand that he needed to obey what he was being told. "Since we had agreed on it, I want you to know one thing. Mutants usually develop their powers when they are older than you are. So even if you don't have them now..."

"I might develop them later in my life," he finished with a small smile. "So you mean that I shouldn't care if I have any powers as of now."

She looked at him and nodded in agreement. "But now I want you to get some rest and relax, you are tired, even exhausted and training is pointless as of now."

"Fine," he huffed and jumped of the roof, his wings opening to slow down his fall. She sat there silently for a moment, contemplating things that had happened. She knew that abilities of mutants needed to be nurtured and carefully developed, but he was a different one than most of them she had ever see.

 _His father is Thor, yet he isn't arrogant and can actually think when he needs to,_ she thought and shook her head, _there is much more to him than he is willing to openly tell. His past is dark, the way he behaves at times and way he reacted to my words, those are old wounds, but still sensitive_ , she stood up and jumped of the roof. She landed in front of the mansion and walked inside to find Beast as he might have answers to her questions.

o-0-o

Wanda Maximoff walked to the window of Sanctum Sanctorum and looked outside, she needed to calm her thoughts before they were going to blow up something, or worse, change it into something else.

"What made you so irked and angry?" Strange asked as he walked to her.

"Few things that I learned from Xavier, as much as I would like not to agree with him, on this one he is right," she said and sighed. "That scar on Harry's forehead is something more than a normal scar, or at least was. He dealt with the thing that was hidden inside of it, but owner of it is still around."

"It was a horcrux?"

"Yes, one of seven parts of his soul, assuming that I did my calculations right." She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes and turned to look at her mentor, one that trained and shaped her into a person she became. "He is obsessed with avoiding death, so all of those things are most likely well hidden and protected."

Strange was silent for a moment, she could see him thinking about something. "He was a wicked and insane person, so seven would be a number he was aiming at. Do you have an idea what he could have used as those _things_?"

She closed her eyes, allowing her thoughts to run in all directions. _He was fascinated with the founders of Hogwarts and great wizards of the past,_ she thought, _so if I were him, I would use something of importance as a container for a shard of my soul. Which doesn't help too much as there are hundreds of great wizards and witches that are famous throughout the history of wizarding world._ She opened her eyes and looked at Strange who was looking at her, weird expression on his face. Like if he knew something she didn't know.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"Think about Hogwarts for a moment," he said. "There are four founders of it, at least four remembered ones and each one of them left something. So at least three will be..."

"Will be easy to find and once we have them, we can use tracking rituals and spells to pinpoint location of the rest of them. Sword of Godric won't be an option as it was forged by Goblins and they make sure that nobody can tamper with their craft," she finished and winced "It's just that finding one of them will be hard."

"Yes and no," he said and she looked at him, arching an eyebrow, "Did you forget that Asgard has a large bone to pick with him?"

Her eyes widened as she realized what he meant. Than on her lips appeared a smirk. "This is going to be so, so easy."

"Yes, so go and ask them for help. I think that they will gladly provide you with all that you will need."

"Oh, I will, I will indeed," she said and for the last time looked at him, "Do you have anything else to tell me?"

"Just be careful and do not do anything foolish," he said. "I don't want to explain how some things were turned into chickens of all things."

"That was an accident, they angered me," she protested and summoned for herself a portal to Asgard. It was taking a toll on her magic, but after Loki showed her how to do it, she was able to do it quite easily and didn't need to wait for Heimdall to open the bridge for her.

She stepped out of it in one of few hundreds, if not thousands of chambers that made the Citadel. She took a look around, trying to find where he was and nodded as she recognized the spot where her portal opened.

She walked out of the room and walked to the part of the Citadel reserved for the royal family, she needed to speak with two people. Servants and other courtiers looked at her with some curiosity and even disdain in few cases, but she ignored them. She enjoyed much more attention from the royal family of Asgard than they could dream of and they were jealous of it.

She smiled when she saw Sif walking out of those chambers, she stopped and saw that Goddess of War noticed her and was walking to her.

"What is the reason for your presence on Asgard?" Sif asked. "I thought that you would stay with His Highness on Midgard."

"Tracking down one criminal, one that left this scar on His Highness forehead," Wanda said and Sif looked at her, than on Sif's face appeared smirk. _She knows about something, but what is it,_ Wanda thought.

"Come with me," Sif said, "There is something that you need to see."

"What is it?" Wanda asked as they walked through the corridors of the Citadel. She lost an idea of where they were going after a couple of turns as Sif was using paths that weren't known to her.

"Wraith that was caught by Prince Freyr during a hunt on Midgard, he will look and feel familiar to you. Though you should be careful around him as he tries to hurl himself at everybody around," Sif said.

"Don't you have cells designed to contain such things?" Wanda asked as she looked at the Goddess of War. "I have thought that they were designed with gods in mind, not some upstart dark wizard."

"We have, but he tries to do it, even with runes at full power and other defenses activated, as if he thought that he can break them."

Wanda winced at those words, she accidentally activate such runes once and it was more than enough for her. "He seems like an interesting wraith, not many have enough power to do so."

"He is." Sif nodded as they stopped in front of large doors inscribed with hundreds of runes. They groaned and slowly moved out of their way, revealing hundreds of cells with various prisoners.

Wanda whistled when she saw how massive dungeons under the Citadel were, they were huge and her whistle got louder when she saw the amount of runes that were placed in the floor and the walls of the corridor. She followed Sif into the maze and after a moment they stopped in front of a cell with a wraith inside.

"Is it?"

"Yes, it is Voldemort," Sif said and wraith looked at them.

"What do you want from me?" he hissed, his voice high and pitched, than his eyes landed on Wanda and she shuddered from his cold gaze. "Wanda Maximoff, so you had decided to stop hiding behind your father-"

"Don't bring him into this," Wanda snapped at him, her magic lashing out and silencing the wraith. "I'm not him and don't even dare to speak his name. It's my past, not yours and leave it alone or you will feel my wrath."

"Calm yourself," Sif said, placing hand on Wanda's shoulder. "He is trying to play you into making something that you do not want to do."

"Thank you," Wanda said and looked at Voldemort. She launched her magic at him and tore a part of him from the rest of the body. "This will do," she said as she enclosed it in a field of her own magic.

"Tracking spells?" Sif asked.

"Yes, he has some things that keep him alive, even if you behead this body and I want to destroy them."

Sif nodded and they walked out of the dungeons, leaving Voldemort and the rest of prisoners to their own devices.

o-0-o

"Why this scar is not disappearing?" Warren asked and Harry tensed, it was one of few topics he didn't want to talk about, with anybody.

"Can we not talk about it?" he asked as he focused on the fire roaring in the fireplace and avoided Warren's gaze. "It's personal thing and I do not like talking about it."

"Personal?" Jean asked, arching an eyebrow, only sign of her curiosity.

Harry sighed and looked at the fireplace, he knew he would need to confront demons of his past sooner or later, but he didn't know that it would happen so quickly. He was silent for a long time before he diverted his eyes from the flames and looked at his friends. "Let's just say that it's a thing connected to one that attempted to murder me, when I was year old. He killed my mum and when he tried to kill me, his Killing Curse bounced off me and hit him, killing him."

"So..., let me get this straight," Bobby said. "You were whole year old when you killed that wizard?"

"Yes," Harry said and sighed. "According to what my uncle told me, in the UK magical community I'm known as the Boy-Who-Lived."

"That's a _lovely name_ ," Warren said, placing hand on Harry's shoulder. "No wonders you don't like talking about the topic."

"Yes," Harry said quietly as his gaze once again darted to the flames, their mesmerizing pattern calming him down. "Wizards that will come to the Institute will know who I am, at least in the magical community of the UK. So I'm not that happy with them coming here as I want to have peace, not to deal with them."

"You will need to face it, sooner or later," Jean said and he glared at her, yet she ignored it. "What I mean is that you need to face it, not run away from it as if it was a thing that you cannot confront. You aren't a weak person, are you?"

"No," he said as he clenched his fists, so hard that the bones creaked, he finally looked at her, grim determination visible in his eyes. "I'm not a weak person. I'm a Prince of Asgard!"

"Much better," she said with a smile. "You need to confront those things and here is the best place to do so, you are surrounded by friends and ones that care about you."

"I-I will try," he said, fierce fire in his eyes.

o-0-o

Loki summoned himself a portal and walked into it, stepping out he arrived in the middle of a pristine landscape. Wild, ancient forests were spreading in all directions, but he was here not to marvel beauty of the landscape. He looked around, until his eyes found an entrance into a cave that was sitting between two trees, when he walked into it, a wave of energy washed over him, testing if he was a worthy one.

He ignored it and stepped deeper into the cave, his steps echoing as he walked through the darkness, using his magical sense and his memory to keep going. It wasn't his first trip into this cave system, but the first one when he needed answers and beings that lived here seemed weirdly open.

 _They want me to ask them about that thing,_ he thought and looked around, his eyes glowing in the darkness of the corridor, _the fact that there was no test is only a further proof. Last time their test almost killed me, this time nothing jumped at me, nothing even tested if I am a worthy one._

He stopped in front of stone doors inscribed with runes and struck them three times with his scepter, each strike sounding like a thunder in the tight confines of the corridor. He waited for the last echo to go away before he pushed doors open and stepped into a large circular chamber with pillows scattered all over the floor. On three of them were seated Norns, they were ancient, older than Odin, yet they looked as good as if they were half his age. In the middle of the chamber was a massive well, it's water milk white and for every sorcerer it was a beacon of raw, untamed magic.

As Loki looked at them he was forced to once again marvel the power of magic, the room was overflowing with their magic and it was almost impossible to breath, so powerful it was.

"What the proud House of Odin wants to know?" Middle one, named Wyrd, asked, her voice vibrating with power.

 _Not good, really not good,_ Loki thought, _she lets the other two normally speak. Something is coming, she as the eldest is speaking, from what father told me, she did it only once from what he remembers. It was when Laufey decided to attack Midgard and he was forced to defend it. Question is what's the thing that made them so worried,_ his gaze for a moment darted to his scepter, _unless they know what's hidden in my scepter and they know who gave it to me._ He schooled his features and looked at the Norns.

"The future to come, events to happen and the fate that yet needs to be decided," he said, sitting down on one of pillows, his eyes not leaving Norns for a moment. "The universe is changing and we want to know how it will change."

"The fate of the universe is a thing that even we cannot predict at the moment," Wyrd said, _not good, really not good,_ Loki thought, _they are supposed to know the future and the events to come._ "We do not know what will happen exactly, but we know that the great turmoil is coming and that nothing will stop it from happening. The Dark One comes and his coming will be a sign of the turmoil, you cannot stop it and nothing will stop his coming.

"Beyond that, we only know that the Asgard will survive his coming, but we do not know in what shape it will be. We do not know who will be the King of it and what will happen next, use this warning well and do not come seek our help before the Dark One was awoken." Wyrd said and into him slammed a wave of magic that thrown him out of the chamber.

o-0-o

"This is all going to end really badly," Harry said as he walked to Professor's X office.

"You don't like taking a risk?" Kitty asked, as she and Rogue walked from a side corridor.

"Hmm... Let's just say that I don't have too much love for wizards, especially for ones from the UK," he said and twirled a knife that somehow made its way into his hand. She didn't even want to know how did he get it, he was a strange guy, but in a good way. "So the lesser amount of contact I have with them, I'm happier, now I'm a very unhappy Æsir and you don't want to see me mad."

"Oh?" Kitty asked "What are you going to do? Punch walls, throw us through them or do something else?"

"You really don't want to see me mad," Harry said quietly and she looked at him, taken aback by how cold his voice was. She never heard him behave so coldly before, but now he has changed, gone was this friendly fire from his eyes and instead she could see something that was much, much darker and dangerous. Something she didn't want to awake and every single sense was telling her to get away from it. As she looked at him, she noticed things that previously escaped her attention, his hair normally tied into a ponytail, now was set free and they hid his scar from prying eyes, while the rest looked like a crow nest.

"Why are you so mad at them?"

Harry looked at her and must have seen that she was afraid of him, he took a couple of deep breaths and she could see friendly flicker once again appear in his eyes. "I'm not mad," he finally said. "It's just that I'm worshipped by them because of the fact, I stopped Dark Lord when whole year old. It doesn't matter for them that he had almost killed me, killed my mum and injured father."

"I can see why you don't like it," she said. "But they shouldn't be that bad, should they?"

"No, they should not," he said and shook his head. "I just hope that they are nicer than an average wizard is."

"We will see," she said as they walked into the office of Professor X. They nodded to Professor, Cyclops, Storm and Beast that were waiting for them inside of it.

"The portkey should be arriving any time now," Professor said when he saw them, "So stand by the walls and wait."

"Portkey?" Rogue asked.

"Means of magical communication," Harry said. "From what uncle had told me it's pretty uncomfortable and not the best way if you want to look good."

"Why?"

"You will see when they will arrive," he smirked. "It will look amusing, at least that's what my uncle told."

"Meaning what?" Kitty asked, trying to pry as much as she could.

"Just wait and see," Harry said, she nodded a bit unhappy.

There was a loud pop and onto the floor tumbled four people with bags in their hands, and holding a piece of a rope.

"The hell that was?" Rogue asked

"That was portkey," Harry chuckled as he helped those that landed with getting up, "Looks the way my my uncle told me it would look."

They were about to say something when Professor X cleared his throat and everybody looked at him. "I want to welcome you to the Institute, Professor Dumbledore is my good friend and I hope that you will enjoy your stay here." He indicated Harry, Kitty and Rogue. "Those three will be your guides at the Institute, today and tomorrow you have to get acclimated and know other people. But after that you will attend classes with my students."

o-0-o

Ulf threw forward his hand, looking for any ledge that he could use to lift himself, it took him a moment, but he finally found it and used it to support himself. He ignored the wind that was attempting to slam him into the mountain, he was born in those mountains and he came to know them. Sweat was pouring down his brow as he climbed, it was an exhausting activity, but he loved it and didn't miss any opportunity to climb.

He crawled onto the ledge and with legs spread far apart he looked at the landscape visible below, jagged peaks of Nordmark Mountains spread to the east and west, while between them was visible huge, almost untouched forest with hundreds, if not thousands of lakes and rivers hidden among the trees. As his gaze ran over the forest, he could see a large clearing where was a palace of his father and houses of smaller vassals and housecarls, his honor guard. Even further he could see golden walls of Asgard and the spires of the Citadel, place where he recently spent more time than he spent in his father's realm. But than that was the price of training alongside member of royal family, price that he was eager to accept as he knew well that spending time with His Highness meant an open gate to titles and positions of importance.

He saw hands of Hrolf try to find the ledge, he smiled and lifted him onto the ledge, he came to like Hrolf, especially since he was less annoying than His Highness was at times. "You're slow," Ulf said, laughing.

"It's not like I can climb mountains every single day of my life,"

"No, it's not," he said and looked at Hrolf, who was almost a head and a half taller than he was, as well as much more massive, which made him look kind of small. Even if in his own right he wasn't small as he was easily taller and more massive than His Highness was, "Though with your size it is a wonder that you managed to get so high, so quickly."

"Some of us much more prefer having solid ground under their feet and a heavy axe in their hands," Hrolf said and turned to look at the landscape, "From here it looks different, everything seems smaller and less majestic than it is."

"Indeed," Ulf smiled and looked at Hrolf, mischievous fire in his eyes, "You know that His Highness will be back around the solstice?"

"He didn't mention that, he said that he will be back around summer one."

"It seems that I have better sources than you have," Ulf chuckled and sat down on the ledge. "As much as I dislike agreeing with Atalanta, she is right that it is silent without His Highness being on Asgard."

"He will be soonish," Hrolf said and turned to look at the peak behind them. "How tall is this mountain?"

"Another few hundred of yards," Ulf shrugged off as he followed the gaze of his friend. "So you want to keep climbing?"

"We don't have anything better to do, do we?"

"No," he laughed as he walked to the slope and started looking for any ridges and other points that he could use to support his hands and legs. Putting them in holes he started to climb upwards, each move getting him higher and higher.

o-0-o

"So all of you are X-Men?" Oliver Wood asked as he looked at Harry, Rogue and Kitty. They looked like average people, way too average to be X-Men. Only standing out things about them were massive wings on Harry's back and a pair of huge wolves that followed him wherever he went. They were currently sitting in the Quiet Lounge, one of few rooms that he came immediately to like.

"Yes," Harry smiled. "Generally most of older students were or are a part of X-Men, though it's not always a case."

"You being the best example," Kitty said.

"What can I say when for last few years I was training how to use all kinds of weapons that we have on Asgard,"

Oliver's eyes widened and he almost lost control of his jaw at those words. He slowly turned and looked at Harry, he expected surprises to be a common occurrence, but this, but this was too much for him. He took a deep breath and finally asked, "You are what?"

"Prince of Asgard," Harry said, smiling smugly. "Half-blood Æsir, half-blood human, son of Thor."

"So who is your human parent?" Oliver asked and gulped when Harry looked at him, his green eyes froze him in place. They were cold and dark, as if the storm was coming, also they were far older than they should be.

"Don't ever dare to ask that question," Harry hissed, his voice dangerous and low, each word full of malice and venom, his wolves looked up and Oliver gulped in fear. It was not that he was afraid of wolves, but those two were huge and their fangs looked lethal. "This is a thing that I'm not willing to tell, especially not to you, wizard." Harry stood up and stormed out of the room, wolves following him in his tracks, fur on their backs bristling and fangs bared.

"What did I do wrong?" Oliver asked, looking at the girls. He didn't know what the hell just happened, one moment they were talking and now Harry stormed out of the room.

"Nothing," Kitty said. "Or at least nothing that you could have avoided, he let's say doesn't have a lot of love for wizards from the UK and especially when they start poking this subject. So you just touched thing that he isn't willing to talk about, though considering his past, I'm surprised that he was so patient."

"What do you mean?"

"She means that my cousin's life was not the best and it was caused by a certain wizard from the UK," said tall blond-haired and blue-eyed winged person that walked to them, "So don't expect him to be warm and open to you, if I'm honest, I'm not surprised by him and his behavior."

"Warren, don't scare them," Kitty said, "If you are in dark mood join your cousin, he should be brooding or flying outside."

"Thank you, Kitty." Warren smiled. "I was going to ask you where did he go."

"That was local biggest asshole or the richest teen on this side of the planet," Rogue said, some amusement in her voice. "Warren Worthington III or Angel, he can be an asshole or a helpful one."

"And this was his asshole version?"

"Yes," Rogue nodded, he could see that she didn't seem happy about Warren's behavior. "Although, you provoked it, he and Harry are close, they were separated because of a wizard and his meddlings for eleven years."

"So if you see them behave like if they are furious at the whole world, ignore it," Kitty said. "Sooner or later it will go away, most likely sooner."

"Is there anybody else that I should know about?" Oliver asked. "As much as I wanted to meet you as X-Men are also known in the magical community, those two are interesting."

"A couple more," Kitty said. "But you will get to know them on your own, we were given as a sort of a guide for you inside of the Institute. Some of them are members of the staff, so if you see some of us having a lot of leeway, well it means that we are X-Men."

"So you are above the rest?"

"Not really, let's just say that they turn a blind eye on some things and will pretend that they do not see some," Kitty said and looked at him. "But than, some missions are like just that, in the middle of classes or worse in the middle of night and we need to be ready for them. Warren is leader of the second team, Harald is on training one, at least for the time being. I am on the second and Rogue is on the first one."

He nodded in understanding, he could see some sort of chemistry between all of them and the fact that they seemed to be communicating with each other through some weird means. As a player of Quidditch he easily saw it, it was one of those few things that created a good team.

Content he poured himself a glass of water and looked around the room, trying to get used to the fact that it was a completely different timezone and it had a completely different culture than he was used to. His family was half-blood wizards, so he was used to non-magicals, but for last few years he was spending most of his time at Hogwarts.

o-0-o

Harry slammed his fist into a dummy, his strength was so huge that it sent it flying. He looked around, searching for more targets and he was surprised when he found none. All other dummies were on the ground and in various pieces scattered across the room.

"Are you calm enough to think?" he heard someone say and his head turned in that direction to see Warren leaning against the wall. Harry took a deep breath and focused on his magic, trying to calm himself. "I think that the answer is yes," Warren said walking to him.

"When did you get here?" Harry asked, braiding his hair backwards, so that strings of them wouldn't fall into his eyes, in the process revealing his lightning bolt scar.

"When you were demolishing training dummies," Warren said as he walked to one of dummies or whatever has survived Harry's attempts to calm himself. "Impressive strength," he said looking at it and later at Harry, "I thought that I was unstable emotionally, but you are something more."

Harry growled and looked at Warren. "Get away from me before I lose remains of control over myself."

"What are you going to do? Kill me? I highly doubt that."

Harry growled and shook his head. "I don't know," he said and added quietly. "I don't know what is going on with me."

"You lost your temper," Warren said, motioning Harry to sit down. Harry nodded dumbly, following his cousins orders. "Better." Warren smiled, "I know in a way how you feel right now."

"You know?" Harry looked up, he didn't hear a lot about Warren's past.

"I also lost my mum when I was few years old," Warren said quietly, his voice sombre, "She died out of illness, but it feels the same as if she was killed. The time you spent on Asgard made you forget about the fact that she died."

Harry was silent for a moment, but than nodded. "Yes... The fact that I had feeling made me forget about lack of her and now..."

"Now it hit you even harder," Warren finished. "It isn't pleasant feeling and you cannot run away from it, it's impossible and you need either to deal with it or it will haunt you till it drives you mad."

Harry nodded and looked at Warren, he could tell that his cousin was not lying about it. "I will try to control it, but that's Æsir way of dealing with what you do not like."

"Punch it?" Warren asked, corners of his lips twitching.

"Among other things, or beat each other into the land of unconscious."

"Interesting way of solving issues," Warren chuckled and looked at Harry. "Are you calm enough not to cause mayhem?"

"Yes," he nodded and looked at Warren. "I guess that you have more reasons for being here."

"Yes, one thing you are going to enjoy, second not so much," Warren said and Harry arched an eyebrow. "One that you are going to enjoy, family has a nice mansion in the Rockies and if you want, we can go there around Christmas as it is one of break periods."

"Neat," Harry smiled, "And the second thing is what?"

"Your fighting style," Warren said. "Banshee asked me to tell you that you need to focus less on being carefree berserker when fighting." Harry looked at him, not sure what he meant. "Those are his words and he only asked me to be a messenger."

"Fine," Harry sighed. "I will try to be less carefree, but that is just my style and even Sif wasn't able to beat it out of me."

Warren laughed at those words and Harry looked at him. "Believe me, you don't want to see Banshee getting creative, Sif wouldn't break a couple of bones to get the message into your skull or would she?"

"No." Harry shook his head. "She isn't that nasty, she can be firm, but she usually limited herself to making us run around the Citadel until she was satisfied with it."

"Satisfied with it and us?"

"Ah, I didn't mention my friends from Asgard, did I?"

"No," Warren grinned, "So I guess that now is a good time as any to do so."

Harry smiled and looked at Warren. "Well, there is a lot that I can say about them."

"Start from the beginning," Warren said and got up. "But we better get somewhere more comfortable than this."

"Where?"

"My room, I have it all for myself and nobody will interrupt us."

"Lead then," Harry smiled and followed his cousin through the maze of the corridors. After few minutes of navigating them, they got into Warren's room and Harry was forced to admit that it didn't look bad. He sat down on Warren's bed and looked at him. "So what do you want to know?"

"Everything," Warren said throwing him an energy drink.

"Than you get better comfortable," Harry smiled, "It will take me a while to tell."

Warren rolled his eyes and looked at Harry. "I'm used to people taking an awful lot of time to say things, so I won't mind it."

"So, I've been friends with Ulf, who is son of Ullr, who was and still is my tutor, Atalanta who is daughter of Hercules and my third cousin two or so times removed, and Hrolf, who is son of Volstagg, who is one of dad's closest friends," he said and opened the energy drink, "We trained together and we had fun together."

"You mentioned Sif making you run until she was satisfied with you, what did you mean?"

"That we were throwing up our breakfast," Harry said, some disdain in his voice, "And the Citadel is awfully large, so running around was not pleasant, only a lot of people had an opportunity to laugh at us. Or polishing weapons that were getting dull and do it isn't that pleasant either."

"I can imagine that," Warren said, Harry could see some compassion in Warren's voice. "Banshee will be more creative when he will try to teach you something, Danger Room gives him a lot of opportunities for it and he will use it, all of it."

"Ouch." Harry winced. "Than I better start trying to be less of a carefree berserker, but focus some on defense."

"Yes." Warren nodded, "You miss them?" He asked and Harry blinked a couple of times, "Do you miss your friends from Asgard."

"Yes, I grew attached to them and while they are certainly annoying at times, I like them," Harry said. "So I miss them, not as much as an opportunity to have some fun with them, but still."

"Can't you ask them if they can drop by at the Institute?"

Harry's eyes widened as he looked at Warren, it surprised him, he never considered such thing. "I guess I can as during Yule I wouldn't mind visiting Asgard."

"After our little stay in the Rockies?" Warren grinned

"Yes, after it," Harry smiled and finishing his energy drink. He banished it towards the trash can with just a wave of his hand, "If you want, you could come to Asgard with me, I am also considering inviting few more people."

"You can?" Warren frowned. "I have thought that Asgard was out of reach, of us, mortals and that nobody was invited there."

"I'm one of Princes of Asgard and there are still people invited there," Harry smiled, "I think, dad was going to invite Avengers there and it is a fun place, so you should love it."

Warren was silent for a moment and than nodded. "Why not, you're the inviting one, so we will be your problem," he said with a grin, making Harry groan.

"You wouldn't survive without mentioning it, would you?"

"No," Warren laughed merrily and than looked at his watch, "As much as I love talking, it's late and you need sleep, so get to your room and get some rest."

Harry sighed and nodded, he knew well that his cousin was a stubborn one and he didn't have a single chance of convincing him to change his mind. He slipped out of the room and walked to his own, wandering about the adventures that the future would bring.

o-0-o

Sif's behavior might seem a bit weird, but remember that she can't really use more convincing ways of getting into their minds so she needs to think out of the box. And believe me, sharpening the edge of any blade takes a really long time, especially if you want to get it done properly. I mean you can do it in a couple of minutes, but it will be still there, just less visible. Also they need to learn how to care for their weapon even when away from anybody that could it for them. Unless you think that anybody will be willing to sharpen the edge of his commander's blade when he is in a damp, miserable pit dug out of mud and needs to take care of his own weapons.

Reviews:

 _shugokage_ \- The usual things that happen to every traitor/assasin. Interrogate him and learn whatever can be learned from him and Voldemort won't enjoy it. After that quick trial that is more of a show of power of Asgard and *cough* fairness *cough* of law and quick execution. Also there are his horcruxes.

 _TL14 -_ I know, it's just that my keyboard loves to surprise me with weird swaps of words and 'than' and 'then' are the most common ones.

 _UnitedOsprey1991_ \- Voldemort is tougher to kill and he will live much longer than all of you think, also he has horcruxes that are just a tiny, tiny annoyance. About big bad, I think that his name was mentioned at least once.


	16. Life is not fair for heroes

**A/N – I have chapter stored on my drive, my muse seems to be willing to work, more or less, but mostly more so here is another chapter. As always read and review.**

o-0-o

"They are all going to enjoy it, enjoy it a lot," Harry snickered as he stood with Rahne and Bobby in front of the class and waited for the rest of people to show up. They were watching those four wizards that were from the exchange programme.

"Yeah," Rahne nodded, impish smile on her lips. As Harry glanced at her he never expected her to have a more mischievous, evil side, "They don't even know what is going to happen to them and they might freak out when you will be fighting Wolverine."

"How is it that you can keep up with Wolverine?" Bobby asked, "He is older, much more experienced and faster than we are. I can do it when using my powers, but when limited to what a normal human can do, he still can beat me quiet easily."

Harry only chuckled at those words, making them look at him. "Sif sometimes asked some of my grandfather guards to help her in training us and they are fast, so Wolverine looks kind of slow compared to them."

"Ok, so what's not easy for you?"

"Remembering who is in charge or not being carefree berserker when in combat," Sean said from behind, "Also it seems that he can't spot when someone gets behind him."

"I can," Harry said as he rolled his eyes and turned to look at Sean, "It's just that I don't bother with it when Freki and Geri are calm."

"That can be your doom one day, as there are ways to trick even the most vigilant of guards and your enemies will attempt to use them," Sean said seriously, as Harry looked at him, he could tell that Sean had experienced it in the past. His eyes were dark and gone was usual happiness. "So I think that you better refresh those skills as otherwise it might end badly for you. Badly as in with your death."

"It won't get easy for me, will it," Harry sighed, "I came here to catch some breath away from Asgard and its noise and you won't let me live, will you?"

"No, you are supposed to learn things here and I'm your team leader," Sean smirked. " So don't expect me going easy on you, I want all of you to survive even the hairest missions and nothing will stop me from this goal. Today I will be fighting with you, not Wolverine, not anybody else as only I can teach you not to focus on attack.

Harry only glumly nodded and sighed.

"Good luck," Bobby said patting his shoulder. "He shouldn't be too hard on you."

"Yeah, sure," Harry snorted walking into the class and looked at the high ceiling, hoping that he would be able not to get completely embarrassed by Banshee. It was not that Harry didn't have a lot of respect for his team leader, he had, but he also hated his pride being damaged and this could be a moment when it was going to be torn to shreds.

It turned out not to be that bad as he was able to control his habits and didn't charge straight on at Banshee, instead he focused more on thinking and didn't fall for any of more obvious traps that were waiting there. Even if Harry was able to avoid falling for traps, he still received quite a lot of vicious strikes when he left huge holes in his defense, holes that were just asking for someone to punch through.

"How did you survive that kind of strikes?" One of Hogwarts students asked, his name was Charlie if he remembered correctly, "Most of them looked dangerous, even lethal."

"Experience," Harry grunted, wiping some blood from the side of his head. He knew that the wound was going to heal in a moment, but it still annoyed him. "I've been thrown at various things when training, so this was nothing new for me, also wings help."

"Nothing new?" Charlie frowned. "Where are children taught how to fight and are tough enough to survive such things?"

"He is a son of Thor," Rahne said in bored tone. "So he is supposed to know how to fight, and he is tough, really tough."

"Thank you, Rah," Harry smiled, tying his hair into a ponytail. "Now, about fighting, you didn't see some of my friends from Asgard."

"I don't think that I need," she said, "Your skills are impressive enough."

"Speaking about Asgard," he said, getting closer to her. "Would you like to see it as I will be coming there for a part of the Yule and I don't think that many will mind that will bring a couple of friends with me."

Harry only smiled when her eyes widened and gleaned with some sort of joy and excitement. "I would love to," she said enthusiastically. "It's boring in winter and at my mother house it is even more boring at wintertime."

"Asgard is certainly interesting and nice," he said with thoughtful expression on his face. "My friends might be a bit of a pain, but you should come to like them."

"A bit of a pain?"

"Ego the size of a planet, but other than that a perfectly nice people."

"It sounds familiar," Rahne said as they made their way through the school, trying to reach the classroom where they were going to the next class before the end of break. "What else should I expect?"

"That it is a nice place and you should come to like it," Harry smiled, taking his seat. "There is a reason why it is called a Jewel of the Nine Realms and the Realm Eternal."

"Isn't it only propaganda?"

"No, it's not," he smiled and tried not to groan when he saw White Queen enter the room, his relations with her could be only described as terrible and for most of the time he tried to stay out of her way and reach. However he could not skip classes with her, so he only groaned and focused on surviving it, he approved of her approach to the subject, but that was the extend of his warm

o-0-o

"Are they insane?" Wisdom asked as he looked at the purple-haired Agent Elizabeth Braddock, also known as Psylocke, "They won't get further than the border of the USA before they are get caught by SHIELD and MACUSA."

"That's what Director Bones said," she said, her voice respectful and not showing a hint of emotion. "I can now understand what she means by saying that dealing with them is like dealing with children."

"Unfortunately, yes," he said and stood up, she looked at him, but he only motioned her to follow him. "There are some things that you need to know, things that are of great importance to those events, especially so that you can understand what is going through their minds."

"What is it?" she asked as they entered a lift. Wisdom pressed the button and with a quiet hum of an electrical motor it started its way up.

"History of one person and his status within the society of British wizards. He is the sole reason why they behave the way they do, they believe or want to believe that he is their national treasure and as such should be kept in their magical community."

"He doesn't want to be bound and his family is opposing any of such ideas?" She took a guess, katana on her back slipping into a more accessible position.

"Indeed and since his father is Thor..."

"He will protest loudly and violently," she finished with a predatory smile. "So they want to ignore Thor and kidnap his son, hoping to get away with it. Not that they are going to achieve it, X-Men and Xavier's are too bloody good for this one to work."

"Exactly," Wisdom smiled slyly. "It will give us a lot of room to breath, they don't have a lot of leverage against us and we will get a lot against them. I want you to go to the USA and make sure that all of those idiots are caught."

 _If they are as stupid as he is saying they are, it will be an easy and quick job,_ she thought and looked at Wisdom, _he has something more on his mind, those wizards are just an outer layer of what he wants to achieve._

She nodded. "When am I supposed to get there?"

"Today, wizards are supposed to travel there tomorrow, but I want you to be there ahead of them and to make sure that a welcome committee is ready for it. Some of them are suspected to work with a dangerous group called Death Eaters."

"Aren't they gone?" She frowned. "I remember reading a report saying that the last one of them was caught and he was supposed to be put on a trial."

He laughed at those words, his laugher bitter and lacking any humor. "They were put on a trial, but excluding a couple of them, the most they got was a slap on their wrist and a fine to pay. So you should guess where they ended up."

"In the Ministry and any other organization that allows them get away with what they are doing," she said, "They are terrorists in disguise that are only waiting for their leader to return, aren't they."

"Yes," he said and smirked, "While I wouldn't yet dare to openly move against them in the UK, in the USA..."

"They don't have the whole government behind their back and Director Fury will help in covering our tracks in the whole mess," she finished as they stepped out of the lift on top of MI-13 HQ. She checked her gear and walked to the Quinjet that waiting for her. She could see its engines already being active and on standby.

o-0-o

"You, you are Harry Potter!" Cedric shouted as he looked at Harry, his scar now revealed and visible on his forehead.

"Yes, I am," Harry sighed, _well, the cats are out and I won't do much about it,_ he thought and looked at the wizards that finally noticed his scar, _why they couldn't wait some more time with this, they are seriously annoying and I actually came to like them._

"Is he the Boy-Who-Lived?" Charlie asked as he pushed his way through the crowd of students, most of them oblivious to what was going on.

Harry growled and immediately to his sides appeared his wolves, crouched and ready to pounce. Also some of mutants stopped and looked at him and later at the Hogwarts students that were the reason for wolves behavior. "Don't use this nickname for me, I was called worse, but this is a thing that I won't accept."

"But you killed You-Know-Who," Cedric said and Harry narrowed his eyes. "So you deserve this title."

"Did I? From what my uncle told me, he killed himself, I had nothing to do with it and I don't want you to use this nickname. He also has a name, name that you can pronounce as every other name."

Cedric seemed a bit shocked by those words and Harry only sighed internally, _it is worse than my uncle told me it would be, he said that it was going to be bad, but not to this extreme. It seems that someone is seriously worshipping me for what I hadn't done, Hogwarts is going to be even less amusing than I originally thought._

"So how is it that you survived his spell?" Charlie asked

"I'm not a normal human, I'm half-blood Æsir and this spell only sent my father into a couple weeks of coma, nothing else," Harry stated and looked at them, his eyes cold and devoid of life. "So end of topic and let me live as I'm losing my patience and my wolves don't have a lot of patience." At those words they growled and bared their fangs, making Cedric and Charlie pull out their wands and take a couple of steps backwards.

"Lower your wands, now!" Nightcrawler said as he appeared to the side of Harry. "Order your wolves to behave."

"Peace," Harry said and his wolves calmed.

"Wands, hid them now!" Nightcrawler repeated as Hogwarts students seemed not willing to lower them, "You are guests here and you need to behave the way everybody behaves."

"Do it!" Nymphadora, who wanted to be called Tonks, said as she looked at the rest of wizards, "You provoked him, nobody likes to talk about death of his relatives, and Nightcrawler is a member of staff."

Hogwarts students looked at her, but nodded and slowly hid their wands, but they still looked at Harry's wolves with some worry, as if they would attack them. He looked at them and they almost immediately calmed, ears laying flat against their heads and fangs hidden. "Good," he whispered, patting them, his fingers burrowed in their hard outer layer of fur.

He turned around and walked out of the corridor, his wolves following him, he stopped walking when he got away from the main crowd and in the part of the mansion used by the X-Men. He leaned against the wall inside of it, breathing heavily he tried to relax, he looked at the wall, his gaze unfocused and running madly, wolves laying at his feet.

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked, nobody in particular, he wanted to have fun and relax, not to deal with wizards and their ideas. He slide onto the floor and his hand on the neck of Freki who turned to look at its master. Moving closer and curling into a ball around him, its eyes looking for troubles.

"You need to deal with it," said calm voice, Harry's head whipped in its direction and he saw Professor X coming towards him. "Running away from it will give you nothing than the frustration that further anger and angst. Anger, might drive you mad and quickly can lead to things that you won't control."

"They started it," Harry growled, fur on the backs of his wolves bristling as they sensed change of his mood. "They knew that I won't like it and I don't care about the future."

Professor X sighed and looked at him. "Do you know the value of backing off, of showing a better side than being angered at everything that you don't like it. I watched you during your so far short stay and while you are an exceptional person, there is arrogance and anger in you. One that you hid well and buried deep, but it is still there and you seem not eager to deal with it."

"He deserves every single ounce of my anger," Harry spat viciously. "He murdered my mother and forced me to live with people that treated me like a thing, not a human being."

"They were still your family and no matter what they did, they still cared about you," Professor X said and Harry glared at him, if Harry's gaze could kill, Professor X would have been dead. "I do not mean that they were the best people, but they gave you home and food. Even if you do not like them, think about them for a moment."

"There is nothing to think about!" Harry shouted as he clenched his fists, bones creaking. His voice was flat and devoid of any emotions, while his wolves bared their fangs and their muscles tensed.

"Harry, I've lived for more than you lived and I had seen much more. I saw your mother, her sister and her cousins, I knew them, even well and I want you to consider one thing for a moment. Your mother had luck when she married your father and, Warren, he also had a lot of luck, while Petunia was stuck with a man that she didn't love and didn't turned out to be one she thought him to be." Professor X said and Harry looked at him. "She was jealous of your mother's luck and she never was able to deal with the grudge they had, I think that you know where am I going."

"Yes, I think I know," Harry said, calming a bit, he sighed and looked at the ceiling, "It doesn't still give them a reason to treat me the way they did."

"Harry, I want you to understand one thing," Professor X said, his voice calm, full of compassion and warmth. "I don't expect you to love, or even like them, but I want you to come to terms with your past. It will otherwise haunt you, I know that you didn't have an easy time as a child, but I think that even you can tell that humans aren't always bad." Harry looked into his eyes and saw compassion and understanding in them, "They are also loving beings, one that care about other without any interest and will do it because they love each other."

Harry nodded. "So what am I supposed to do?"

"Accept the past the way it was and build the future on the things that you cherish the most. While vengeance is a thing that everybody harbors at one point, you need to learn how to control it and do not let it control you."

"Why should I do it?"

"Vengeance can turn even a loving man into a creature that doesn't resemble a human or in your case Æsir," Professor said, his voice calm and warm. "Did you hear about Magneto?"

"Yes." Harry was curious where Professor was going with his line of thoughts.

"You both are so alike, yet you are so different. He only saw the cruel side of humanity, you also saw a good side and you know that they are not monsters." Professor winced. "True, there are some terrible examples of humans, but each species has some bad apples in it. But I think that you can already tell that we aren't all monsters, are we?"

"No," Harry said and shook his head. "I've always been taught not to generalize, especially when looking at other races and species, but here it is so hard to do."

"You had wise teachers," Professor smiled. "You need to try, are you going to control yourself?"

"I think that I will," Harry said, some tears swelling in his eyes. "I'm sorry for my outburst, but they angered me and touched an old wounds."

"I didn't came here to tell you that you did a wrong thing," Professor said. "I came so that I could help you come to terms with it, not to berate you for it. I think that you see a difference."

"Yes, thank you, Professor."

"No problem, Harry." Professor smiled. "I created this place to help mutants in any way they need."

"Still, thank you," Harry said as he stroked fur of Freki, he stood up, dusted off his clothes and walked to join the rest of the school for their classes.

o-0-o

"What's going on with you?" Bobby asked as he looked at Harry who seemed to be fully focused on solving equations and didn't seem to acknowledge that he was not alone. Bobby frowned as he looked at his friend, he heard about the confrontation earlier that day, but he didn't think it was that serious, but this change made him worried.

"Nothing," Harry said, not even stopping focusing on equation in front of him, "Just some events today shook me a bit."

"I saw it," Bobby chuckled, "It was hard not to notice it, half of the school is talking about it and second half soon will, you know that gossips and stories tend to spread like a wildfire."

Harry sighed. "Let's just say that they started to poke the wrong wound at the wrong time."

"Oh," Bobby said when he realized what Harry really meant. "No wonders you are so antsy at the moment."

"Can you not mention it?" Harry asked, his eyes pleading.

"Yes, sure," Bobby smiled. "I'm not a nasty person, at least not to people that I know and care about."

"And I guess that I'm on the list,"

"Yup."

"Good, now don't be an annoying person and let me finish what I was doing," Harry said.

"Fine," Bobby smiled and ruffling Harry's hair left him alone and focused on his own homework.

o-0-o

"This is amusing," Huginn said as he landed on a tree outside of Xavier's.

"What? Harald's mood swings?" Muminn asked. "Or something else."

"That and one that watches him, from the shadows for a moment, but he might change it for a more open approach or one that was caught by Freyr?"

"One caught by Freyr and Harald's mood swings," Huginn said. "I wonder if he knows one that was responsible for his suffering is in our captivity."

"Most likely not, not even Thor knows about him being caught, though his godmother knows, but she won't tell him. Loki also won't do it as he isn't stupid and knows too well that the last thing we want is Harald getting even more angry than he is now." Muminn winced. "His rage is calm for a moment, but if he learns about Tom Riddle being caught, it might be too much. On the other hand if she learns that we hid things from him, she might be a bigger pain."

"She is scary and I think that someone will discover it really soon."

"They?" Muminn asked, some amusement in his voice.

"Aye, they, but they just asked for it to happen to them," Huginn said and looked at the sky, "I have thought that they had more manners, than to be so arrogant to cross one of the most powerful ward lines and do that without asking for being invited."

"Manners are dying out and only we, gods, remember about the old rules of conduct and tradition that almost all wizards and sorcerers used to live by."

"Odin's decision to cut our ties with Midgard was a stupid one," Huginn said, his eyes shining in the sparse light of the evening. "Humans while brilliant at times and creative, still need our guiding hand to lead them, or at least so that they do not wake up wrong kind of evil beasts."

"It was it or a total war with other pantheons," Muminn pointed out. "And the last thing we want is another war when forces of nature are fighting against each other, last such war waged by Asgard caused changes in landscape and climate of Earth, Sahara being the best example of letting Hermóðr and Valkyries go wild."

"It was not that he had a lot of choices, it was it or retreating into Asgard and launching offensive when enemy was waiting for it," Huginn said. "But the point still stands, Midgard is too important world to be ignored and we need to watch it, even if that wizard is going to throw a fit because of it."

"One disliked by Loki that wants to manipulate people to do his bidding and is well past his expiration date?"

"Same one," Huginn said as his gaze swept over nearby trees, looking for troubles. "He doesn't understand what kind of troubles he can wake up if he pokes the wrong tree."

"But his is useful, too useful to deal with, also he knows a lot and hopefully he will change thanks to subtle hints dropped by Loki," Muminn said and made Huginn chuckle.

"We both know that it is hard to change habits that are caused by years of politics and thinking that nothing will pose a danger to you."

"Let's just hope that he will heed warnings that he will receive," Muminn said. "But that's not why we came here, or at least Odin wanted something else."

"He wants data about his grandson, to be exact about what powers he is going to develop," Huginn said and croaked. "But Harald is more of an enigma than we thought, we watched him for last few years and he is still a mystery."

"It's obvious that he will get something from his father domain, but there is more to him than that," Muminn said and Huginn could see that his brother eyes getting wide. "We didn't have a God of Fire in a long time."

"As well as a God of Earth, Light and several other things, though most of them is filled by minor nobles," Huginn said and frowned, "He will be powerful, his presence here might have woken up something in his cousin, something that he had in himself, yet it never revealed itself."

"I thought that they were extinct, weren't they?"

Huginn was silent for a moment, only sound being rustling of leaves and howls of wolves that were looking for prey. "They were thought to be, yet he might be one of the new generation of them, if this is the case, Midgard got much more interesting. Not to mention that she is quite a handful and for her age she is quite good at what she does, she can get a lot better, but even now she is good."

"And her empathy is just a first stage of her powers, isn't it?"

"Most likely it is, she is getting into this age when she might show them and than she will get scary and even now she can read us really good." Huginn shuddered. "No wonders that Hera is so scared of her, she will be strong and she will be a good companion for him."

"Let them live," Muminn said, slamming his wing against Huginn's head. "They are young and still have time to change their mind a couple of times."

"Fine," Huginn said and smirked. "We better get moving or we are going to miss a nice show of wizards getting surprised by things they should have known about."

Muminn nodded and with a pop they were gone from Xavier's, nobody even noticed their little trip.

o-0-o

Wanda drew a circle in chalk, placed candles in five points of it, even intervals between each other and wrote three further circles outside of it. Instead of even lines she used runes to make them. She dusted off her clothes, stood up and took a look around the ritual room of Sanctum Sanctorum, making sure that everything was in order.

"Tracking ritual?" she head someone ask and she smiled when she saw that it was Loki.

"Yes," she nodded. "This wraith needs to be killed for good and this ritual should give me a pretty good idea of where are remaining shards of his soul."

"Not bad," Loki commented pacing along the outer edge of the circle. "But you should write one more circle, in runes and in the middle of the whole construction." she arched an eyebrow at him. "While this one works and does what it is supposed to do quite well, it won't give you pinpoint accuracy and I fear that without it, you will get nothing of use."

"Why? I used it more than a dozen of times and it always worked."

"Our friend can obstruct or at least weaken Heimdall's vision and that is a feat almost impossible to achieve, at least for a normal wizard," Loki said and snapped his fingers, causing for a circle to appear in the middle and moving runes in the rest of them. "I improved it and made it more focused, he will have a nasty surprise with this spell as if I'm right it will get you a pinpoint accuracy."

"Thank you," she smiled wearily. "I've seen a lot of things, but I have never seen a God of Magic help me with a tracking ritual."

"I'm a practical man and we have a common enemy, also you are a godmother of my nephew and a good friend of Thor," Loki smiled slyly. "So why should I do it on my own when I can use you to do the thing."

"True." She picked up a glass jar with a part of the soul she brought with her from Asgard and placed it in the middle of the circle. She then lit candles placed on one of the circles and sent a bit of magic into the middle of the contraption. It was enough to finish preparations and activate the ritual.

Jar with the soul flew into the air and started to spin, with each moment faster and faster. It took it a moment to stop spinning and when it came to halt, it was pointing in some rand direction and runes that formed four circles moved. Previously random runes, now created words.

"That's pinpoint accuracy?" She snorted looking at the words. "Those are only general parts of England and quite large ones."

"Well, it seems that one is in Scotland," Loki said kneeling to her side. "And I only know one magical place in Scotland that would have gotten his attention."

"Hogwarts," she finished with a smile and winced looking at the other. "But the rest is a huge chunk of land to search."

"It is, but it is still better than the whole world and if we get more pieces of his soul or possession, we will be able to get a more precise data," Loki frowned and scratched something on the floor, she didn't manage to see what it was. "If you get one more piece of soul there is a good chance that we will be able to triangulate where are other parts of his soul."

"Triangulation?" she frowned. "From what I know a pretty risky set of rituals, you need three sorcerers to do it and they need to begin them at the same time as otherwise it will get nasty."

Loki nodded and summoned to himself her jar with Voldemort's soul. "That's the most basic version of it, there are few more that can be performed and I'm curious why Stephen didn't show them to you. I know that he holds a lot of cards close to his chest, but this is a thing that you should already know."

 _He holds a lot of things close to his chest and doesn't want to reveal them,_ she thought, _but this one he should reveal as of Loki is right it might solve a lot of our problems. Unless he needs Voldemort in the world for few more months or years so that his master plan works. Though he normally isn't that mysterious and usually he is more open._

"I will speak with him about the ritual," she finally said, her voice as hard as steel and Loki winced as he heard her. "He should show it to me and if not, well, than you can do it."

"Than I bid you a good day and fruitful search, I'm going back to Asgard to have some fun with Voldemort." When Loki said those words she shuddered as she saw a predatory look in his eyes, look that she didn't want to wake up. She knew for certain one thing, that Voldemort was for a whole new world of pain, pain that he wouldn't be able to escape and pain that he well deserved. He was responsible for so much of her pain and suffering that she didn't mind him getting some of it back.

o-0-o

Psylocke stood with a couple of SHIELD agents and waited for a portkey to activate, they were in one of buildings belonging to MACUSA and only needed to wait as every portket, excluding a couple of special ones was forced to go through them.

"It will be here in a minute," one of wizards said. "Around thirty people is coming."

She nodded and with a soft click drew her sword from its scabbard. "Get ready," she said and saw as other agents reached out for their guns and wizards for their wands, welcoming guests with weapon to the face wasn't a polite thing, but worked well.

There was a loud pop and into the floor of the building crashed a group of thirty people, they were disorganised and looked around. She smiled when she realized that they didn't expect to land in such room.

"Where are we?" One of them asked.

"In a place where you should be," One of MACUSA wizards said. "You entered into our lands without any invitation and came in force. What were you planning to achieve with such move?"

"That's none of your business, we do not answer to your government and you have not a single right to order us around. You are still forced to obey us, you are a part of our colony that we didn't acknowledge losing."

"But it is my business," Psylocke smiled as she stepped from behind agents, "I'm an officer of Her Majesty's MI-13 and want answers from you. Answers that you will better give me or it will get pretty unpleasant for you."

"MI-13? We do not answer to Muggles and their law enforcement."

"Fine," she smirked and reached out to them with her telepathic powers, easily slamming through shields protecting their minds, in the process smashing them to pieces. She could see them wince in pain, but she didn't care, after something that felt like hours she pulled out of their minds and looked at the nearest MACUSA wizard. "They came here to kidnap one of your wizards and a son of Thor."

Wizard's eyes narrowed at those words and his gaze landed on aurors. "Well than, not only trespassing, but also kidnapping. I have thought that a human being had more honor than this," he looked at the other wizards, "Stun them and throw them into cells."

"What-" One of aurors managed to say.

" _Stupefy!_ " wizards shouted and few dozens beams of red light flew through the room, hitting aurors before they even had a chance to react and raise their wands in defense.

"Good work," Psylocke smiled. "Director Wisdom wants all of them tied and delivered to MI-13 for interrogation, so that we can learn as much as possible. We will give them back once we get all of that data out of their minds."

"Fury doesn't really care how soon he has them, but he would like to get at least some in two weeks time," Agent of SHIELD said

"Okay," She said, slid her katana into its scabbard and walked out of the room, she didn't want to spend any more time than necessary with those wizards. She opened her phone and found the number of Director Wisdom. "It's done," she said, "All caught and stunned, we will have them in a couple of hours."

"Good work, get back to the UK as soon as possible, the Ministry will be in uproar and I want you out of sight as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir," she said, ending the call and walking to an awaiting Quinjet.

o-0-o

Harry dodged a hail of energy bolts and crouched behind a thick stone pillar, trying to catch his breath. He heard a couple more of them slam into the pillar, but he didn't pay any attention to them. They were training in Danger Room and yet again they got scattered and the town in which they were was a maze. He looked out and saw a couple of robots move through the street in front of him, throwing a lot of dust and sand into the air.

He had an idea where Mirage and Wolfsbane were as he saw a flash of brown on the other side of the street and Mirage was on the second floor of the house in which he was hiding. Only question was where Banshee was.

"Banshee, where are you?" he whispered into his earpiece and checked his options, which he didn't have too many of.

"In the building to your right and on the other side of the street, Sentinels are between us," Banshee's voice sounded in his ear, "Also there are mercenaries coming towards me, so Sentinels are your task."

"Okay," Harry nodded and looked out to see where was the nearest Sentinel and almost immediately was forced to hide as a hail of gunfire zipped past his head. He picked up a small piece of debris that was laying on the ground and using his knife he drew a couple of runes on the surface of it.

He channeled a bit of magic into the stone and jumped out from behind the cover. He threw it into the nearest Sentinel and dropped into roll. Bolts of energy were hitting all around him and even some hit him. He came to stop behind another pillar and than the explosion happened.

It was a loud bang, followed by a rain of pieces of Sentinels. Harry looked out and saw that three of them were gone. Their pieces were scattered all over the place and walls of surrounding buildings were cracked. He smiled when he saw the amount of destruction he caused.

"What was that?" Mirage asked over the net.

"Runic magic at work," he said with a smile, "It did even better than I expected it to." Harry jumped out from behind the cover and charged at the nearest Sentinel. His sword flashed and the head of robot rolled onto the street.

His gaze swept over the road. "Clear," he said and walked onto the other side of the street. Doors leading into the building were thrown inside and smashed against the wall.

"Be careful," Banshee said and Harry could hear a burst of gunfire in the background, followed by a scream of pain, "There are some mercenaries in the building and they might surprise you."

He acknowledged the warning and slipped _Tyrfing_ into its scabbard and pulled out his saxe knife. He knew from his experience that it was a better weapon for such place, it was easier to maneuver and as deadly as the sword would be.

He slipped into the building and looked around, his gaze slipped over bare walls and three sets of doors, each leading into different room. For a moment he focused on his sense of smell and sniffed the air, trying to find place where Banshee was lurking.

He was almost overwhelmed by the amount and intensity of new data that hit him. He knew that he had keen senses, but he didn't realize it until now. He could smell where Wolfsbane was and where Mirage was crouched. But even stronger was metallic smell of blood and bitter smell of sweat.

Shaking his head Harry walked forward, shield in one hand, while in second he was gripping his saxe knife.

He pushed open doors in front of him. Instinctively raised his shield and he heard three loud explosions, followed by objects slamming into the shield, force pushing him backwards. He stumbled as he didn't expect it happen. He regained his balance and with a grin determination walked forward.

Saxe knife that he was holding flashed in the sparse light as his hand shot forward and it was followed by a sound ripping and tearing, and by a loud scream. Harry pulled it out and on its blade were visible crimson stains. A body crashed onto the floor and he stepped over it, spreading his senses in every direction, trying to find Banshee.

It took a moment for him to locate him in a room not far away from his position.

o-0-o

Sean moved out of the way of an attacker that felt brave and slammed his leg into his chest, breaking multiple ribs and sending him crashing into the wall. Before any of the two that were in the room could react they were met by Sean's deadly scream, so powerful that they were turned into bloody mist and a good part of the wall behind them was turned into dust.

For one last time he looked around and tapped his earpiece, activating it. "Black Eagle where are you?" he asked, keeping an eye for surroundings. He could see Wolfsbane and Mirage on the other side of the street.

"Here," Black Eagle said walking into the room, carrying a shield and the biggest knife Sean saw in a long time. "Tracking you down wasn't easy."

"As it wasn't supposed to be." He patted Black Eagle's arm and indicated the hole. "They are on the other side of it, I've set the simulation to end once we are together and we retrieve the thing we need."

"I guess that you have the thing."

"Yes," Sean said jumping out of the hole and running across the street, even if he knew that it was relatively safe, he was not getting cocky or reckless. Once was bad enough for him. He looked at the street and saw Black Eagle join him. They walked into the building and walked upstairs where were waiting for them girls.

Sean nodded in approval when he felt large claws touch back of his neck, ready to severe the connection between brain and the rest of the body if answer given by him wasn't satisfactory. "You can lower your claws, Wolfsbane, good idea, but I felt you slip behind me."

Wolfsbane lowered her claws and came into the view. "How did you see me?" she asked.

"You are good, but not good enough for it to work on me," he said and watched as the simulation ended, "You did good, meet me in the briefing room in let's say half an hour. Get cleaned and dressed into something more comfortable."

o-0-o

"This time it was much better than the last time," Banshee said as all of them were in briefing room, "You stayed with contact with each other and actually can think when doing things. There are still some things that need to be corrected, but today you did acceptably."

"Than how what is a good performance in your opinion?" Harry asked as he looked at the blade of his saxe as he polished its surface, "I've thought we have done quite well."

"Quite well you did, but you could have done better."

"You will accept only perfection, won't you?" Danielle asked

"Yes," Sean smiled, making them groan, "I want you to know one thing, I have seen much more than you had seen and I know one think, you are either really good or you die. It's simple as that and even if now the world is tiny, tiny bit safer and your troubles are less dangerous than ones that I had faced, they are still dangerous. So I'm driving you so hard so that you will be able to live and survive. Do you understand?"

"I guess so," Harry said, he slid saxe knife into its scabbard and looked at Sean, "I know what you try to achieve and why, but still, let us live and don't make them so hellishly dangerous."

"There is no easy way to achieve perfection and this is probably the least painful way that leads there."

Harry sighed, but nodded, he felt an edge in Sean's voice, one that told him not to test how far he could get. On Asgard he got used to Sif being demanding, but even she didn't drive them that hard as Sean did.

"Since that is settled," Sean said and they looked at him, "Than let's down to the details of the whole exercise." He brought up on a screen behind him a footage from the cameras placed around the Danger Room. "Let's start with what Harry did good and wrong, I asked you to be more considerate when in fight and you actually did it." Harry smiled at those words and promptly slumped. "But there are things that still need to be fixed..."

o-0-o

Harry looked curiously as Banshee walked to him after the girls left the room. He was kind of curious what the older mutant was going to say to him about the exercise.

"I saw that you started to pay some attention to your fighting style," Banshee said, "While carefree and happy berserker kind of style works in some cases, it doesn't work every time and I'm happy that you actually pay some attention to it."

"Is it praise?"

"Indeed, I do not give it often, but compared to how you had fought during your first exercise and how you had fought today, you changed a lot. I know that you are an Æsir, one that is basically designed for war, but even you can be killed and you should pay some attention to your defense."

"I will, I promise," Harry said and after a nod from Banshee, he walked out of the room.

o-0-o

"Who is this Banshee?" Harry asked as he looked at Warren and Bobby, both of whom moved uncomfortably, as if they didn't like the topic.

"One of the very first X-Men," Warren finally said, "His daughter is at the Institute and has as dangerous voice as he has. He helped me to learn how to be a leader, but I don't know that much about him." He moved uncomfortably. "If you want to know more about him, you need to ask him and I doubt that he will tell you much about the past."

"You just need to know that he is a good person, one that will support you and one that won't stab a dagger into your back when you will not be paying attention to him and what he is doing," Bobby added, "But as Warren said, even if he is an often guest here, we do not know much about him, one thing that you should keep in mind. Do. Not. Get. Him. Mad."

"Or what will happen?" Harry asked.

"You really want to know it?" Warren asked.

"Yes."

"For your knowledge when one of terrorist organisations kidnapped and killed his wife, he hunted them down, each and every one of them. He killed all of them and in a manner that from what I heard makes Fury afraid of him," Warren said and as Harry looked into his cousin's eyes, he could tell that Warren was not joking.

"Wow," Harry whistled. "No wonders he seems so cold at times and I can see why he is pushing us so hard."

"Yes, he doesn't want to lose more members of any team that he leads. He will be hard, he will drive you into the ground and repeat it until you perform as well as he expects you to."

"I've felt it when he mentioned a whole lot of mistakes that we had done."

"And there is second, much longer list of things that he didn't mention as it would most likely sent all of you into depression," Sunspot said with a smile.

"Thank you," Harry glared at Sunspot. "Remind me to introduce you to certain person on Asgard, one that you will love," Harry smirked and saw Sunspot gulp.

"Who is it?" Warren asked.

"Who is she," Harry corrected with a smile. "If you want to know, she is a Goddess of War and Knows-It-All when it comes to warfare. She taught me and my friends how to fight and basics of tactics and strategy."

"O-Okay," Bobby said. "How awesome or scary is Asgard?"

"Extremely awesome and you should love it and it is less than two months before you can see it." Harry said and paused, "Do you want to discover Asgard on your own or do you want to know something first? No matter what I will tell you, you will be still shocked and surprised by it."

"I've read a couple of things about Asgard, so I want to see it without any spoilers," Warren said.

"Are you aware that those things were written in a way that the mind of a person from middle ages would understand and comprehend them?" Harry asked and Warren looked at him, wondering where he was going with it, "And I assure you that the mind of such person wouldn't wrap itself around such things and concepts as energy weapons, robots and space travel."

"Still, I think that I will have some idea of what's going on."

"If you say so," Harry smiled. "Just don't get surprised by sheer awesomeness of Asgard, how advanced it is and how many artifacts there are."

"Artifacts?" Bobby frowned. "What kinds of them?"

"You will see, officially known list ends at around thousand of them, unofficial one doesn't have an end. Grandfather and his ancestors hoarded an awful lot of artifacts and various other things, other family members and marriages brought their fair share."

"Wow," Warren loudly whistled. "It seems even better than it seemed."

"You will see," Harry smiled. "You wanted to see it on your own and you will see it."

"I think it was a better idea to ask you," Bobby said.

"Well, Warren chose to see it for himself and I'm not going to reveal it for you," Harry said yawned. "Night, I'm going to bed as Banshee knows how to tire out."

"He knows that," Warren said as Harry stood up and walked to his room. He was tired and needed rest, also he wanted to clear out his mind. Even if this incident with wizards happened yesterday, he was still rattled by it.

o-0-o

 _ **A/N – Thing about marriages, marriage inside of a royal family is usually a thing discussed by almost everybody and while love is nice and wanted, more often than not desired is something else – political alliance, making sure that someone will behave and so on. So marriage between Thor and Jane happened mostly because of two things, Odin wanted to show nobles where is their rightful place and because Thor has such a strong position that undermining it is nearly impossible.**_

 _ **Harry on the other hand doesn't have that strong of a position and he is second person in line to the throne. Nobody is really assuming that he will ascend to it soon, but he is still a person that many will try to force into one sort of betrothal agreement or another. In a way it is one of reasons why he is so often on Earth, it gives nobles less of an opportunity to be a nuisance to him and his family. Out of sight, out of mind works beautifully when it comes to politics.**_

 _ **One thing that is working in his favor is the fact that he is so far the only child of Thor and a lot of nobles won't even dare to approach Odin about any negotiations about potential marriage. In short, from political point of view sound would be a marriage for him with someone of equal, higher or slightly lower rank and there is one such person on Asgard.**_

 _ **It doesn't mean that he won't flirt with people all over the place, but he will be expected by nobles to find and marry person of substantial importance. But the one that has to say the most here is his grandfather, as he can tell nobles in a very simple manner to shut up and stay silent or they will have a meeting with executioner or spend a couple of centuries on some forsaken ball of mud on the other side of the galaxy.**_

 _Reviews:_

 _shugokage_ – both forms are correct, communication is let's say more scientific as it is mainly used in Geography.

 _H.P. Birdman_ – I'm not a native speaker of English so my writing won't be perfect, I will try to write good, but it won't be perfect.


	17. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes

**A/N - I'm spoiling you too much, way too much. At the end of this chapter is a very important rant, one that will explain a lot of things to you as some characters will appear and without reading it you won't understand much. Read and review.**

Lucius Malfoy frowned as he looked at the letter he was holding, he once again looked at the content of it and shook his head. _I've seen idiots perform better than those, they got caught on the most powerful line of wards that exists short of Hogwarts. Good thing is that there is nobody of importance among the caught, but even than, it is a painful strike. They were a gift given by Fudge to Fury,_ he winced and ran his hand along the limp that Fury had left him, _even if I hate Fury he is extremely good at what he does and there is this blasted Wisdom. One that removed almost every single supporter of Dark Lord that wasn't a magical one. Each and every one of killed by him was a dangerous and powerful people, some gave even him some reasons to fear them, yet now all of them were dead._

Shaking his head he cut his musings short and looked out of the window of his study, his gaze ran over extensive gardens and his son playing in them. He enjoyed the mansion, but he knew that once Draco was at Hogwarts, he would need to disappear somewhere darker and deeper. _God bless Fury's reluctance to cause collateral damage,_ he thought _, if not for Draco or Narcissa he would have bombed the mansion and killed me in the process. With them here, he won't dare to move openly, but once Draco is at Hogwarts, he might do anything and he seems more vicious than he was._

He picked up a fresh sheet of the finest parchment and dipping his quill into the inkwell he started writing, he needed to push some things forward and lack of reply from one Inner Circle member worried him.

o-0-o

Emma Frost looked at the letter that was delivered to her and tried not to laugh at its content. She poured herself a glass of wine and sat on a bed in her quarters inside of Xavier's.

"He is either insane or he doesn't know that I'm not a suicidal one," she said to himself and looked at the letter written on a parchment out of all things.

 _Her Majesty White Queen of Hellfire Club New York Branch_

 _I, Black Bishop of London Branch beg you for help in removing a common obstacle in our plans. He is a new player and an inexperienced one, so he will be a vulnerable target and we better remove him now, than let him grow in years and wisdom that comes with age. I will cover all the expenses and the only thing that I humbly ask you for is to create a window of opportunity._

 _One that I speak about is a son of the previous White Rook of London Branch, his presence is a big issue for my business and I would be grateful if you have helped me in removing him out of the way._

 _Black Bishop of London Branch,_

She folded the letter and drunk almost a whole glass of wine before she was ready to think seriously about the problem.

"I help the Bishop and I'm dead, I do not help him and do not mention the letter I am dead," she said to himself and sipped wine, trying to calm her racing heart, "I tell Him and I'm in better standing than he is and have a good chance to be his heir."

She picked up her phone and looked through her contacts, now she was glad for rising so high, it certainly gave a lot of perks. She found the number she was looking for and called it. "My Lord Imperial, there is a problem," she said formally.

"What is it?"

"Black Bishop of London Branch aims to take out son of Thor and we both know what is going to be the reaction of his guardians and family."

"Indeed, thank you for informing me about his plans. You did well, White Queen."

She ended the call and smiled, if everything went the way she hoped it would go, Black Bishop would be no more and she would have a chance to rise in rank. Now she only needed to wait for the fruits of it to be born and ready to harvest.

o-0-o

"Harry is avoiding us," Oliver Wood said as Hogwarts students gathered in one of their rooms. It was late and they were done with their homework.

"Would you really expect anything else?" Tonks asked as her hair changed color to vivid red. "You just stomped onto his feelings and do you really expect him not to be sore or angry because of it?"

"No... I guess not." Oliver shoot accusing glare at Cedric. "If it was not for you, he might have not avoided us. Thank you very much for it."

"What? He deserves that title."

"Maybe he deserves it, but he told us not to use it as he doesn't like it." Oliver said and reached out to his trunk. He pulled out of it a small, thin package wrapped in a plain, brown paper. "Dumbledore asked me to give it to Harry, it is supposed to be a thing that belonged to his father when he was at Hogwarts and was of great use to him."

"Any idea what is it?" Charlie asked as all of them looked at the package.

"It is light and if it was kept by Dumbledore, it must be pretty valuable," Cedric said as he picked up the package.

"We need to apologize to him and hope that we can get him to stop being angry at us," Tonks said. "He seems like a nice person, but he is angry and annoyed because of our behavior."

"Who is going to give it to him?"

"You," she said and Oliver almost felt sorry for Cedric when he saw glares sent by Tonks towards Cedric. _But than, he deserves every single ounce of it and maybe more,_ he thought, _he was the one that started the whole things and glares of some students are even worse than her is._

At those words Cedric shuffled his feet uncomfortably, but slowly nodded. "I guess that I don't have a choice."

"You don't have, at Hogwarts you would lose points for it, so be happy that here you didn't lose any."

"Yeah," he said, picked up the package. "I will do it now." He walked out of the room and closed doors behind.

o-0-o

Harry was trying to understand what he was reading when he heard someone knocking on the doors of the room. He closed the book and looked at them, just to make sure that they weren't behaving strangely. He heard it once again and with a sigh got up from his bed.

"What?" He asked opening doors and looking at one of those Hogwarts students that stood outside. He recognized him as Cedric, one that started the whole thing with Boy-Who-Lived at this school.

"I want to apologize for my behavior, I didn't know that you didn't like your title of Boy-Who-Lived," Cedric almost sputtered. "Also Headmaster Dumbledore asked us to give it to you." He said, handing Harry a plain package.

Harry looked at the package and tore it open, his eyes widened when he saw a silky, light fabric slip out of it. He caught it with his hand and looked at it. It felt magical and he could tell that it was an old artifact, he threw it around himself and heard Cedric yelp in surprise.

"Your body disappeared, that's an Invisibility Cloak."

"Yes," Harry smiled. "A good one, thank you for it and apology accepted."

Cedric nodded and almost disappeared from Harry's view, so fast that he only managed to see him get away. Harry closed the doors and threw the cloak onto his bedside table, he would need to learn more about it.

o-0-o

Cedric Diggory sipped some water and looked around the Quiet Lounge, he came to like Xavier's, even if it was a strange place, it was strange in a good way. He also came to like its inhabitants and didn't mind their company, he smiled when he saw Tonks change the color of her hair and the shape of her nose, just to amuse some people.

"Shape-shifting?" Harry asked, bringing Cedric out of his musings. He was surprised by the Boy-Who-Lived, he expected him to be someone completely else.

"Yes, you are not surprised?"

"No." Harry shook his head. "It is one of few things that almost every Æsir can do without too much trying."

"Other being?" Charlie asked.

"How to fight and use various weapons, if you think that I am a good one, you should see some of my tutors or cousins when training. It is much more impressive than what I can do."

"You make Asgard look even better than it is already looking," Warren said and frowned "What made you come to Earth and to the Institute?"

"I wanted to escape the noise of Asgard and meet you, and some other mutants as well as to have some fun," Harry said and laughed at their expressions "What? Can't I be tired of living in the capital city of one of the biggest realms?"

"You can, it's just that who wouldn't like to live in such place," Cedric said "Also for wizards Asgard is a realm of wonders and gods, so when you will be at Hogwarts a lot of people will wonder why you had decided to come to Earth."

Harry chuckled and looked at them. "After time you have enough of seeing gems and precious materials, it is not that I dislike them, but I want to rest in more normal place for a time. Place where I don't see everybody bow to me like they do on Asgard."

"Everybody?" Warren arched an eyebrow.

Harry only roled his eyes in a very undignified manner. "Most of them, only my friends, tutors and family doesn't bow to me. Also guards for most of the time, but still it annoys me, not as much as using His Highness with my name, but still."

"You are Prince, so you should get used to it," Cedric said "You will see a lot of such formality, but only to a certain degree at Hogwarts, we, that is wizards, love our customs and most of pure-blood ones are stuck up idiots that don't have half of a brain working. So when they will hear that you are an Æsir, well, they will show you respect, when they will hear that you are a Prince, they will try to gain your favors and will bow in front of you."

"Not all of them," Charlie said "Generally some pure-blood are trying to be more normal and not so formal, but a majority of really old families are crazy on this and they love scheming and plotting."

"Seems lovely," Harry snorted. "No wonders that my uncle has so low opinion on most of wizards."

"Meaning?"

"He treats them as annoyance that are in his path and need to be removed when they become an obstacle," Harry said with a grin. "He also is baffled by the fact that runes are not a compulsory thing to study at Hogwarts."

"Harsh," Warren said. "But than, Loki is not known as a merciful one in Norse myths and he doesn't have a lot of qualms with killing."

"Yes," Harry smiled.

"Why does he complain about runes?" Cedric asked.

Harry was silent as he looked at the fireplace, he diverted his gaze from it and looked at Cedric. "Let's say that a lot of things that he had shown me and much more that he didn't, yet, has theory based on runes which allow a better understanding of the topic."

"Such as?"

"Almost everything when it comes to magic and runes are also fun."

"Fun?" Rahne asked as she joined them "It blew a good chunk of a street, taking with it everything that was there."

"I didn't even know that it would work," Harry admitted "I improvised with this one, but other than that runes are nice and you will see a lot of them on Asgard."

"Good," she smiled "It makes me even more eager to see it."

Cedric smiled as he saw those interactions, at first he was a bit reluctant about the Institute, but now he loved it and enjoyed every minute they spent inside of it.

o-0-o

Atalanta sat on the floor, her eyes closed as she reached out with her mind to a small pebble that was laying in front of her. She focused on it and willed it to move upwards. She heard it rattle and than the noise ceased. Opening her eyes she saw it suspended in the air, kept there by the power of her mind.

"Good work," Frigga smiled when she saw that Atalanta was done with the task. "I have suspected from the beginning that your empathy powers were something more than they appeared to be."

Atalanta frowned at those words and looked at her aunt. "Aunt, what do you mean by that?"

"Olympians in general are more magically inclined than we are," Frigga said, smoothing out her robe. "Your empathy was a thing that suggested a great potential for developing more powerful magic even telepathy and telekinesis." She stood up and looked at Atalanta. "Follow me, there are some things that shall help you."

Atalanta nodded and followed her aunt through the maze of corridors and hallways, she looked curiously when they entered into gargantuan chambers that housed parts of library that was only for royal family usage and nobody else. She saw shelves piled high with scrolls, books and tablets, ceiling high and vaulted.

"Aunt, where are we going?" she asked, trying to see where they were walking, yet she didn't have the slightest idea.

"You will see," Frigga said as she pressed her hand against massive doors engraved with a sign that Atalanta rarely saw, Triskelion held by a pair of roaring crowned wolves. Her eyes widened when she realized what was behind those doors. "Yes, this is King's Library," Frigga said, looking at Atalanta. "Telepathy and telekinesis in the hands of a rogue one is a dangerous tool and weapon, so your uncle decreed that all of it is to be placed in this library."

She nodded, a bit pale. Gritting her teeth she nodded and looked at her aunt. "Won't he mind me using those things?"

"No," Frigga shook her head as doors opened and they walked into a smaller chamber, it's walls inscribed with hundreds, if not thousands of runes. "It isn't banned from being used to teach things, but only limited and you are a part of the family, even if a distant one."

Atalanta nodded and followed her aunt through the maze of shelves, watching her pick up and collect various scrolls and books. Most of them dusty and ancient scriptures, as they passed through the library she saw a bow, a pair of daggers and a sword hanged on one of the walls. She saw one of gems placed in the guard of the sword flash green for the briefest moment. She frowned at it, but than ignored it as she knew that they were here for a really good reason and she wouldn't learn much about them.

"Those scrolls are about basic training exercises and how to control your power," Frigga said, handing three scrolls to Atalanta. "The rest is about the usage of it, how to use it, how defend against usage of it against you and how to develop it. I want you to study them and learn as much as you can."

"Of course, I will do it."

"I shall start teaching you magic as it is a necessity as of now, you have magical potential, probably bigger than your father and mother combined."

Atalanta smiled at those words and looked at the pile of scrolls in her arms, she would enjoy the next couple of days very much. _At least it is better than another book or scroll on other pantheons,_ she thought, her gaze running over the names of scrolls, _I wonder how he will react to my new power once he is back. If I'm right he will be mostly surprised and maybe shocked, but he shall get used to it._ She walked out of the library and headed for her room, to get started on studying books she was given.

o-0-o

Harry folded his wings and entered a steep dive as he chased after Warren, his older cousin was getting away and he tried to catch him. Wind was furiously whistling in Harry's ears as he dived, ground getting closer and closer with each second. He could see everything on the ground with perfect clarity, not a single detail escaping attention of his eyes.

His wings unfolded as he almost crashed into the ground, he leveled out his flight and looked at Warren who was hovering in the air, his massive white wings slowly moving. "How did I do?" Harry asked as he joined Warren and landed on the ground.

"Quite good," Warren smiled. "You know how to fly and you can think, not many would dared to do such dive as you risking crashing into the ground and that's ain't nice."

"You did it?"

"More than once," Warren winced. "At first a couple of broken bones in my legs and during the second attempt a lot of cuts as I stopped in a nasty evergreen shrub."

"You did what?"

"Landed in the middle of one of those shrubs." Warren indicated one of few dozens of shrubs growing around the Institute. "Advise for you, if you think that your life is precious, do not land in them."

"I will try," Harry said and looked at Warren. "So when are we going into the Rockies? As it is getting pretty close."

"It's still almost two months away and you wanted to show us Asgard so I thought right once the break starts," Warren said as he jumped onto the roof of the building and sat down, Harry only looked at him and did the same thing. "Since this family mansion is mostly an escape from loud life in the city and its bustle, Wolfsbane, Mirage and whoever else you want to take to Asgard can go with us there."

"Your father won't mind it?"

Warren only laughed at those words and Harry cocked on eyebrow. "As much as I respect my father, let's say that we do not see an eye to eye on a lot of things and I do a lot of them just to annoy him."

"I like it," Harry said with a mischievous smirk. "I like it a lot."

"Why do I have a need to run away from you?"

"Because you know me well or maybe because you aren't stupid? Take your pick, but be careful."

Warren shuddered and looked at Harry. "You are joking," he said after a moment.

"No, I am not joking... too much."

"You are getting worse than Wolverine is at times."

Harry threw back his head and laughed. "I will take it as a compliment, but that's an effect of having as an uncle a God of Lies and Mischief, you don't know if you should trust him or not."

"He corrupted you?"

"I didn't fall that low, I still have some honor and I use my brain to think," Harry said and looked at Warren. "Don't you think it is too silent and that nothings is happening sounds strange?"

"Yeah," Warren nodded, all of his previous good mood gone. "There is a storm brewing on the horizon, storm that will strike soon and viciously."

 _So I'm not the only one that feels the storm,_ Harry thought as he looked at his cousin, _he also feels it. Ororo from what she had mentioned during those training sessions, feels it and the girls also mentioned a thing or two about it. There is something going to happen and this is going to be a big thing._

"You also feel it?" Warren asked, bringing Harry out of his musings.

"What?"

"The storm that is in the making."

"Yes, I don't think that it will happen now, but it should happen soonish."

"Yes," Warren nodded and with a smile he got up. "But enough of brooding, for that you can have time with Cyclops or girls. What about some more flying?"

"I like it," Harry said with a smile as he spread his wings and took off into the air, not waiting for Warren.

o-0-o

Ulf grimaced as a powerful strike slammed into his chest, he wasn't fast enough to move out of its way and felt as if a mountain crashed onto him. His eyes narrowed as he focused on Atalanta, he knew that she was good, but he didn't suspect that she was that good.

"How are you so good?" He asked her, his fist flying towards her body, only to hit the air.

"My father is one that created this martial art," Atalanta said with a smile and forced him to think about defense. "So don't get surprised by my knowledge of it."

"I've noticed it," he winced and sent a powerful strike towards her chest. His eyes widened in fear when she easily caught his hand with his own and slammed him into the ground. He barely got a chance to get away from her when into the spot where he was slammed strike that would have knocked him out.

"You are getting sloppy," Atalanta smiled sweetly. "Or did you expect me to be easy on you."

"No." He shook his head and started second round of their spar, this time trying to avoid getting to hit and attempting to score some hit on his own. His attempts allowed him to survive for a longer time than he hoped for, but she still sent him onto the ground.

He landed on the sand of the arena and looked at the sky as he tried to deal with annoying ringing in his ears and few dozens sources of pain. In his mouth he felt slightly metalic smell of blood, he blinked a couple of times as he tried to focus his sight. His look of the sky was cut off when Atalanta's face appeared in his view, wide grin on her face.

"I think that I won," she said.

"You did," he admitted grudgingly and used her offered hand to get up. When he stood up, he wiped blood from a cut lip and spat some of it onto the ground.

"Not bad," Sif said from the spot from where she was watching the whole spar. "Though you had a lot of luck as she didn't go that hard on you and she could have beaten you more easily."

"Could she?"

"Do you want to see it for yourself?" She asked and looked at Atalanta. "What would you say about another spar? This time you going all out."

"If he wants," Atalanta said, he was always surprised by how different she was when in fight and outside of it. In fight, she was a bundle of energy, almost impossible to stop, outside she was quiet, but not shy.

"Fine," he grumbled as he felt Sif's gaze land on him.

He moved into the opening stance of one of few martial arts style used on Asgard, he managed to see her first strike and that was it. The next thing he felt was a powerful blow crash into his sternum, even before he has a chance to move his arms into the way of it.

He crashed against the ground. It hurt so much. The pain wasn't a thing new to him, but for the first time it was so strong. He felt as if all of his ribs were broken and shattered into multiple pieces.

He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to see if all of his ribs were in their proper places. Groaning he sat up and looked at her, she seemed to be afraid of the power she just used.

"Did I hurt you?" Atalanta asked as she looked at him with concerned look on her face.

"I will get over it, sooner or later," he said and got up from the ground. "It just surprised me, a lot."

"She's a daughter of Hercules, what did you expect?" Sif asked. "If she develops it to its fullest, she will be able to kill you with just one strike and that is without trying."

"Nasty," he winced and rubbed the sore spot. "Just don't use it on me as I want to have all of my ribs intact."

"I won't use it, I promise." Atalanta said.

"Get checked with the healers as she might have damaged something inside of you," Sif said, looking at him. "I know that you are tough and you claim that you are fine, but I saw a lot of such strikes and they tend to cause damage."

"Fine," he huffed as he walked out of the arena and towards the healers halls. The thing that was more damaged than his physical body was his pride as it was almost trampled by Atalanta. It was not that he didn't liked or respected her. No, in fact he had a lot of respect for her as she tended to make him and Harald work together. But he had never suspected her of having so much strength as to almost kill him.

o-0-o

"You know that mutations don't need to manifest in a really flashy way?" Kitty asked as he looked at Oliver Wood. _He is a mutant, question what kind of it,_ she thought, her gaze slipping over him.

"What do you mean?"

"That they don't need to be as visible as Black Eagle, Beast, Angel. They can be more subtle," she said and looked at him. "You can live without noticing it, but if I'm right you are also a mutant."

"How do you know?" He asked. "I'm a wizard, not a mutant."

"Yes, you are a wizard, but Harry is also a wizard and he is also a mutant." She said, placing her hand on his shoulder to ease his tensions. "I and a couple of other students were watching you at the Institute and we think that we know what is your power."

"What is it?"

"Telescopic sight, you can see farther and better than human is going to see," she said and stood up. "Let's see the Beast, he should be able to confirm it."

o-0-o

"Yes, you are a mutant," Beast said looking at the screen showing sequence of Oliver's genome with highlighted X gene. "Probably around Beta class, but you are a one."

"How sure of it you are?" Oliver asked, his eyes wide and his face pale a bit.

"As sure as I can be," Beast said and frowned, his fur moving in a peculiar way. "You are a wizard and it threw me away for a moment, but you are a mutant. I know that it is a shock for you, but it is a thing as natural as hair or eye color."

"Easier said for you than for me, in the UK most of wizards that are different aren't liked and mutation means that I'm not the same as the rest is."

"You can stay here or attend the Ilvermorny, it's not that Hogwarts is the only school of magic out there."

Oliver sighed, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. "I know, but the family tradition was to attend Hogwarts and I would like to follow it."

"As long as you do not mention your mutation, not many will see or spot it," Kitty said and he looked at her, lines on her face were soft and she seemed to understand him. "Do I look like a mutant?"

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"Exactly," she smiled. "I don't mention my powers and nobody looks at me."

"So if I don't show my powers openly and train them in secret, I won't be pointed out by people?"

"Yes." Kitty looked at Beast. "I guess that we are free to go?"

"Yes," Beast said. "Just be careful, especially you, Oliver, telescopic vision can be distracting and annoying."

o-0-o

"Fury called and he needs our help," Tony Stark said as he entered the living room of the Tower where were Hawkeye, Captain America and Rhodey. "Affair in Russia and we need to be there in two hours or so."

"What does he want?" Captain asked, he was their de facto field leader.

"Check on some weird activity, he suspects that is doing of HYDRA."

"I've thought that they were dealt with."

"No," Rhodey said, making everybody look at him. "Tony, do you remember ones that kidnapped you all of those years ago in Afghanistan?"

"Yeah..."

"They were working with HYDRA, it was a faint connection, but still there and it is technically classified so that almost nobody knows about it. I know about it from General Jackson, who is current Chief of Staff of the Air Force," Rhodey said and shook his head. "If Fury is worried about them, than he has a damn good reason to be."

"So should I call Loki and Bruce?"

"No," Captain said. "We will do it on our own and we do not have time to wait for them."

"JARVIS, prepare the Quinjet and my armor," Tony said walking to the room where he kept his armors.

o-0-o

Professor Xavier nodded when he saw Sean, Warren and Scott enter his office, all of them looked at him in a way that knew why he had called them. He waited for them to enter and take their seats. "There are two new mutants, brother and sister if I am right, in Russia, near Lake Baikal to be exact."

"Russia?" Sean Cassidy asked, scratching his chin. "A nasty place to be and all kinds of organizations with rich sponsors have a free reign there. Corruption there is almost in every single town and finding an honest bureaucrat is almost impossible. I wasn't there for a long time, but if it is as bad as it was, it is going to be tough."

"Dad mentioned that you need to pay a lot of bribes to get anything done," Warren said. "So we can expect whoever is hunting them to have a lot of people and equipment. Probable thing is some support from local authorities and access to military-grade weapons."

"As I said, it will be tough," Sean said, scratching his chin, as if thinking about something. "Scott, what are you going to say about it?"

"That we need to come in force and that normal team won't work, especially if they have support from local authorities," Scott said and Professor could see some sort of a plan formulating in the head of one that was the most common leader in field. "I would take my full team, plus Phoenix, Banshee and Black Eagle. This mission needs a lot of striking power and whatever you say about Black Eagle, he has one hell of a punch."

Professor sighed and looked at them. "Are you sure that he is ready for this kind of ordeal? After all he is twelve and he still can be considered to be a child."

"He is twelve in our years," Sean said and Professor looked at him. "But he spent last four years on Asgard where he trained how to kill and one of the very first lessons that you get is to be responsible for your actions and behavior. So I think that he should be fine and he is a tough person, so he will get over the things he sees in a couple of days or weeks at max."

"Very well, if he is willing, he can go." Professor X said, knowing well that Sean was right, even if he disliked arguments used by him he knew that they were true and arguing against them was pointless.

"Good," Scott said. "I will gather them and tell them about the area where we are going. If we add right about it, we will need to hurry."

"Yes," Sean grimly nodded. "Also most likely we won't be the only one that goes there."

Professor nodded and watched them walk out. The moment they were outside, he sighed and shook his head. He disliked the fact that Harry could be forced to kill or at least fight in an actual combat. While X-Men were taught how to defend themselves, there was a huge difference between fighting in a spar and in an actual skirmish or a battle.

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy looked at the two guards that escorted him into the audience chamber of the Lord Imperial deep inside of the Hellfire Club Building of London Branch. They seemed tense and ready to fire at him at moment notice.

"Black Bishop," said man that was sitting on the throne in the middle of the room, his face was hidden behind a black veil and only were visible his eyes. They were blue, but Lucius Malfoy knew that the real color was different. "You placed the whole club in danger with your petty and foolish games, you should not have done what you had done."

"Your Imperial Majesty, what do you mean?" Lucius asked, kneeling in front of the throne and keeping his gaze glued to the floor.

The only reply was a short burst of cold, emotionless laugher. "Black Bishop, do not play with me, you know to what of your actions I am referring to. It was a stupid move and you know what's a penalty for a failure..."

He didn't show any sign of fear, but a cold ball of ice started to appear in his stomach.

"Yes, I think that you had realized the severity of your crimes and how dangerous they could have been to the whole Club," said Lord Imperial and paused for a moment. "But you have served us faithful and we do not believe it was a prudent move to have you removed from our ranks. At least not yet."

"Thank you, Your Imperial Majesty, for your grace and mercy," Lucius said and after a curt nod from the Lord Imperial he stood up and walked out of the room.

"All of them will pay, sooner or later," he swore to himself the moment he was alone.

o-0-o

Harry was about to enter the Blackbird when he felt Sean's hand stop him. He looked backwards and saw Sean standing behind. "What do you want?"

"It is about the mission ahead," Sean said, his blue eyes dark. "Stay close to me and do whatever I will tell you to do. You are the least experienced one and you do not know what to do."

"But-"

"You have a lot of power and you will have even more, but now you do not know how to use it wisely and you do not know how to behave in an actual combat."

Harry opened his mouth, but than closed it and nodded. As much as it hurt him to admit it, Sean was right about the fact that he didn't know how to behave.

"Good," Sean smiled. "Will you do what I want you to do or do we need to leave you behind?"

"I will do whatever I need to do."

"Than you are flying with us, go and join Cyclops in the cockpit," Sean said and smiled. "You are natural in the air and it will be a good opportunity for you to fly more."

Harry nodded and walked into the Blackbird. He walked through the passengers compartment and into the cockpit where he took the only free seat. In other Cyclops was waiting and going through preflight preparations.

"I'll take off and get us to the altitude, after that you can fly," Cyclops said. "Take off is the most dangerous part and I do not trust you enough not to crash it."

"Uh, sure," Harry said, sitting down in the co-pilot seat and looking at the instruments. Sitting in the real plane was a completely different experience than being in the simulator, here he was sitting higher than in the simulator and the feeling was completely different. He felt tremors pass through the hull as Cyclops activated Blackbird engines and jets roared with power.

SR-71 Blackbird was a venerable, even a legendary plane that saw a lot of missions and flights through the second half of the twentieth century. One used by the X-Men shared with its original only its name and shape, the rest of it was heavily redesigned and upgraded, making it one of the most advanced planes of the time.

Harry looked out of the window and was shocked by how fast the ground below them was passing. Everything looked like a blur and was passing too quickly for him to see a lot of details, even with his Æsir genes.

"What do you think about the plane?" Cyclops asked, his sight focused on the controls and radar readings.

"It's fast and agile," Harry said. "And I like it, on Asgard I mostly was flying in the void of space. This... This is something much, much better and nicer."

"We are far above the sea and I think that you can take over," Cyclops said as he switched few things on the controls board and looked at Harry.

Harry's fingers slowly wrapped around the controls. When he fully gripped them he felt the power course through the plane. On his face appeared a smile as he slowly pushed throttle forward, bringing the speed up.

"Be careful with speed," Cyclops said. "You can't push it too much as even it has some limits and high speed burns a lot of fuel, I mean a lot. While we have enough of it for flight to Russia and back and even more, be careful as we might need to do a lot of corrections."

"Or to get away from something chasing us?"

"Among other things," Cyclops nodded. "Tell me to change you once we are over the Ural Mountains."

"Ural mountains?"

"You will see them, long and wide strip of mountains that looks like a border."

"Okay," Harry nodded as he brought up a map of the whole world with their course marked on it. His eyes swept over it and he nodded when he saw the mountains to which Cyclops was referring to.

o-0-o

"Well, this is truly amusing," Fury said as he looked at the list of names of the arrested ones, he didn't expect to end up with a lot of Death Eaters. He was expecting at least a real, good auror or two. _She is dealing with trash that she doesn't want to have in the Ministry,_ he thought and on his lips appeared predatory smile, _if she is that willing to work, we can deal with them quite easily and we will get them into the prison before they will realize what's going on. Now we just need to catch their leaders and hopefully they are neutered._

"Indeed," Loki said with a smile. "But than, wizards are the least of our common worries."

"Next time I will shoot you," Fury said as he pointed at Loki his gun. "And I highly doubt that you would live with a hole in your chest."

Loki tilted his head, not sure if Fury was joking or not. Than he started to laugh, making Fury narrow his eyes. "You could have tried, but the most you would have got would be annoying me and causing some pain."

"Do you want me to get creative?" Fury asked. "I have one of the best and the biggest R&D on the planet. They can develop something to stop you."

Loki's eyes narrowed, but than he nodded. "It won't be a terrible idea, as much as it hurts me to admit this, not everybody on Asgard is good or has good intentions towards Earth. So a weapon to injure us on a more permanent basis wouldn't be bad."

"Can you name them?"

"Tyr, Amora and all of their underlings and supporters," Loki said with disgust. "They are the worst of the worst and they want power and nothing will stop them. The problem is that we left a lot of our artifacts behind on Earth."

Fury nodded and looked at Loki, only to see a straight face. "Let me guess, they are dangerous and everybody wants to get them back."

"Yes and nothing will stop them from getting back those artifacts."

"Just wonderful," Fury sighed. "I have moles in my own agency, enemies on Earth and threats coming from Asgard. Should I know anything else?"

"No," Loki said, shaking his head. "Those are all the threats you are facing, but we will help you with ones' hailing from Asgard. They are also threat to our stability and we will do everything to accomplish it."

"Very well," Fury said. "When I will hear about anything related to Asgard I will contact you if the threat level is big enough."

"Fair enough."

Fury nodded and focused back on the data that he had gotten on Death Eaters. Wisdom was as good as he expected him to be, maybe even better and knew how to plot. And actually made him worried about his own safety, as he had a feeling that his apprentice might be also using him in the game all of them played.

o-0-o

With a roar of the engines Blackbird slowed down above the pristine boreal forests surrounding the Lake Baikal. It was so peaceful and quiet that nothing suggested that the hell and more was going to be unleashed here in a matter of minutes.

Sean's gaze swept over a small clearing, not far away from the town that was their target. He was looking for any unpleasant guests that could have spotted them land. He nodded and turned to the rest of mutants that stood behind him. "Wolverine, take Cyclops and Phoenix and walk in front of us. Storm, Rogue, Black Eagle and I will follow you."

He let the first three move forward. While he was a cautious when in field, it also allowed him to take a better look at Black Eagle. He tried to read this teen and he had failed miserably as a helmet worn by him revealed only his eyes and a part of his mouth. Hiding the rest of his face behind thick plates of mithril and steel. Even if that wasn't scary enough, those plates were shaped to give one wearing them a demonic, dangerous look.

"Let's go," Sean said the moment Wolverine got fifteen or so meters ahead. It was enough to trigger any traps without hitting the whole group and they could easily support each other. As they walked, he tried to think where the mutants could be hiding. He was at ease, with gun slung over his chest, but that didn't mean that he wasn't focused on their surroundings. "Can you call your wolves?" He asked, looking at Black Eagle.

"Uh, sure," Black Eagle said and loudly whistled, his whistle rattled Sean's body. But he didn't mind it as at the same time to their sides appeared Freki and Geri. "What do you want them to do?"

Sean looked at the wolves and later at the forests surrounding them from all the sides. "Can you command them to look for troubles?"

"Sure," Black Eagle said and muttered few things, too quietly for Sean to catch their meaning. But the reaction from the wolves was enough for him, they looked at Black Eagle and than disappeared into the forest. Only sign of their passage were moving twigs and branches. "They will make sure that nobody sneaks on us."

"Good," Sean said as he saw first buildings came into the view, he winced when he saw what they were. It looked like a small town with several huge grain elevators. "Not this," he muttered.

"What?" Storm asked and followed his gaze. "Grain elevators in the middle of town?"

"Yeah, remains of the Soviet Union, lovely sight and waste of funds as well as a perfect place for an ambush."

"Or to hide and lose chase."

"Among other things," he grimly nodded and tapped his earpiece. "Wolverine, wait for us. Black Eagle has his wolves running around and they should keep enemy at bay."

"Okay, you want to play safe this one?"

"Exactly." Sean said as he quickened the pace and joined up with Wolverine. He had a really bad feeling about this whole thing.

o-0-o

Natasha slipped from shadow to shadow in the corridors located deep beneath Lublyanka, she didn't want to be seen by anybody and if she was spotted, she would be immediately killed, assuming more merciful approach. If assuming less merciful, she would be stunned and interrogated in a rather gruesome way. She stopped at the intersection of corridors and took a look into other corridors. All of them were the same, bare walls, sparse lights and pipes being visible.

"No one," she whispered and immediately tensed. Her senses picked up a sound that didn't fit here. It was a sound of heel hitting the concrete.

Her gaze darted backwards for a moment and than she looked into the side corridor. Onto her lips crept up a small smile when she saw pipes running in a way that allowed her to hide these. She jumped up and grabbed the lowest one, using her strength she managed to slip her whole body there. She waited. For a minute. For five minutes and she didn't hear a single sound.

Holding the pipe with her legs she tried to bend her body in a way that would have given her a better view. She saw nobody and decided to jump down. Than she heard clapping coming from behind her. Slowly turning around she came face to face with a hulking man.

"Well, well, well, infamous Black Widow caught into a simple trap," he said and before she had a chance to react pulled out of his holster a gun and depressed its trigger. Small dart flew through the air and slammed into her body.

She tried to fight the poison, but she failed. As her body fell onto the floor through the last working parts of her brain passed a nagging sensation that she knew this voice. Yet her mind couldn't function well enough to guess who it was.

o-0-o

Sean's eyes were darting across the fringe of the town as they slowly entered it. Weapons in hands and ready to be used. Than Black Eagle said "We have company coming." Making all of them jump up and look at him.

"From where?" Sean asked as he brought up his gun, ready to shot anything that was coming in their direction.

Black Eagle glanced at the wolves that appeared at his sides, emerging from the forest, their fur bristling and fangs bared. Sean could tell that they were talking in one way or another. "One group is somewhere in the city, two people are trying to get away from them and the Avengers are lurking along the other edge of the city."

"Two are the mutants we try to rescue," Wolverine said and Sean looked at him. "The group in the town are ones hunting them and the Avengers are probably on Fury's orders."

"Yes," Sean nodded and glanced at Black Eagle. "Can you take us to those two, hopefully without getting into the path of other groups?"

Black Eagle glanced at Freki and Geri, for a moment they seemed to be talking. "Yes," he said, looking up. "I know how to get us there, but we need to hurry."

"Wolverine, take the lead, Black Eagle you will follow him, Phoenix behind them, Cyclops and Storm you will be hind them and I and Rogue will be at the end. Is it clear?" He saw them nod and looked at Wolverine. "Try not to kill everybody, is it clear."

"Yes," Wolverine gruffly said as he walked into the town.

As Sean walked into the town he had a feeling as if he had moved over thirty years in the time and landed in the late eighties in Yugoslavia. It looked the same, falling apart buildings, windows missing glass and walls covered in writings and dirt. His gaze darted forward and he could see Freki and Geri with their noses close to the ground, trying to find ones that were their targets.

In the past he worked with a lot of different things, but huge wolves that could understand complicated commands and were able to find whatever they were asked to find was... a new thing to him. Not a bad thing, but definitely a new thing.

o-0-o

Piotr Nikolaievich Rasputin was a tall sixteen years old teen with black hair and blue eyes, normally he was a calm person and hard to anger. However today he had a really foul day as some weird people came to the Collective and wanted to kill him and his little sister, Illyana. He looked at her and breathed out in relief as he saw that she was calmer than she was before. Even when she was as scared as he was she looked like a miniature angel, blonde hair and blue eyes.

They were hiding from those who were coming after him and his powers, he knew that he was a different one, yet at the Collective nobody said a word about his strength or metal body. But those strangers came for him, because of that power.

He breathed out in relief as they were able to find a peaceful spot inside of one of massive warehouses, hidden behind crates of equipment and spare parts. Suddenly there was a noise, doors leading into the warehouse creaked open. Beam of light flew into it. He froze in place, waiting to see what it was when he heard low, rattling howls of wolves.

His body changed into one of steel and he looked in the direction of those howls, preparing for a fight so that he could survive.

o-0-o

Wolverine stopped at the entrance of a warehouse where according to Black Eagle's wolves were hiding the mutants and inhaled the air. He easily spotted their scent and looked at Banshee. "It is here, their smell is all over the air and wolves also agree."

"Than let's go, but hide your claws," Banshee said. "We might otherwise scare them and we don't want that. Our powers are dangerous at the best of times, when in danger..."

"Got it."

Wolverine walked into the room, his gaze sweeping over hundreds of shapes and things that could be laying in ambush behind them. He had served through more than one armed conflict where fighting was vicious to know that enemy loved to hide in such places. Even if he hid his claws, he still had tensed muscles and his gaze was darting across the whole space. He glanced at Banshee and saw that he was as tensed as he was.

"Easy," Banshee whispered. "They will as scared as we are, maybe even more. If there were any hostiles, wolves wouldn't let us live and Phoenix would mention them."

"True," Wolverine nodded and relaxed a bit. His gaze darted towards a crate that slightly moved. Normal human wouldn't spot it, but he had seen too many battles and ambushes not to spot it. He ignored it and walked forward and around it, when he walked onto the other side of it into him slammed a metal fist that sent him flying. Wolverine sight got blurry as he crashed into the container, crushing it's wall under his weight and falling into it.

o-0-o

Piotr looked at the man that he threw away and barely had a chance to block a strike that came from person he didn't see. He blocked it, but the strength behind pushed him backwards. His gaze darted to that person and he saw that armed and out of all things armored stranger was a tall, hulking person with massive wings on his back.

Gathering all of his strength and anger into the strike Piotr punched that person, only to find that his strike did almost nothing. As it was stopped well before hitting stranger.

"You are strong and angry, but against me that doesn't work," Stranger said with a smile. "So be a good boy and consider listening to us, as our common enemies are coming here."

"Who are you?" Piotr asked, eyeing stranger and the group that joined them up. There were also two huge wolves that guarded the stranger.

"X-Men," One of them said. "We try to help mutants all over the world. If you want you can come with us and you will have a safe place to stay, away from those that are coming for you."

"Who are they?"

"Purists, Friends of Humanity, HYDRA, they have many names, but the goal is the same. Hunt us and use for their goals whatever they are."

Piotr was silent for a moment and glanced at Illyana who joined him, while her English wasn't as good as his, she was able to get the gist of the talk. _"What do you say, little one?"_ He asked her, switching to Russian.

" _I think that we should come with them, especially if they are right about what is going on and I think that they are right."_

He nodded and looked at them. "We will come with you."

"Good, than let's go," one with a visor over his eyes said. "I'm Cyclops and those are Black Eagle, one sent by you into that container is named Wolverine and the rest you will learn on board of our plane as you will have a lot of time to talk."

As they ran across the town and into the forest behind it, Piotr had a feeling that the episode of his life that just begun was a much better and certainly much more interesting than the last one.

 **A/N - Large rant ahead.**

 **Russian naming conventions that will become increasingly more important as more and more Russian character will appear. Generally speaking Russian name looks like this 'Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin' or 'Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina'. It can be broken down into three parts:**

 **Given name - Piotr, Nikolai, Ivan, Illya, Illyana, Natalia, Anna, Olga and so on. They are the same as names in almost every European language.**

 **Patronymic - Nikolaievitch, Nikolaievna, Ivanowich, Ivanowna, Vladimirovitch, Vladimirovna and so on. They are created based on the name of one's father, Nikolaievitch, Nikolaievna mean that father's name was Nikolai. -evitch and -evna depend on the gender of child, -evitch is for sons, -evna for daughters.**

 **Surname - Rokossovsky, Rasputin, Romanov and so on are obvious and I don't think that I need to explain them.**

 **There are generally three forms of addressing someone:**

 **Name + Patronymic + Surname - the most official and respectful form possible, used rarely and in documents. It can be used to annoy someone, it's the same difference as between Your Highness and Your Royal Highness.**

 **Name + Patronymic - the most common form, it depends on the form of the name, but that isn't that important and you should see the meaning of it when it is used with diminutive. Also it is the form that should be used when speaking to someone that has a higher standing than you have. So let's for example take Illyana and Harry, if he was showing her magic, she should use Harald Iakovich just to show him respect.**

 **Name/diminutive/patronymic/informal patronymic - least formal and used when people are familiar with each other and NOT during any official function. Unless you want to insult someone and do it quite badly.**

 **Surname - it's rather obvious and the most common usage is teacher speaking to student.**

 **I think that it explained everything and it should be the only rant about naming conventions, unless I will decide to go completely crazy with names, but I will avoid doing so.**

 **End of rant.**

 _Reviews:_

 _TimothyB -_ Nobody from HP is being considered, maybe two but highly unlikely. Also would he really consider them worthy of his attention, whatever you say about his team and he doesn't yet pay too much attention to it, but they aren't the worst looking ones. Also he can choose from plenty of them on Asgard and there are I think two or one more than he will meet soonish and her looks generally make everybody follow her with their gazes.

 _shugokage_ \- He needs to deal with them and it will take him quite a lot of time to do it, also with some he doesn't really want to deal. Holding grudges is a famous trait of his family and some of them are really well cultivated. The best one is one that Odin has with Tyr, remember that well over four years passed and he is still persona non grata on Asgard or one that is slowly building up with certain wizard.

*Beware of Greeks bearing gifts


	18. Holidays and discoveries

**A/N – Tensions are building up and they will explode in a couple of chapters, this one is sweet and cuddly, but soon it will get dark, grim and bloody. Also great thank you to** _ **Ryuko**_ _ **monogatari**_ **for allowing me to use his idea of an OC mutant.**

 **o-0-o**

"I think that we know who caused troubles for Fury," Iron Man said as he saw the Blackbird pass directly over their position. "X-Men were here and that means someone that dislikes mutants."

"Or wants some secrets buried below the snows of Siberia," Warmachine said, he was wearing his silver armor that recently got a couple of upgrades thanks to Tony and was almost as good as was the Iron Man one. He winced. "Soviets were messy and this is the place where they buried almost all of their secret projects and experiments as well as many more things. Things that HYDRA or someone else would like to get."

"Or both," Captain added as they walked into the town. There was no normal activity and the doors in many houses were smashed. "They were brutal, as if they were searching for something."

"They still are," Hawkeye said, over the intercom. "You just don't see them, they are hundred and fifty meters or so ahead of you and seem to be looking for someone or something."

"Can you get us there?"

"Follow the main street, it bends in thirty or so meters and there you should see them. Be careful as they seem to have military grade weapon and some trucks."

"Lovely," Iron Man muttered as thrusters of his armor activated and he took off into the air. He glanced to the side and saw that Warmachine was following him. They flew along the main street and almost immediately saw a couple of large pick up trucks with goons around them.

"You take right and I will take the left?" Warmachine asked over the intercom.

"If you wish," Iron Man came from flight into hover and looked at the truck. "Missiles, target trucks."

The moment he said those words, shoulder plates of his armor moved out and revealed a set of small rocket launchers. He saw his targeting systems aim for weak spots and the moment they had locks missiles ignited their engines and flew towards their targets. They followed the path marked out by the laser and upon contact exploded. Their cores turned into a jet of superheated plasma that burned through the metal and destroyed the engine, causing powerful explosion. One powerful enough to send debris flying in all directions.

"Nice shot," Warmachine said and at the same moment goons started to run towards them. "But you got their attention and there is a lot of them."

"So?" Iron Man asked as beams shot from his palms and slammed into the nearest goon, sending him flying backwards. The rest of them took a look at them and at each other and backed off, hiding behind any obstacles that could provide them some cover.

Iron Man looked towards the goons and saw a round shield fly past him and slam into the nearest one, it ricocheted of him and slammed into a couple more. "Nice shot, Capt," He said turning to look at the Captain America.

Captain caught the shield with his hand and nodded before charging into them and starting to fight them in close combat. Iron Man looked at Warmachine and together they joined the fight. It was a short fight and moments after it started goons started to run away.

"They weren't ones working for HYDRA," Captain said. "They would have fought till death and defeat."

"Maybe they got smarter over the years?"

"No, HYDRA was pure evil." Captain kneeled in front of one of the fallen ones and bared his forearm, it was bare. "They would have a tattoo here, a nine-headed dragon and there is none."

"So a fake," Iron Man said. "We get back to Fury and tell him that this is a fake."

o-0-o

"The school should be in sight in a moment," Cyclops said as he saw Piotr and Illyana enter the cockpit. "Look at your right and you will see it."

Piotr nodded and as he followed Cyclops gaze his eyes widened, they were flying towards a castle. Even at night it looked imposing and huge, light visible in the windows and doors gave it a mysterious look, one that was hard to forget.

"Yes, that's the school," Black Eagle said from his seat. "It looks impressive, but you will get used to it, rather quickly at that."

"You needed get used to the fact that it is smaller than your family house," Cyclops said.

"His family house is bigger than this?" Piotr asked "How big it is?"

"Huge," Black Eagle smiled. "Or gargantuan or gigantic as it is a palace belonging to my grandfather."

Piotr looked at Black Eagle and shook his head, trying to understand what was being said.

"You will have time for that at the Institute," Cyclops said. "Now focus on landing as crashing it would be a pretty unpleasant event."

Growl escaped Black Eagle's lips, but he nodded and focused on steering the plane.

o-0-o

Harry smiled as he bent his back and avoided Oliver's strike that barely missed its mark. "Not bad, but you need to get better," Harry said as he caught an outstretched hand and with an ease, acquired during thousands of hours of training, slammed Oliver into the mats covering the floor. It pushed the air out of his lungs and for a moment he was laying there, trying to catch his breath.

"Not bad?" Oliver asked, getting up from the floor. "Than what is good enough."

"Beating one of X-Men in a fair spar," Harry smirked.

"Not you?"

Harry laughed at those words, he rarely heard so good words, but those amused him to the extremes. "Oliver, you are good for someone that trains for a couple of weeks. I started to train when I was eight and I'm an Æsir." Oliver looked at him, curious where it was going. "We are faster, stronger, more endurant, smarter and much, much better when it comes to martial arts and warfare in general. So you don't have the slightest chance to beat me."

At those words Oliver's head slumped.

"I don't mean that you cannot be good in martial arts, I just mean that you won't be on my level," Harry said, patting him reassuringly on the shoulder. "Now let's do it again."

Oliver groaned at those words, as if feeling incredible amounts of pain that were coming his way, but nodded and took an opening stance of the martial style he was attempting to learn.

o-0-o

Natasha winced when she felt wave of ice cold water slam into her head, she opened her eyes and blinked a couple of times, trying to regain the focus of her eyes. It took them moment to get clear and she almost immediately was forced to squint them when a painful white light hit her in the face.

"I see that you are awake," said someone and when she looked in his direction, she saw a man with one of his eyes missing and his mouth hidden behind a piece of cloth.

She didn't say a word and he only smiled.

"I know that you are tough, Comrade Romanovna," he said. "But we will break you sooner or later."

She didn't say a word and prepared for the pain to come, she didn't wince as strikes started to impact her ribs, one after another and the next one, stronger than the previous one.

o-0-o

Harry looked at the date and smiled when he saw that Christmas break was coming closer and closer with each passing day and now it was less than six weeks away. Even with Piotr who chose Colossus as a nickname and Illyana who still needed to choose one it was rather quiet at the Institute with not many things happening. The life fell into a routine all of them followed, in the mornings and part of afternoon they had classes and after that they trained in teams and had free time to do whatever they wished to.

His musings were cut short when a beam of red light slammed into him. He looked in its direction and saw Cedric Diggory with wand raised. They were in Danger Room as Wolverine decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea for wizards to see how it looked. "Not bad, but it doesn't work," Harry said with a smile. "You need to be more creative."

"How?" Cedric asked, his eyes widened.

"How many times do I need to tell you that you don't have magic powerful enough to injure me?" Harry asked as he prepared to unleash his magic, he pushed his hand forward and a beam of power flew from it and slammed into Cedric.

"I guess that you are right," Cedric said as he cushioned his fall with a bit of magic. He stood up and sent at Harry beams of energy. Harry rolled out of their path and replied with his own.

"I am right," Harry smiled as he saw Cedric dodge them and try to stay away from any of them. "After all I'm a demigod that was training in magic for few years."

"And is nearly invincible," Charlie said as he hurled at Harry several large logs that were generated by the simulation.

"Oh, shit," Harry muttered as he moved out of the way of projectiles, he didn't want to have his chest turned into blood and pulverized bones. He knew that he would be mostly fine, but it would take time for his body to regrow missing pieces and if he had a choice, he was going to avoid it.

"Couldn't you banish them using magic?" Cedric asked.

"I could have, but it isn't easy and requires a lot of energy," Harry said, wiping sweat of his brow and looking at them. "Energy that I have, but Midgard makes me weaker than I normally are so I need to play safe."

"Oh," Cedric said as they resumed their duel, exchanging bolts of energy and magic that could knock them out of it they were careless.

o-0-o

Harry sat on the roof of the Institute and looked at Storm, who was summoning winds and clouds as if they were her obedient servants, not one of the most powerful forces on the planet.

"Try to do the same," she said. "I think that I know where your powers are laying, but this should show where they are or at least some of them."

He nodded and reached out with his will to the wind that swirled above them, fighting it and forcing into obedience. He could feel sweat flow down his body as he tried to control the wind. He willed it to banish clouds that were covering the sky. After a brief struggle wind did it and sun appeared.

"It seems that wind is the main part of your powers," Storm said. "Though the rest of weather manipulation isn't weak in you, I guess that it is because of your father and his domain."

"I guess so," Harry said, wiped sweat from his forehead and focused on evening out of his breath. "I guess that it means more training?"

"Yes," she said and he only glumly nodded as it meant getting exhausted, at least for him.

o-0-o

Harry walked through the snow covered forests that surrounded the Institute when he felt someone appear behind him. "Uncle, do you really need to try to surprise me?" He asked, slowly turning around, saxe knife in his hand.

"No," Loki smiled. "But your reaction always amuses me."

Harry only rolled his eyes, making Loki scoff. "What?"

"You are a Prince, so behave like one, rolling eyes isn't the best of expressions and I don't think that you forgot how many times we were beating into that thick skull of yours that you need to behave in certain manner."

Harry snorted at those words and looked at his uncle. "It's Midgard and we are the only two Æsir in around thirty miles or so. That is assuming dad is at the Tower, if not we are most likely the only two on the whole planet."

Loki sighed and Harry could tell that he was not happy. "Yes, we are alone, but you are a Prince and certain behavior will be expected from you when you will be on Asgard or any other important realm. So rolling your eyes won't pass, especially at court."

"Fine," Harry said. "I guess that you want something more from me than just tell me that my behavior is not fitting my position."

"As impatient as his father, but yes there is more to my visit," Loki said and sat down on the snow. "Magic and teaching you more of it."

Harry's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Loki said "I know that Storm is working with you on manipulation of weather and I will live her with it. Instead we will focus on battle magic."

"Meaning?"

"Bolts of energy, shields and so on," Loki said "As well as hundreds of other ways that you can use magic to in battle."

Harry smiled and fully focused on what his uncle was saying, it was by far his most favorite branch of magic and one that he tended to use a lot.

o-0-o

Loki surrounded himself with a powerful shield as Harry started to launch bolts of energy into nearby trees that once again were turned into poor practice targets. He was curious what his nephew was going to show and he only smiled when bolts of energy fired from Harry's hands and started to slam into trees. Cutting through the wood as if it was a hot butter for a knife.

"Not bad," Loki said after Harry fired his first volley. "Your control over magic is getting better than it was. But this will be for now, as much as I enjoy teaching you magic, it leaves an awful lot of magical backlash and people that are keen to magic will see it."

"Fine," Harry said. "So what now?"

"A couple of things that you should remember about Asgard, that might have slipped your attention." Loki could feel Harry's gaze. "The most important probably, you can invite whoever you want, but you are also responsible for what they are doing on Asgard and damage caused by them."

"Uncle, are you suggesting something?"

"No," Loki smiled slyly. "I'm just mentioning to you things that you should know before you travel to Asgard with friends you plan on inviting there. While we love guests, some nobles might be unhappy with your choice of them."

"So?" Harry asked, his eyebrows arched.

"Nothing, just they will be sore, though they deserve it," Loki said, smiling slyly. "For the last few weeks they are getting annoyingly loud and their ego deserves to get stomped on. I would have done so, but since you are about to return, well, I will use this opportunity."

Harry nodded with a smile and Loki could see some glee in his eyes. "It will be a fun thing and I guess grandfather will throw a feast in my honor."

"He will, after all he needs to keep an image and it is one of the best ways to do so. Also he does it to annoy both you and your father." Loki said and cut the air with his hand, opening a portal. "It leads to Xavier's and I think that speaking in warmer setting will be better, also I need to speak with you people inside of it."

"I think so," Harry said, following him through the portal. "So uncle, when dad is going to drop by?"

"Not soon," Loki said, shaking his head. "He is the Crown Prince and doesn't have too many excuses to be so often on Midgard, even if you spend most of your time here. While I on the other hand am a God of Lies and Spymaster, so I can go wherever I wish to and how often I need or want."

"I see," Harry said, before walking off into distance and leaving him alone. Loki followed Harry for a second with his gaze, but it quickly focused on his own target. He had business to conduct and things to negotiate.

o-0-o

"How did you do that?" Bobby asked as he looked at Harry who was easily lifting several hundred kilos of weight. All of his muscles were visible under his skin as he lifted those several hundred kilos on a barbell. But it was also obvious that he was far from his limits. They were in the part of the Institute that was one of his favorite spots, that is the gym. X-Men usually spent quite a lot of time here as they needed to be fit for their missions, but they weren't the only ones as other students also used it.

"I'm Æsir," Harry grinned. "I'm stronger than your normal human."

"I can see that, it's just that." Bobby lightly shook his head. "It's unreal."

"Colossus isn't far behind." Harry pointed out, referring to their large Russian friend. One that could be taller than he was going to be at the end of their respective growing up. Harry came to like Colossus as he was the only person able to survive superstrenght possessed by Asgard.

"I guess you are right," Bobby nodded "Why do you not want to spar with me or anybody else excluding Logan or Colossus?"

"You want to see?" Harry asked as he placed barbell on its stand and looked at Bobby. "You might be for a great shock."

"Still I want to see it."

"Your choice," Harry said as he got up and looked at his sweat covered t-shirt and pants, they would need to be changed soon and he would also need a shower.

"It's a bad decision, isn't it?" Bobby asked

"You will see." Harry grinned as he sent simple punch towards Bobby, who tried to block it. He blocked it, but he ended pushed backwards.

"What the hell was that?" Brazilian teen asked "It felt as if I had met a mountain or two."

"You see why I do not like to spar with you." Harry said "I won't control it and you might end up dead."

"Yes. That could be a problem." Bobby nodded as he attempted to kick Harry "But don't think that I will let you win."

"I wasn't even dreaming of that." Harry laughed, when he was here he truly had fun. Away from thinking about his future on Asgard, here he could be just another teen. Not a Prince of Asgard nor anybody else, just another normal person. Or as close to it as possible.

o-0-o

"So did you decided who you want to take to Asgard with you?" Warren asked as they sat in the Quiet Lounge, fire roaring in the fireplace and pushing away cold that was surrounding the building. It was the beginning of December and snow outside was piled high, which with freezing cold made then stay inside of the building.

"For certain you, Rahne, Danny, Bobby, Illyana, Jean, Piotr and Kitty," Harry said, looking at his older cousin. "I like you the most and want to have fun, not deal with people that I do not like. Also too many would get too much attention."

"And you don't want it, got it."

"Yeah," Harry said and looked at Warren. "So we would go to your family mansion in the Rockies and from there we would go to Asgard?"

"We can," Warren said and shrugged. "My father is probably by now used to me bringing weird or interesting friends."

"Weird?" Bobby arched an eyebrow. "Who do you mean?"

"You know who," Warren smiled. "Even if he got used to the idea of mutants and mutations, as well as me being one of them. Well, he still doesn't like it too much, but he likes Purists and Stryker even less."

"Extremists are bad for business and he is a businessman, so he won't support them."

"So what can I expect from mansion in the Rockies?" Harry finally asked.

"You will see," Warren said, slight smirk on his lips. "I assure you that you will like it."

"Please? Pretty please?"

"No." Warren shook his head. "You need to see it for yourself."

Harry growled and looked at his cousin, as much as he liked him, at times he was a very annoying asshole. And dealing with them was a thing that strained his temper and that was a bad thing, really bad thing.

"You didn't tell us about Asgard, so I won't tell you about the mansion. I think it is even."

Harry bit down a reply. "I guess that you are right. It just that I don't like to don't know data being held out of my reach."

"You need to get used to it," Bobby said. "You won't be given data at all times, probably even on Asgard they will keep data away from you."

Harry glowered at them and a short, animalistic growl escaped his lips.

"Stop growling, would you?" Rahne asked. "You're not an animal, but a human so behave like one."

"I can change into a wolf, or at least a breed of it that lives on Utgard, so cut me some slack," Harry said. "I guess that I got a couple of their traits, including growling."

"Who would expect my cousin to be a wolf," Warren laughed, throwing back his head, golden hair flying in all directions. "I can understand him being a fellow mutant, a demigod, even a sorcerer, but a wolf? That's too much."

"If you say so, than you better prepare for a whole lot of surprises when we will get to Asgard and you will see some of its inhabitants." Harry smirked and switched to Portuguese for a moment. _"There are people that can change shape at will and some are more of an animal than they are of a human,"_ he said quickly looking at Roberto.

" _He will be surprised, while he can accept almost everything when it comes to mutants, this will be a huge shock for him,"_ Roberto said as he chuckled lightly. _"Though, I guess I will also be surprised by how wonderful or scary it is."_

" _You will see,"_ Harry said and saw looks sent at them. _"And we better stop or they will murder us, first me and later you."_

" _Touché,"_ Roberto chuckled.

"What were you talking about?" Warren asked.

"Nothing really," Harry said and looked at the watch on his hand. "I think that's a good time to call it a day and get some sleep."

Roberto exchanged some looks with him and both of them walked out of the room as if they had planned it.

o-0-o

Maria's Hill brows furrowed as she looked at the calendar and at the last report from Black Widow, something was not adding up. Last report from her was from middle October and now it was almost the time for Christmas. She could say a lot of things about Natasha, but forgetting to report was not one of them.

She looked at them and yet again she looked at the calendar, as she did it a wave of cold washed over her, shaking her and reminding her that something was deeply amiss.

She picked up a phone and entered the number she hoped she would not be forced to use. "Director, Agent Romanov has been lost in Russia, trying to find data on Death Eaters. There is a chance that she has been caught."

She nodded to the words Fury said and than her eyes widened.

"Director, are you sure that it is a wise idea to bring him to find her?... I understand, I will contact him." She placed the phone back on her desk and looked at the map of Europe. She never was so scared of the future, this was new. This was a thing she didn't expect to happen.

"Deadpool, he wants to bring Deadpool into the loop," she said and looked at her desk. She winced, but picked up her phone and dialed a number she almost forgot.

o-0-o

"Thank you for allowing us to be here," Tonks said as it was the last day before the end of the term and for them it was a day of return to the UK. "We enjoyed the time we had spent and we hope that this programme will be continued in the future. Wizards in the UK are far behind the world and it needs to be changed and I think this is a good way to start it."

"Thank you," Professor smiled. "Albus is a friend of mine and I came to know wizarding world quite well and I can see your point of view. I will try to continue this programme, but I don't think that he will be able to send someone to Hogwarts during the next year." He picked up a couple of necklaces with the symbol of X-Men. "This should be a good reminder of your time spent here and if need be you can use them to call help."

"Thank you," Tonks said as she put on hers and looked at the piece of rope that was their portkey, she grabbed it with her hand and when the rest of her group caught it, she tapped it with her wand.

o-0-o

When the third week of December ended and it was the time for the winter break, Harry packed up his bag and impatiently looked towards the trip into the Rockies. Small bits and pieces of data told by Warren through past three weeks made him excited and curious about it. He threw it over his shoulder, walked out of the room and whistling a happy tune he made his way to the lobby to meet up with Warren and the rest of their group.

"Eager to go there?" Bobby asked.

"Who isn't?"

"Point taken, but you look like if you could run there and back."

"Sorry," Harry said, taking a deep breath and relaxing a bit as well as calming his nerves.

"How did wings on your back disappear?" Piotr asked.

"Magic," Harry shrugged off. "I thought that by now you are used to it being used by me."

"You can talk in the car or on the plane," Warren said passing by. "Jean, will you drive the second?"

"Sure," Jean nodded as they walked to two SUVs waiting for them in front of the Institute. They would use them to get to the airport and from there they would get by plane to Colorado. It was certainly better than driving across the States in two cars, even with more than one driver available it would take ages.

o-0-o

Several hours later, few thousand kilometers and timezones to the west they finally arrived in the Rockies. Harry looked around and he could see a lot of snow and spruce trees covered in it, he saw the realm of Frost Giants, Utgard, but here it looked more friendly and warm. Winters that he has seen on Asgard were rather moderate. Unless his father got pissed off at something and than meters of snow were a thing to be expected. Only exception to it was Nordmark where Ullr lived and they surprised Harry with how much snow there could fall and how low the temperature could drop. A couple of times they needed to dig through the meters of snow, some of it was as hard as the stone was, making the experience look like a torture.

"The mansion is behind this hill," Warren said, getting him out of his musings. "I wonder how you will react."

Harry looked quizzically at Warren and than followed gaze of his older cousin. He could see a massive mansion sprawled over the top of a hill with at least three floors, if not more. It came into the view so suddenly that for him it looked as if it was grown into the side and a peak of the hill, not an artificially constructed building. The fact that it was mostly constructed out of stone and wood made it look even more natural.

"What do you think about it?"

"I think that I like it," Harry said with a grin. "In fact I like it a lot."

"That's an Angel Aerie for you," Warren said with a smile. "Something like twenty bedrooms, swimming pool, gym, huge living room, a couple of balconies and terraces and everything that you need to relax away from the world. My grandfather built it when Worthington Industries became more popular and he needed escape from the world."

"Still, it looks darn good."

"Thank you, baby cousin," Warren said with a wide smile. "Since you are my cousin, you can use it whenever you wish or need to use."

"Thank you," Harry smiled as Warren pulled car to stop in front of the mansion. They piled out of it and with their bags in hand walked to the mansion. Warren unlocked the doors and they followed him inside. Stepping inside Harry looked around a hall and whistled approvingly as he saw wooden floor and high ceiling with furs covering the floor. "I like it," he said, inhaling the scent of wood and furs spread over it.

"Good," Warren said and indicated two sets of doors at the end of the hall. "They lead to bedrooms, pick any you fancy."

"Sure," Harry said, it took him a moment to decide on one. He finally picked one located at the end of the hall with a picturesque look at the valley to the north. Other than the look from them, they looked the same with ski cabin decor. He threw his bag onto the bed and left to find the rest of the group.

When he entered the living room his jaw almost dropped wide open. It was huge with floor to ceiling windows, massive fireplace, with a fire roaring, placed on one wall and a huge flat-screen TV hanged above it. A couple of sofas and armchairs was scattered around the center of the room. The floor was covered in plush rugs and it made it feel and look homey and warm.

"I never saw him gaping like a fish," Piotr chuckled.

"Me neither," Warren said. "So cousin dear, are you getting over the shock or not."

"Yes," Harry said, joining them and plopping down on a sofa. "It just surprises me."

"I never expected to hear it," Warren chuckled. "So what do you think about the mansion?"

"It looks really good," Harry smiled as he looked through the window and saw snowflakes swirling behind it. "Also has a weird feeling of peace and warmth that many places do not have."

"There is that," Warren said. "Do you have any idea how long do you plan to stay here?"

"As long as you want or need to stay, we can appear on Asgard whenever we want and Heimdall will allow us passage into it.

"Sounds nice," Bobby smiled and looked at Warren. "Even if I was here for a couple of times it still surprises me."

"Well, it is supposed to be a surprise," Warren chuckled. "Also dad mentioned that he planned to expand it, in one way or another."

"Expand this thing?" Piotr asked in disbelief. "This room is probably larger than the house where my family used to live and you want to expand it?"

"Yes, he said something about it being a bit too small."

"Not enough to accommodate your combined egos?" Harry laughed. "Or is it something else?"

All of them laughed at those words and Harry could see Warren blush furiously at those words.

"I think that it is true," Jean said. "After all your ego is huge and if I'm right about your father, his is even bigger."

Warren nodded, but let it go and the next couple of hours they spent mostly talking and munching on various kinds of food, and before they realized how late it was the moon appeared above the horizon and it was the moment when the realization hit them like a sledgehammer.

o-0-o

"You know that your cousin is a sweet person?" Jean asked as she looked at Warren.

Warren laughed at those words. "I wouldn't call him sweet, but he is a nice person." He shook his head and looked at her. "Considering with whom he was living, it's a wonder that he turned out so good."

"What do you mean?" She asked, her attention focused on him.

"His aunt," Warren said and sighed. "I saw her once, five or so years ago and she is an unpleasant person... Unpleasant would be too kind for her, imagine person so angry at her sister that she cannot think clearly and nothing will change her opinion."

Jean's eyes flashed orange for a moment and she looked at him. "And she showed that to him when he was forced to live with her."

Warren didn't say a word for a moment, but when he looked at her, his eyes were the color of glacier ice. "I don't know a lot, but I think that you can guess the rest."

"Yes, she did it."

He blinked a couple of times and looked at her. "How do you know it?"

"His behavior tells a lot about him and the fact that I talked a lot with him in his mind. You can't hide a lot of things when you see the inside of someone's mind. He can try to push them deep inside and out of my reach, but even than, his reactions and the look of his mind tells more than things hidden below."

"So what did you see?"

"Things that I won't tell you," she said, her voice harsh. "You should know by now that things that you see in someone's mind are a thing that stays there. Wrongly used they will cause more bad than good."

"Sorry," he said.

"No need for that," she smiled briefly, but quickly became serious. "Even you can forget about it, but try to remember about it."

"I guess that I should try to pry some more out of him?" He asked, opening doors into his room. He smiled when he saw that it didn't change since his last stay here.

"If you want you can try," she said, stepping into the room. "But he might hide in his shell and bite you."

"Why?"

She sat down on his bed and looked into his eyes. Warren could see something that he couldn't quite understand in them. "Those are memories that he would like to forget about and he will react defensively to any attempt to talk about them. He is a nice person, but he has more secrets that you can see."

"I guess that you are right," Warren said as he joined her. "He is a very similar person to me, isn't he."

She chuckled at those words. "You have a couple of things in common, but not all of them. He seems calmer, more focused and more determined than you are. As well as his eyes are much, much more unsettling than yours are or will be."

"Yes," Warren shuddered, he directly looked into them just once and it was more than enough for him. "They are scary and I'm used to fear, but this is a different taste of it."

"I have an idea about it, but I will need to speak with Professor about it." Jean said, getting up. "Night, Angel," she said, kissing him.

"Good night, Phoenix," he said as he saw her walk out of the room. Words said by her poked some things inside of his mind, things that he felt he knew, yet he couldn't place them. Shrugging off those thoughts he jumped into the bed and soon was deep asleep.

o-0-o

Kitty stood on the balcony, not paying any attention to the light snow and was looking at the valley below when she heard doors behind open. She turned around and smiled when she saw Harry walk onto the balcony. "It is a nice place, isn't it?"

"It is," he smiled and she could see his gaze wander onto the snowy peaks in the distance. "Reminds me of the time I spent in the wilderness of Nordmark where one that was one of my tutors has a palace."

"Snow and forests everywhere?"

"And tall mountains, extremely tall mountains, but beautiful ones and from their peaks you can see the Citadel and the main city," he said, she could feel some nostalgia in his voice.

"You miss Asgard?" She asked and looked at the sky. "Can you see it from here?"

"Yes and no," he said, making her arch an eyebrow. "I miss it and I can't see it from here."

"Why not?"

"Because it is in a different dimension than Midgard is," he said and looked at the sky. "Long ago it was in the same dimension, but now it is gone from here and is in its own."

She hummed quietly for a moment. "How true is the description of the Nine Worlds that is in the Edda?"

"Placement of them is right, positions against each other are right and the fact that they are connected by a thing called Yggdrasil is also true," he said and looked at her. "But the rest is mostly wrong, especially descriptions of them. As well as titles given to the gods and our technological level."

"You showed some stuff that I thought could only exist in dreams."

"Yes," he said with a smile. "There is even more on Asgard that will surprise you. Most of it is should make your jaw drop."

"Good, I don't mind surprises, in fact I love them. I just hope that they will be good."

"They will be," Harry said with a smile. "I would talk more, but I need my precious sleep so goodnight Shadowcat."

"Goodnight," she softly repeated and saw him disappear into the building.

o-0-o

"It's a dream," Illyana said looking out of the window of Angel's Aerie.

"No, it's not," Piotr smiled. "It's real as I or you are and whatever you say the Institute looks quite good."

She nodded, a sad smile on her face. "Yet I still miss _rodina_."

"I do, too," he said quietly. "But I also came to like the school, at least I do not need to hide who am I."

"There's that," she smiled and muttered. "Good night, _brat._ "

"Good night, little one," he said before walking to his room and watching not to slam into the ceiling or any of the lamps hanged under it. As much as he loved being tall, he hated the fact that he needed to pay attention to where the ceiling was.

o-0-o

Harry dodged mad aerial attack that came from Warren and slammed his own wing into Warren's arm, causing him to lose stability of his flight and enter wild, unpredictable flight that ended in snow. Harry only laughed as he saw Warren try to dig out of the hole he had made.

"How did you do it?" Warren asked as Harry landed on the ground, wings neatly folding behind his back.

"A lot of experience and I guess luck," Harry said as he helped Warren to get up, only to get pushed by him into the snow. "I should bury you under more snow."

"Or be less trusting than you are."

"There's that," Harry said, wiping snow from his face. He sat up and looked at Warren. "One thing that you should know about my friends from Asgard, do not let them drag you into any brawl."

"Why?"

"They will beat and humiliate you so much that you won't be willing to show close to me or them," Harry laughed. "They are nice and friendly, but a lot of things is different between Earth and Asgard."

"Such as?"

Harry was silent for a moment, trying to think what Warren could learn when on Asgard what he would need to know before Asgard. "Do you remember parts from the Edda about competition and the fact that we love to show off?"

"Yes..."

"You might be challenged by some, they should back off when they will see me, but some might not. So don't be surprised, the rest isn't that important for you to know right now. You will learn them on the fly."

"Sounds scary," Warren said as they looked at the valley below.

"It isn't," Harry said and looked at the sky. "What would you say about getting there today?"

"We were here only for two days and you want to go to Asgard?"

"Asgard is fun and I think better than this." Harry said, wings on his back slowly unfolding. "So what do you say?"

"We better ask them, but I think that yes."

"Okay," Harry said as he jumped into the air and started lazily glide towards the mansion located on the other side of the valley. He didn't wait for Warren as his cousin for one time could be the one chasing him. Nor the other way around as it was at the Institute.

o-0-o

Thirty minutes later they gathered on the peak of a hill few dozen meters away from the Aerie as Warren loudly protested against any mark being imprinted onto the building. Harry looked to see if they were gathered around him with things that they thought they wanted to take and looked at the sky. "Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!" he shouted and seconds later they were enveloped by a beam of ethereal light.

"Don't close your eyes," Harry said as he saw them a bit shocked by the images they were seeing. "It will get better and make you less disoriented when we will step out of it." He smiled as he saw the golden imprint of the Yggdrasil that was visible through the space and time. He could see it change and move to accommodate the growth and change of the Nine Realms. Directly in front of them there was the brightest point in the whole tree, Asgard.

"It looks beautiful," Illyana whispered. "Is that a galaxy?" she asked indicating a large spiral that seemed to be glowing with its own light.

"One of many," Harry said as he looked at what she was pointing. "It's one of reasons why I love travel through Bifrost, you can see the universe in all of its beauty and glory."

"I can see why you love it so much," Warren said and frowned when the usual rainbow pattern of colors changed to pure and solid gold. "What is it?"

"We are close to Asgard," Harry said as his eyes glowed with power, magic and power energizing him. He stepped through the gate of Bifrost without slowing down and looked around the Observatory to see that it looked the same as he remembered it.

"Welcome home, Your Highness," Heimdall said with a bow to him and later turned to look at his friends. "On behalf of my liege, King Odin, welcome to Asgard."

"Asgard? It looks small," Warren said, making Harry laugh.

"This is the main entry point into the realm," Harry said, indicating a crystalline bridge that led from Bifrost towards the city. "Asgard is beyond this bridge. The shiny thing that you will see is the Citadel, my family house for last several millenia."

They followed Harry's finger and he could hear a lot of gasps of shock and surprise. But even he needed to admit that it looked good, its golden surface reflecting the sunlight and sending hundreds of reflections in each direction.

"Okay, that's a nice home," Warren said after a long period of silence. "I'm kind of jealous of your house."

"Only kind of?" Jean asked. "This looks amazing."

"And it will get better when we will get closer," Harry said as they walked onto the bridge. He smiled as he felt sea breeze blow and ruffle his air, as well as carry with itself a strong scent of salt. "The Citadel is also the administrative center of the whole empire and house barracks of at least a part of the Royal Guard."

"What are those flying things?" Rahne asked, indicating a set of buildings floating above one of smaller peninsulas. In the middle was a large, graceful structure that looked like a star with twenty points made out of gold, silver and glass. In the middle of it was a large tetrahedron that shone with its own light. Around the star there were several smaller buildings of various shapes and sizes, finally between the main star and its satellites were scattered hundreds of small daises and rectangles.

"One of the three most important schools of magic," Harry explained as he followed her eyes. "The other two are on Vanaheim and Alfheim. This one focuses on battle magic."

"And the other two?" Illyana asked, he could feel something more to her question.

"Elemental magic and Runic."

"So what else is here?" Bobby asked.

"A lot of things that I will show you once we are at the Citadel," Harry said and smiled when in front of them appeared six figures clad in black and silver armor, and in the middle of them one in completely silver armor. "Sif, I see that my grandfather asked you to make sure that I find my way to the Citadel."

"Indeed," she said and he could see her gaze sweep over his friends. "Who are they?"

"Friends and family," he said with a smile and saw her nod.

"Alright," she said and looked at him. "I guess that you don't want to enter the Citadel through the main entrance with all the fanfare."

"Yes, side entrance would be nice," he said as they started to walk through the maze of smaller streets and secret passages spread all over the city. People that saw them didn't ask any questions when they saw black armors and Sif in the lead. It took them over fifteen minutes of meandering through the city before they arrived on a large plaza that was in front of the main entrance into the Citadel.

Harry's eyes only slipped over massive statues that were placed there. He could name people represented by them from his memory, they were showing the power and importance of Asgard.

"What are those?" Piotr asked. "They are huge."

"Statues of the whole Council Elite, that is heads of pantheons and heroes of Asgard." Sif said. "Some of them are still alive, while a good part is dead, generally having your statue placed here is a great honor."

"So it is a way of rewarding ones that did something for Asgard," Danielle guessed.

"Very good," golden-haired Goddess of War said. "Indeed it is that way."

"There are also their banners in the Hall of Heroes," Harry said and rolled his eyes at the looks from his friends. "You made me memorize all of them and learn for what they had their banners placed inside of it."

Sif smirked and looked at Harry. "Than for what Hermóðr has his banner inside of it?"

Harry was silent for a moment and looked at the statue of Hermóðr which showed him in a plate armor, winged helmet on his head, a ball of fire in one hand and in second a sword. "Campaign on Earth, to be exact at the place where now is Sahara desert. It was during a conflict against Heliopolis and later Vampires."

"Very good." She smiled. "It seems that some of the knowledge stayed inside of your brain, which considering your father is an achievement on its own."

Harry looked at the sky and sighed. "Why do you assume that I will always charge into the battle without thinking?"

"Because that's true?" Warren suggested and Sif's eyes glowed dangerously, making Harry gulp in fear.

"Thank you, cousin dearest," Harry said as doors in front of the opened on their own, revealing a huge hallway with vaulted ceiling and columns supporting it. "You said about something more forgotten entrance."

"Guard is training there, so this is the best I could get," Sif said. "Unless you want to override security systems and I don't think that you want to do it."

"No," Harry said as he let Sif lead them through the maze of corridors. After thirty minutes or so of it, she lead them onto a large terrace from which was visible a whole city spread around it. "Well, Sif can show where are your rooms and in the meanwhile I will get dressed into something more comfortable," he said after a moment and after they nodded disappearing into the maze of the corridors. As he walked through them he could feel even more power and energy enter his body, energy and power he had missed when on Midgard.

o-0-o

 **A/N – Slower chapter where not much happens, but is only a build-up before bigger things and I think that you can guess where it will end.**

 _ **Terms and names:**_

 _ **Hermóðr**_ **– one of uncountable Gods of War possessed by Asgard, in the myths there are I think something like eight of them. Here he is let's say one of the most trusted field commanders and gets the hardest missions to do, or the most sensitive.**

 _ **Rodina – Russian word for motherland**_

 _ **Heliopolis**_ **– Name of Egyptian pantheon used on Asgard**

 _ **Council Elite**_ **– their version of the Imperial Diet of the Holy Roman Empire, does not much, but being on it is a great honor**

 _ **Schools of magic on Asgard**_ **– This is completely my own creation, based on the simple assumption that untrained mage is too big of a security risk to the realm. There are three main and the most prestigious ones.**

 **Academy of Battle Magic and Sorcery on Asgard – Everything that focus on battles and how to get better at killing with magic or summon things that can help you kill faster. They will make Dumbledore throw a fit or ten and compared to Hogwarts students they are much, much more dangerous. Probably one that starts it can kill Hogwarts one without even trying and with minimal usage of magic.**

 **Runic Academy of Alfheim – Runes and how to use them as well as how to create your own runes and how to bind them into the metal or stone. Thing that is used during construction of almost everything starting from the simplest things and ending on giant space constructs. They can modify properties of the material or imbue it with magic and much more. There is also their usage on the battlefield or when keeping prisoners in check, they are almost impossible to spot and when you see them it is too late.**

 **Vanaheim Hall of the Elements – Elements and how to use them, which can range from simple spells to deal with a lock to ones that can rip apart whole cities if used properly.**

 **Even if they have specialization, they also train in the general magic and there are several branches in each that can be chosen by student or suggested for him to choose. But the general rule is that a good sorcerer should shine in his field and be at least competent in other branches of magic.**

 _ **Reviews**_

 _Flying Through Clouds_ – PJO might appear, or might not. Depends how fast villains will get beaten into the ground or end up in one prison or another.

 _shugokage_ – Emma is not stupid and she knows that even if her involvement isn't discovered outright, there is a good chance that Asgard will keep digging and believe me, the last thing you want is having personal attention from Loki, especially when he is in a really foul mood. In the MCU and Marvel he is shown let's say as a Trickster, in true myths he is person that doesn't have qualms about using whatever means that can give him his goals.


	19. There's no place like home

**A/N – Spoiling you too much, but I am bored a bit and want to forget about the school so I write a lot. Rating will be increased to M because of certain factors that will appear in the next couple of chapters.**

Rahne looked around the room she was given on Asgard and quietly whistled as she noticed how richly it was decorated. She picked up a goblet and she could see that it was forged by hand from gold or something very similar to it. She was used to a high quality things from living at the Institute or on the Muir Island, but this was on a different level. It was on a level she never imagined was possible and she was thoroughly aware that those weren't the best quarters she could have been given. She walked to the bed and sat down on it, she could feel it bend under her and she smiled as she felt how soft it was.

For a moment her gaze flickered towards the floor to ceiling windows through which was pouring soft, golden light. As she looked around she couldn't tell that she was on an alien world, it was so similar to Earth that it was hard to believe. Yet it was true. It was so strange that almost impossible to believe, yet here she was, on an alien world as a guest of its royal family.

She pushed those thoughts away and decided to get out of the room, she would have more than enough time at night to explore it. Now she was more curious about the whole Citadel. As she walked onto the hallway she could see high, graceful columns support it and tapestries covering the walls.

She smiled when she saw Freki trot to her. He was one of the creatures she frankly understood the best and sitting down on the floor she stroked it's fur. It whined softly as her fingers swept through its fur.

"You have a better reaction to him than I had when I saw him for the first time," someone said and when she looked up. She saw a tallish girl with pitch black hair tied into a practical ponytail, golden eyes and tan skin, yet there was something alien to her. Rahne's eyes mindlessly noticed a pair of daggers on her belt and muscles that were the effect of training.

"Who are you?"

"Atalanta, Harald's cousin," she said introduced herself.

Rahne nodded as she remembered Harry mention her. "He mentioned you a couple of times, I'm Rahne Sinclair."

"A pleasure to meet you," Atalanta smiled. "You didn't figure out yet where is his room in the Citadel?"

"I was going to, but this furrball appeared out of nowhere." Rahne said as she petted Freki. She decided that enough was enough and stood up, he could pester someone else and she was curious where Harry lived in this place.

"They are his pets so they tend to roam this place," Atalanta said as they walked through the corridors, Freki following them. "Normally one of them is with Harald."

"I've noticed it," Rahne said as her eyes kept scanning the walls, she could see pieces of art that she had troubles believing could be placed like just that. "How can you navigate this whole maze?"

"A lot of experience and luck," Atalanta said with a smile. "After a couple of days you tend to learn it, it's not that hard and Harald's room is straight ahead."

"Harry mentioned that you are also a ward of his grandfather," Rahne said and could see a flicker of discomfort across Atalanta face. "You don't need to tell if you don't want to."

Atalanta sighed and looked at Rahne. "I am, my grandmother isn't the most loving member of my family and because of my father she tried to kill me a couple of times. Here she doesn't have any power. Or at least any real power."

"It must be terrible to be away from the family."

"It is and isn't," Atalanta said and Rahne looked at her. "My dad often stays here for a long time and my mom is also staying here from time to time. And Harald's family is in a way my own."

"After all you are cousins," Rahne smiled as doors in front of them opened and they entered the part of the Citadel where Harry was staying. She stopped in her tracks when she looked around. If she thought that her room was lavishly decorated, this was a completely other world. It was more richly decorated the her own room and it was much, much bigger.

"Don't gape like a fish out of the water," Harry chuckled walking to them. "There are few places more obnoxiously rich than this. I might or might not show them to you once everybody gets here."

"How obnoxiously rich it can get?"

"Very," Atalanta said, some distaste in her voice. "We are used to wealth, but those chambers look like a show of power and wealth."

"Because they are them," Harry grinned. "Banquet Hall being the best example of it, my great-grandfather was bored and didn't know what to do with all of the money he had collected."

"Yes," Atalanta said and closed her eyes for a moment. "Your friends are coming here."

"Thank you," Harry smiled. "Once everybody is here I will show you a couple of things around the Citadel."

Rahne nodded and took a better look at Atalanta, she seemed like a nice enough person to be with and more importantly she seemed to be honest in what she was doing and why.

o-0-o

Deadpool looked at Maria Hill for a moment and later his gaze swept over the agents that stood behind her. Heavy weapons in hands, subtle warning that he should behave or well, he ends up dead.

"So, you want me to get right into Lubyanka, find Black Widow, get her out and safely deliver to the meeting point."

"Yes," Maria Hill said. "The moment we have her in our hands, we will pay you."

"How much?"

"Four million."

"Eight."

"Six."

"For six millions I won't get there, seven or you need to find someone else to do this fucking job."

"Fine," Maria said. "Just get her out of there."

He nodded as his mind started to work, preparing a plan that would work and get him there as easily and as quickly as possible. It was going to be risky, but also fucking exciting and the best offer he had in a long time.

o-0-o

Harry looked at his friends and saw them curious of where they were going to. He had all the time he wished to use and nobody would limit it for him.

"So where are we going?" Warren asked.

"The Vault, Armory, Hall of Heroes, Throne Room and several other places," Harry said. "They are the best and the most interesting places, in Vault you should recognize a lot of things."

"Such as?" Bobby asked.

"You will see," Harry said as he navigated the maze of corridors. "A lot of them are things that will surprise you."

"You won't budge?" Warren asked.

"No," Harry laughed and Warren fell silent. After several more minutes of walking they finally arrived in front of massive doors covered in triskelions. "Here we are, just do not touch things placed inside of it. They are a bit dangerous and can kill, or at least some of them."

They nodded and as he placed his hand on the wall to the side of the massive doors there could be heard clicking of locks as they disengaged and doors slowly opened. Revealing a long rectangular chamber with hundreds of pedestals placed along the walk that was in the middle. There were hundreds of oddities and treasures placed on them, some of them strange and some of them quite plain.

"How did they end here?" Jean asked, looking at the priceless trophies placed in the room.

"The same way most of monarchies on Earth gathered their riches," Harry chuckled. "War, loot, conquest and gifts."

"There's a lot of them," Piotr noticed. "And you are saying that all of them were gained through wars and gifts."

"Yup," Harry smiled as he walked to a large blue cube at the end of the hall. "This should be familiar to you, after all my uncle made it quite famous."

"The Tesseract?" Warren asked.

"Yes," Harry said and looked at them. "One of the six singularities that were created at the beginning of the universe, each represents one of six things that define the universe – Time, Space, Reality, Power, Mind and Soul. They are called Infinity Stones."

"And they are pretty dangerous?" Jean asked.

"Exactly, the Tesseract or the Cosmic Cube is housing to Space Stone. It allows its power to be safely used or more safely than in its raw form."

"It looks small," Piotr noticed.

"The size doesn't really matter," Atalanta said as she walked forward. "This could annihilate Midgard if it was used improperly."

Harry saw them pale and he looked towards other artifacts. "Don't brood about this, it is safely locked away and nobody will use. While there are more things that you should like."

"Sure, it's just a bit terrifying," Warren said

"As most of things placed inside of here is," Harry said. "But there are some things that are placed here mostly for their looks and how expensive they are."

"So what this gauntlet is doing here?" Warren asking as he pointed at a large golden gauntlet placed on one of pedestals.

Harry's eyes flashed to the pedestal. "That's an Infinity Gauntlet , device that can house all of the Gems," he said and looked around. "Let's go to the Armory, there are more enjoyable things to watch than dusty trophies."

"I like your approach," Danielle said with a smile. "While I appreciate trophies and more sophisticated culture, bows and knives are also nice, maybe nicer."

"Good taste," Atalanta said. "I think that you will enjoy training with Sif a lot."

"Sif as in the Goddess of War?" Illyana asked.

"The same one," Harry said as he led them out of the Vault and towards the Armoury. It took him a moment to remember where exactly it was located, or at least where was the one where were stored all of the fanciest weapons.

o-0-o

"Where are the aurors?" Fudge demanded, glaring at Amelia Bones.

"You were the one that ordered them to go there, I only assigned ones that I thought would achieve the task," she said, her voice even and without any emotions. "So I don't know what had happened to them."

"And the Boy-Who-Lived?"

She poured herself firewhiskey and sipped some of it before she was able to look at Fudge. "According to my latest report he was in the USA in an undisclosed location. He is an important person, but you won't force him to come to the country."

"He needs to be found, I don't care how, but he needs to be."

"You have our foreign relations under your personal supervision, not mine, so use them and get him found," she said, trying to sound civil as she tried not to explode at this bumbling idiot in front of her.

"Did you-"

"Yes, get something finally done," she finally snarled, pointed her wand at Fudge and before he could say anything else, she sent him flying out of her office. "My career here is done," she said to herself as she summoned and shrieked hundreds of papers and letters. She would need them in her new place of work. She opened the drawer placed in her desk and pulled out a thin envelope.

She broke the seal of the Ministry placed on it and revealed another one, this one of Her Majesty. Tapping it with her wand she was gone from the Ministry, only to appear not far away from her former place of work.

She looked around and she saw that she was standing in the lobby of a modern, non-magical designed building with glass being everywhere. She heard someone's footsteps and when she looked in their direction she saw the cloaked form of Director Wisdom.

"Director Bones," he said, his voice courteous and warm. "Your presence here is a thing that I wasn't able to predict."

"Director Wisdom, I assure you that if not for my hand being forced, I wouldn't come to you," she said. "Minister Fudge has decided that he has no need for my services, so I decided to leave the boat, before it sinks to the bottom."

"Well, that's a chain of event that is a godsend for me," Wisdom said. "Would you consider working for me?"

She smiled, her smile feral and predatory. "I have a score to settle with a lot of people, so I will work with anybody that will help me with it."

"I will take it as yes," Wisdom said and motioned for her to follow. "We will discuss it in depth in my office."

o-0-o

"Why do I have a feeling that everything that is here is a piece of art as well as a piece of weaponry?" Danielle asked as she picked up a pair of beautifully forged hunting knives with long, wicked blades and grips made out of a piece of horn. She twirled them in her hand, _perfect balance and even with all of the fancy materials, they are still good,_ she thought.

"Because that's a true statement," Harry said, she could tell that he enjoyed being here, between shelves and racks full of weapons and armor. Some of them bizarre, but most of them practical, yet extremely beautiful. She could see some of them encrusted with gems so big that she had troubles believing that they were real. "They are gifts from various rulers and vassals of my grandfather, usually when they have hoped of reaching a better agreement." He saw her holding the knives. "You can keep them, not many use hunting knives and I think that you will like them." She nodded, slid them into their scabbards and picked up.

"Typical approach to negotiations," Warren chuckled. "You give a fancy gift so that the other side is impressed by your wealth and taste."

"Yes," Harry said, she could see some amusement in his voice. "Though a lot of them is also a way to say thank you for saving some realm or planet."

"So all of this are just gifts and fancy weapons that were made for your family?" Rahne finally asked.

"Yes." Harry indicated weapons laying around. "If you like something, you can take it. There are so many of them that nobody will care if some of them are gone. Also they are made to be used, not to collect dust on the shelves and do nothing."

"So nobody will care if I take those daggers?" Danielle asked.

"Not in the least," he laughed loudly. "You will use them most likely better than anybody else, we do not use a lot of hunting knives. We generally use saxe." He slid his knife out of its scabbard and showed it. Danielle took a look at it and she could see a wide and heavy blade, good for using it as a tool, but also as a deadly weapon. "It's heavy and similar to a sword, but shorter."

"One good hit and the fight is over," she said quietly and saw him nod.

"Anyways," he said, slipping saxe knife into its scabbard. "For today I think that this is all as the Throne Room and the Hall of Heroes are large and it will take me a lot to explain what they exactly are and why they are so important."

"So what now?" Bobby asked.

"Do whatever you want," Harry said with a grin. "I'm going to have some fun with my friends, you can watch if you want."

o-0-o

Loki looked at the report and sighed. "Wizards are such fools, one of their task forces got caught by SHIELD and now they want to track down Harry."

"It was you who taught them stubbornness," Odin said as they sat in his study. Away from prying eyes and with a lot of peace.

"Father, can you not mention those times?" Loki asked as he poured himself a goblet of wine. "I think that when it will be a time for Harry to come to Hogwarts it might not be a bad idea to take some precautions. So that they stay obedient and do not do anything stupid." Loki winced and sipped some wine, enjoying its bitter taste. "They shouldn't do it as they have a fine example of survival instinct, but they sometimes are huge fools. Fools that don't know when to stop and the last one that could control more foolhardy one was removed from power."

"Which means that someone might need to remove them," Odin said, his voice cold and lacking any of its normal warmth.

"Brute force is a nice approach, but, father, did you forget about the best approach? Scare them so much that they will be unable to think."

"Are you suggesting a campaign of terror?"

"That's too crude," Loki said and Odin arched an eyebrow. "I suggest that we simply build up the tensions, slowly at first and campaign of terror is too crude. We need to work slower, murder here, rumors there and suggestion of what can make it stop."

Odin was silent for a moment and Loki could see gears inside of his father's head spin. "Remove only the crucial targets that are posing real danger and no collateral casualties."

"It can be done, I will speak with Hrimhari about his Rangers doing the killings. They are much better at assassinations than I am." Loki said and looked at his father. "I have a list of potential targets and I will give them to Heimdall to locate and keep track of."

"Very well," Odin said. "Our involvement must remain secret until the time is right, humans are advancing quickly, but they are not ready to learn."

"Of course, father." Loki nodded and made a note to inform Fury that the murders and weird things were something more than just something strange. "It will be done as you wish it to be done."

Odin didn't say a word, instead nodded. "I guess that you have almost some other measures planned for them if they do not behave?"

"Yes," Loki said with a sly smile. "Wards, they always managed to keep unruly nobles in line. Love is our greatest strength, yet it is our greatest weakness."

Odin's face turned to stone for a moment and Loki gulped in fear. He only saw this look a couple of times and it was more than enough for him. "We are not going to use it unless we have a good reason for it. I won't be making children responsible for their parents actions."

"Of course, father, it will be done as you wish." Loki said, finishing his wine he stood up. "May I leave you as plans need to be put into motion?"

Odin waved his hand and Loki walked out of the chamber. He needed to plan for the things to come and they weren't easy. If it was up to him the wizards would be begging for a truce in a week time, but than most of the UK would be a smoldering ruin.

o-0-o

"They are that good?" Danielle asked as she, Rahne, Jean and Atalanta stood on the balcony overlooking training grounds below where Harry and Ulf were wrestling or sparring in hand to hand combat. Their upper bodies were bare and gleaming from all the sweat. She could see beneath the skin thick, hard muscles that were the effect of hundreds of hours spent on training and it almost made her drool.

"Yes," Atalanta said. "They are that good, watching them can be amusing. And I can see point in my mother words that watching two handsome boys wrestling is interesting and enjoyable."

Danielle chuckled softly and looked at Atalanta. "Are they the cream of the crop?"

"Yes. According to rumors and gossips they are one of the best of their generation," she said, _I knew that he always looked good, but than I was not paying too much attention to it, now he looks even better,_ she thought and shook her head, sending those thoughts away and

"I can see that," Rahne said. "I saw him fight one person and he showed that he is good." She shuffled her feet uncomfortably, tinges of red appearing on her cheeks. "And he easily slammed me into the ground and knocked out before I had a chance to react."

"Yes, he is that good." Atalanta focused on the duel, she winced lightly when she saw Ulf's fist hit Harry straight in his gut, but she knew that he would be fine and it only annoyed him. "And stubborn," she said as Harry got up from the ground.

"He shares that trait with his cousin," Jean said. "I sometimes wonder which one of them is worse to get convinced."

"I would say that he is more stubborn out of the two."

"Yeah, I think so," Rahne said. "Warren is more reasonable and easier to talk with, but than he is also the older one."

"And with age you are supposed to gain wisdom," Atalanta finished with a smile. "But I don't think that it will work with Harry."

"We will see," Jean said and Atalanta glanced at her.

 _She is something more than just a human,_ Atalanta thought, _she is extremely powerful even if she hides it and she knows how to control her powers, too well for the age. Aunt said that this level of control takes decades of training and experience, yet she is able to control her powers so well at this age._ She shook her head. "Now I think that we better focus on watching the fight," she said.

"Yes," Danielle said with a smile. "This is too good not to watch."

Atalanta nodded as her golden eyes looked at the other girls. _Harald seems to know how to choose his friends, they do not have any false or bad feelings, and they are certainly honest or at least do not love plots. Which means that I should get along with them just fine, Ulf might have some more issues with it. He was always an arrogant one and it takes a lot to earn his trust._ Her eyes for a moment flickered to the rest of Harry's friends that she saw leaning against the wall on the ground level. _Those are even more interesting than them, they are even more determined than girls are and look like a nice group of people. Yet once again Ulf might have some issues with accepting them, he still thinks that he is the best and it takes some time to earn his trust. He might make them prove that they are worthy of his friendship, which might end interesting,_ she rolled her eyes, _or very poorly for him._

 _From what uncle has mentioned they have all kinds of different powers and some of them are more powerful than our powers are and they know how to use them well. Which will make things interesting, or maybe just the first duel when he will charge straight into it, without thinking and assuming that he is a superior one to them. But maybe it will teach him a thing or two._

She cut her musings short and focused back on the fight. It was going to be really amusing for her, especially if Ulf proved to be the usual rash self that had issues thinking through his brain and instead charged straight into the biggest fight he could find.

o-0-o

Harry moved under Ulf's outstretched hand and sent a powerful strike that slammed into Ulf's exposed jaw. Force behind the strike was so big that it lifted Ulf of the ground and sent him flying backwards. He landed on his back several feet away, on impact he threw up a small cloud of sand and dust.

"How did you do it?" Ulf asked, sitting up and rubbing his pained jaw. "I've seen a lot of powerful strikes, but this is something new."

"Training," Harry smiled as he helped Ulf get up, both of them were covered in bruises that started to disappear and their body was covered in sweat. "You are getting sloppy and I think that you might have issues with my friends from the Institute."

In Ulf's eyes appeared a dangerous glint and Harry saw him look at the X-Men that stood to the side. "Piotr?" Harry asked, looking at his large Russian friend, one that he didn't want to wrestle too often. And one that was taller a whole head that he was and was as tall as Ulf was. "You wanted to wrestle someone more fitting your size."

"Can I?" Piotr asked, walking forward and his body started to change. Skin changed color to a dark gray one and he grew up a couple of inches.

"You can." Harry smiled and looked at Ulf, who seemed arrogant. _He thinks that he will win it, it should be a good wake up call for him, though with his ego it might take him some to get over it..., or not._ "Just do not damage him... too much."

"Fine," Piotr said, cracking his knuckles.

Harry dutifully moved out of the way and walked into the shade provided by the colonnade. "It will be interesting," he said as he joined Warren, Bobby and Illyana. "Ulf is good, but tends to be a bit arrogant. Especially if it comes to people he doesn't know."

"So you hope that it will heal his arrogance?" Warren asked as he threw him a bottle of water.

"Yes." Harry took a sip of water and looked at them. "I like him, but he is a pain to deal with at times."

"And you suspect that my _brat_ will teach him some humility?" Illyana asked.

"Among a couple other things," Harry said and looked towards the field where Piotr and Ulf were looking at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. Ulf after a moment of it charged at Piotr.

o-0-o

"Hopefully this will teach him some humility and make him think before he does something," Sif said as she stood with Ullr, watching duels. "With Harald he was thinking before doing something because he knows that he does one wrong move and ends up on the ground. Here he does things first, thinks later."

"Yes," Ulf said and shook his head. "He is a bright person and knows how to fight, but he needs to learn that sometimes there is a need to think first and do something later."

"It's probably the hardest lesson to learn, I know from my own experience that sometimes shock is needed to get it into the head of someone," she said and winced when Piotr's fist slammed into the side of Ulf's body. She could see Ulf's ribs buckle and than break under the stress.

"That must have hurt," Ullr said as he saw his son crash into the ground and tumble, he came to stop almost at edge of the sand arena and laid there. After a moment he got up from the ground, furious expression on his face and they could see unnaturally bent ribs.

"Yes," Sif said and stopped Ullr when he was about to jump down onto the arena. She looked into his eyes, her sky blue looking into his hazel ones. "He needs this lesson and your help will cause him more troubles than good."

Ullr looked at her hand and later towards his son. He winced and nodded. "I guess that you are right."

"I am," she said and smiled. "He will curse at me and everybody else, but he needs to understand that he is not invincible and that he can also be injured or killed and that there are people better than he is."

"And that they don't need to be Æsir to do it, they can also be from other races," Ullr said, she nodded and once again focused on what was going on the arena.

o-0-o

Ulf bit down on a scream as he felt pain spread over his chest. He should have seen that strike coming, yet he didn't and now he was losing. Not with an Æsir, but with a human out of all things.

He looked down and he could his ribs bent under unnatural angles, two of them clearly broken. He touched his side and winced as pain flared up and made him almost scream. He pushed it away and slowly got up from the ground, furious scowl on his face.

"Concede," Piotr said and Ulf's eyes whipped to Piotr's face. "You are in no shape to fight and you will injure yourself more."

"I'm fine!" Ulf shouted and charged at Piotr. Or at least attempted to, after his second step he fell onto the ground, pain overcoming his self-control. All of his dignity was gone as he cried out in pain and clutched his side.

"No, you are not," Sif said as she landed on the ground. He looked at her and he saw in her eyes disdain. Disdain that he never ever seen before. It scared him. "You are a foolish and arrogant person, I have thought that you would learn from the fact that Atalanta over and over again managed to defeat you, yet you didn't. If you were paying attention you would have seen this coming."

He defiantly glared at her, anger burning in his eyes.

"You can glare as much as you wish, but you will get nothing," she said and yanked him up by the collar of his shirt. He yelped in pain, but she ignored it and instead turned to look at Piotr. "Come with me, I will take both of you to the healers to get checked. You should be fine, but nobody knows.

Ulf tried to say something in protest, but Sif completely ignored him and dragging him by the collar of his shirt she walked into the palace. He didn't know what was worse, the pain to his destroyed pride or the physical pain that he was feeling.

He was an honorable person, but it was a different thing for him to lose against member of his own race than it was to lose against a human.

o-0-o

"Not the worst way to start your stay here," Atalanta said as she saw Ulf being dragged by Sif.

"Why?" Jean asked.

"We like people that show off and Piotr just did it. Ulf is considered to be one of the best out of our generation." Atalanta corrected her ponytail and looked at Harry. "Also he is arrogant because of that and some people have issues with surviving his attitude, if this will knock him a peg or more. Nobody will mind."

"So that you can survive with his ego?" Danielle asked. "Or is it something else?"

Atalanta was silent for a moment. "I meant his ego, when it inflates, it is huge and it would serve him well to get it smaller and more manageable as otherwise we might not survive."

Rahne chuckled and she looked at her. "At the Institute we had the same problem with Harry's ego, it was so large that sometimes we couldn't survive it. After Banshee explained to him what he did wrong and how he could get killed in more than a dozen of ways, he calmed."

"Hopefully Ulf will get the message," Atalanta said and saw Harry walk with the rest of their group into the palace. "I can take you to them."

"Do it," Jean said. "Ulf seems like a nice enough person to know."

"He is." Atalanta winced. "That is once you get past his arrogance, ego and few other things. But with Harald nearby he should behave."

"Why?" Danielle asked, making Rahne chuckle.

"It's a social ladder thing," Rahne said once she stopped chuckling. "Harry has one of the highest titles and Ulf will need to obey his command, even if he dislikes it."

"Would he need?" Kitty asked. "I know that Harry is a Prince and all, but I thought that he didn't possess so much power."

"Yes," Atalanta said. "He is person that stands right behind his father in line to the throne and even if we are friends, in public setting we need to obey him, we can disagree, we can dislike him, but we need to obey him."

"Oh. On Earth he seemed to be so easy-going and friendly."

Atalanta nodded. "He is easy-going, but he has his formal or official mask."

"And he won't have qualms about using it?" Kitty asked as they walked into the palace.

"No, he will use it when he feels that someone is pushing the line too much."

Kitty nodded and followed Atalanta, she was surprised by how easy-going Harry's Asgardian friends were. They seemed completely open and didn't have issues with not ignoring them.

o-0-o

"I didn't hit him too badly?" Piotr asked as he looked at Harry, who only laughed.

"You did more damage to his pride than to him," Harry said as he looked at healer that made Ulf's ribs move into their proper places. "He is too tough to get slowed down by it, I know from my own experience. Broken ribs are a short-term annoyance."

"You know from your own experience?" Kitty asked as she walked in along with the rest of the girls.

"Yes, I've broke them a couple of times," Harry said with a wince. "We heal faster than humans do and that's without attention from a healer. Than it's a matter of hours for bones to mend."

"So he will be fine?"

"His ego is sore," Harry said and looked at Ulf. "But in a couple of hours he will heal and he will be as good as he used to be. Maybe less annoying and more able to think."

"He will be," said a person that entered the hall and when Harry saw who it was he lightly bowed his head.

"Grandmother," he said. "I didn't expect to see you so soon."

Warren blinked a couple of times as he was mostly dozing off and listening to their talk without paying too much attention to it. He looked at her and later at the woman that entered the room. She was simply beautiful and he had troubles keeping himself from openly staring at her. She was surrounded by the same grace and power that Harry was exuding, the only difference was that it was multiplied by a couple hundred of times. Warren dug out of the depths of his mind that her name was Frigga and she was the Queen of Asgard.

"Heimdall mentioned that you had returned," she said, her voice smooth and courteous, yet Warren could feel that she cared about him, even if she was not showing it with her voice. Her gaze flickered to Ulf whose ribs were being healed. "And it seems that you already sent someone to the healers before even greeting the family."

"It was Ulf's doing, Your Grace," Sif said before Harry had a chance to react. "He underestimated one of His Highness friends and during a friendly spar he got injured."

"I see, so maybe Harald you will be kind enough to introduce your friends?"

Harry coughed uncomfortably, but nodded after a moment. "If you wish," he said. "So those are Warren Worthington III, my cousin on the mother side of the family, Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin and his younger sister Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputin, Katherine Pryde, Rahne Sinclair, Danielle Moonstar, Roberto da Costa and Jean Grey."

"You are welcomed to stay here as long as you wish or want to stay here," Frigga said and looked at Ulf. "And I guess that Ulf had decided to prove that he is superior than they are?"

"Indeed," Harry said. "He wanted to see if he was better and I decided not to say no."

"And it should be a good lesson for him," Sif said. "He needed someone to get it into him, but until now nobody seemed to be able to do it. And it is better to do it now than for him to learn it on the field of battle. There he could be killed while learning it, here he learned it in far less painful manner."

As Warren looked at them he could tell that Sif was something more than a normal warrior as she was talking with Frigga as if she was just below her. He frowned and looked at Harry who seemed equally at ease, as he looked at them he realised that Sif was one of the closest advisors and maybe even friends of the royal family.

"Is it me or Sif is close to the royal family?" He whispered to Jean who stood next to him.

"They are close," she said. "It is quite obvious, the more you look at them, the more it gets obvious. Also she probably taught Harry before he came to the Institute."

"Why do you think so?" He arched his eyebrow.

"He trusts her and doesn't get edgy when she is close to him," Jean said and smiled. "That's the best way to tell what he thinks about some person. Look at the way he looks at Frost at the Institute and at Cyclops."

Warren nodded. "He gets edgy whenever he gets close to ones he doesn't like."

"Exactly." She smiled, her smile warm. "Here he is at ease, even completely at ease."

He nodded and once again focused on Harry.

"So, grandmother did you want anything else from me or can we disappear out of your view?" Harry asked and Warren almost chuckled at it. He never expected him to be so diplomatic and creative when it came to words.

"You can," Frigga said. "Though your grandfather might wish to speak with you and them, sooner rather than later."

"Perhaps not today. They are tired and I think that we would like to get used to Asgard first."

"Indeed." Frigga nodded.

Harry smiled and waved his hand at them, telling them to follow him. Warren only nodded and followed. He was curious where they were going as so far they didn't see that much of Asgard.

 _To be continued..._

o-0-o

 **A/N – Some things that might feel a bit odd. Ulf normally is way more careful than he was with Piotr, but he assumed that a human is something that is below him and can be treated like an annoyance. So he needed to learn that there is an advantage in being cautious, especially when fighting an unknown person and Sif stopped Ullr because him interfering would cause more bad than good.**

 **Things done by Amelia can be treated as a treason, but they can also can be treated as a good deed. Did she help the enemy? No. Did she help her country? Yes. Did she betray her employer? Yes. This is one of those questionable decisions that show who we are, if we care more about our country or our work.**

 _Reviews:_

 _decoy73_ – all of sent into the USA were known for working with Death Eaters in the past, so well I highly doubt that there were such people in this group. She wanted to make some house cleaning before she was forced to vacate her office.

 _sylvelle_ – thanks, I'm not a native speaker of English, so a lot of such nuances will be unknown to me. When I will be going through the chapters I will fix it.

 _Otsutsuki no Yami_ – I know the pain when I read a book and it ends.

 _shugokage_ – multiple perspectives are a thing that I like to use

 _UnitedOsprey1991_ – those schools will play a big role in the future and a lot of people will get surprised by them. If you watched Stargate Atlantis shape of the main building of the one shown on Asgard might be a bit familiar.


	20. Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto

**A/N – Third chapter focused on Asgard and things connected with it, Midgard for the time being is out of sight and they are minding their own business. Some will discover new powers and some will have some nice surprises.**

 **There is an adult scene around the middle of the chapter and if you don't like it, you don't need to read it and there is a huge warning marking its location. If you have any issues with it don't simply read it and let other enjoy.**

 **Hopefully this chapter and the following ones will have a much better grammar as it seems that I found a better beta than my previous ones.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

 **o-0-o**

Roberto was used to wealth and showing it off, but even he was surprised, as he took a better look at the rooms that Harry had. The first thing that got his attention was how massive they were. Looking around he had trouble wrapping his head around the fact that something of this size was possible, he quickly noticed a couple of doors leading into more rooms that were for Harry, and Harry only. The next thing that got Roberto's attention was the decor and the amount of priceless materials used in the room, it looked as if someone didn't know what to do with the money they had. He could see marbles, semi-precious and precious stones, exotic kinds of wood and hundreds of materials that were rare and hard to get, yet here they seemed to be all around the place.

"And what do you think of them?" Harry asked with a wry smile.

"I think that you just made me jealous," Bobby chuckled. "I'm from a rich family, but this is a thing that even I have troubles imagining as possible."

Harry only laughed at those words and sat down on his bed. "You get used to such size after some time and then stop seeing them as huge."

"Still, they are impressive,"

"Yes," Harry said and Bobby could tell that Harry was honest. "At first I was shocked by how big they are, but now they are just impressive."

"On my own room I noticed that you love huge scale."

Harry chuckled at those words. "That's the whole point of the Citadel, to show that we are rich and powerful."

"And it gets it done."

"Yes," Harry said and paused. "Can we not talk about it? I love my family house, but I don't want to talk about the politics that come with it."

"Sure, so what are your plans for this stay on Asgard?"

Harry was silent for a long moment, Bobby could see him thinking deeply about the the question. "Grandfather wishes to see us tomorrow and that's a thing that needs to be done, he isn't a person that will accept no as an answer and him being impressed by you is a thing that will help a lot." Harry shook his head. "That's the sole formality that needs to be done, other than that we are mostly free to do whatever we wish to do."

"Everything?" Bobby asked with a grin.

"As long as nothing gets damaged," Harry said and chuckled. "Other than that, yes, we can do whatever we wish to do. So it's up to you what you are going to do."

"And you?"

"Have fun, relax and do a couple of other things."

Roberto nodded and looked at Harry. "You wanted Ulf to fight Peter?"

"Yes, he needed someone to get through his ego and he wouldn't listen to someone else," Harry said and looked out of the window. "He is good, even really good, but sometimes he underestimates his sparring partner."

On Bobby's face appeared a smile. "And Peter solved the problem whilst having some fun as well."

"Indeed," Harry said. "Tomorrow I will show you two things that you should enjoy,well,at least one of them. The Hall of Heroes."

"You keep mentioning it, yet you have yet to tell us what it is."

"It's one of the more official halls of the Citadel where there are hanged banners of all the Princes,the Kings and those that did something spectacular for the realm."

"So it's a way to commemorate them?"

"Yes," Harry said. "It looks nice so you should like it and it is rather close to the biggest chamber or hall in the whole thing, the Throne Room."

Bobby nodded and took a better look at Harry, he could see his friend's skin lightly shining with its own light and his eyes were brighter than they were on Earth. It looked as if something was changed inside of him. "What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" Harry arched his eyebrow. "I'm fine."

"You look different, as if something in you changed."

"You could have said that from the beginning," Harry said, chuckling lightly. "When on Midgard, I leave some of my power and magic here, nobody knows why, but on Midgard we don't have our full power. It's not much, but you can see a difference."

"So here you are faster, stronger, more agile and so on?"

"Yes... and no," Harry said and Bobby glared at him. "I mean that I'm faster, but it such a small difference that for most people it will be impossible to spot. The only difference you will see is that my skin glows slightly, other than that I'm the same person."

"Cool." Bobby nodded. "Do you have any idea where Warren is?"

"Probably somewhere around here, I don't know where exactly, but most likely in this wing of the palace."

Bobby nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Harry alone. He needed to sort out some things in his mind, mostly about Harry, Asgard and the whole obnoxious wealth of Harry's family.

o-0-o

"This place is incredible," Jean said as she walked with Warren. They were walking through the gardens that were behind the Citadel and as she looked around she had troubles believing that it was true. She could see plants that she thought were impossible to exist, yet here they seemed to be true. "I know what Harry was saying about this place, but even what he said is nothing compared to this."

"It's Asgard, Realm of Gods." Warren chuckled. "You should have seen some of wizarding tales which focus on Asgard, they are closer to truth than Edda."

"Wizarding tales?" She arched her eyebrow.

"My cousin gave me some a couple of years ago," Warren said. "She was Harry's mother. They are different than the normal fairy tales and I read parts that are about Asgard and in a way they are more correct than Edda is."

"In what way are they different?"

"Less cliché and certainly more darker," Warren said and looked at her. "Also they seem to love Asgard and tales about it."

Jean chuckled lightly. "Who would suspect that you like such things."

Warren laughed and looked at her. "We all read them or were reading them at one point," he said and looked around. "But seeing this place, instead of reading about it is different and I much more prefer seeing it."

"Yes." She smiled and looked at him. "Your cousin has changed, it is a slight difference, but I can see it."

"He is a Prince of Asgard, so he needs to behave here with some grandeur and consideration," Warren said. "Also I think that he wants to be away from Frost and in a more friendly atmosphere."

"Most likely, even with my telepathy I can't see what is truly going on,in his mind," she said and sighed. "The most I can get is a pretty accurate guess, but nonetheless ,still just a guess. Teaching him control over his powers is a rather interesting thing."

"Why?" Warren asked, corners of his mouth twitching.

"Because more often than not I need to control myself from wanting to murder his aunt and her family," Jean spat viciously and as she looked at Warren she could see all of the emotions disappear from his face, turning it into a blank mask.

"What did they do?" Warren asked, his voice cold and devoid of emotions.

"Abused him, as I told you earlier I won't tell you details," she said, placing her hand on Warren's shoulder. "But if he was forced to live with them he would most likely turn into something, someone worse than Magneto. I didn't watch them on purpose, but I saw enough resentment, anger and other feelings that they told me enough." She shook her head and looked at Warren, her green eyes looking into his blue ones. "Don't mention it to him, it was a possibility that now is gone or mostly gone and now he is the someone that he was supposed to be in the first place."

"I won't," Warren said and she could sense that he was honest. "But there is more to this as he was never supposed to land with that _woman._ I don't remember the exact details, but it was either my father or Fury as his guardian."

"Fury as in Nicholas J. Fury Director of SHIELD?"

"Same one." Warren smiled. "He was a common guest a couple of years ago and still drops from time to time now. Lily, who was Harry's mother was like a younger sister to him and I think that from there you can guess the rest."

"Yes," she said as she stopped to look around. Their mindless wandering took them almost on the other side of the complex and she could see the Citadel in its whole mighty as it was far enough for her to fully see. As she looked upwards she could see its surface glitter and shine. "It looks like heaven."

"Well, in Norse myths it was considered a heaven," Warren said. "So shall we head back?"

"Yes," she said as they started to walk back.

o-0-o

"How was your stay on Midgard?" Thor asked as he walked to Harry who sat on one of many balconies built into the Citadel.

"Dad!" Harry exclaimed and launched himself at Thor when he saw him. The Thunder God only laughed and hugged him. "I think that you know the answer."

"Yes," Thor said with a smile as he looked at Harry. "You had fun, learned some things and probably caused a headache or two."

"Hmm, the two first are true," Harry said with a smile. "But the last one, no, unless someone else causing me a headache, counts."

"Who?"

"Emma Frost."

Thor at those words growled. "White Queen of Hellfire Club, I should have seen it coming."

"Dad? Hellfire Club? White Queen?"

Thor sighed and sat down on one of benches. He looked at the sea before he finally looked at Harry. "I will start from a couple of things that you should know about the Potter family, they were rich,an extremely rich family and because of that they had influence and belonged to certain clubs, one of them being Hellfire Club.

"A group of the richest and the most important people on the planet, businessmen, politicians, directors of intelligence agencies just to name a few. The Club is a place where they gather and use their influence and resources to further their goals." Thor said. "There is a certain hierarchy inside of the Club and those in charge of it are called the Inner Circle and they take titles from chess pieces. Above them is one called the Lord Imperial."

"So Emma Frost is one of them?"

"Yes," Thor said with a wince. "She is a new member to it and her rise to power was a fast one, while Potter, Stark and Worthington families had their place inside of the Club for at least thirty years, if not more. She is jealous of your status as a sole heir to Potter fortune and the fact that you are cousins with Warren."

"Potter fortune?" Harry frowned. "But Aunt Petunia never mentioned that Potter family was wealthy."

Thor only laughed at those words. "It is an extremely rich family, we have vaults filled with bars of gold, platinum, silver and gems. You will see how much of it before you start to attend Hogwarts as it is stored in Gringott, a bank run by goblins. There is also a couple of companies owned by the family, one thing that you won't need to worry over when at Hogwarts is lack of money. Even without using resources of Asgard you will have money for several lifetimes."

Harry's mouth was wide open as he listened to what Thor was saying.

"It's not a joke," Thor said and Harry finally closed his mouth. "It's the truth, Petunia never acknowledged the fact that she had the least amount of luck out of the whole family. Worthington and Potter were and are one of the most influential families."

"I guess it makes some sense," Harry said and Thor could see him thinking about something. "What should I do about Frost?"

"Ignore her as you will show her that you do not care about her and that you do not think she is worthy of your attention," Loki said as he joined them. "It usually works the best or the other approach would be for you to get a title inside of the Inner Circle, but it is a risk."

"What kind of risk?"

"That you can get killed or seriously injured," Loki said and looked at Thor. "You didn't tell him that this is the biggest gathering of snakes on Midgard? One where you either survive or get eaten?"

"No," Thor said. "He didn't ask about it, just so you know and he doesn't need that much data on the Club."

Loki nodded and smirked. "He might need it before he goes to Hogwarts as there it might give him a lot of influence and power."

"That's a future, brother," Thor said, looking up at Loki. "And now he returned from Midgard so let him live."

"Fine." Loki smiled and disappeared with a flourish.

Thor nodded content and turned to look at Harry. "Since he is gone can you tell me what exactly had happened on Midgard?"

"Sure," Harry said and started his tale.

o-0-o

Harry smiled as on the next day he walked into the Hall of Heroes, it was a humongous chamber inside of the Citadel, its vaulted ceiling so tall that it made them feel like dwarves in the home of giants. Through the middle of the hall a blood red carpet cut the chamber into two even parts. Its walls were covered in paintings showing the greatest triumphs of Asgard and its allies, each and every one of them painted by the masters of the art and each and every one of them precious, as well as highlighting the power Asgard had. From every column and wall there were hanging hundreds, if not thousands of banners of various commanders and other heroes of Asgard as well as of the Royal Family.

His gaze swept over amber-colored walls and landed on the closest banner, it was showing a black wolf with red eyes on a green shield that was placed on a red field with a golden trim. On his lips appeared a smile as he looked at it, it was one of the most familiar banners to him.

His eyes for a moment darted deeper into the room. Sweeping over hundreds of banners, some of them ancient, while some were relatively new, yet it quickly got back to the banner in front of him.

"That's your banner?" Warren asked, as if he was able to follow Harry's gaze.

"Yup."

"That wolf on it isn't an accident?" Rahne asked.

"No." Harry shook his head. "It was chosen by my grandfather after some suggestion made by his pesky Ravens."

"Pesky Ravens?"

"Huginn and Muninn," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Probably the only pair of Ravens that move wherever they want, however they wish and leave when they want. Not many dare to say them no and most of them changed their mind after some time."

"Why?" Warren asked.

"Nobody knows," Harry said and stopped in front of the column from which was hanging his banner. "But if I had to guess they are more than Ravens, much more than Ravens and they might simply use this form as it is the most effective one for their tasks."

"That is to gather data and intelligence on everything of note?" Roberto asked.

"Yes." Harry looked around and tried to call from the deepest parts of his mind layout of this part of the palace. "From what I know from my grandfather he wants to meet us as soon as possible so I will get us to him and later we will finish the tour."

"You don't like the idea of a meeting with him?" Jean asked.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "It's just that he rarely wants to meet any diplomats so soon, he usually let's them get all nervous and uncomfortable with the tensions that are in the air."

"So maybe he wants to meet us before we are driven insane by the atmosphere?"

"Hopefully that's the case," Harry said and led them through an open courtyard. He smiled when he felt claws digging into the shoulder area of his shirt. He glanced there and saw Hábrók land there.

"There is a bird on your shoulder," Warren said.

"It's an eagle," Danielle said with a smile. "A golden one if I'm correct."

"And you are." Harry smiled. "It's a gift from my godmother from a couple of years ago and I like him."

"You have a weird taste," Warren chuckled.

Harry only laughed at those words and focused on guiding them through the maze of corridors and hallways that would take them to the place where his grandfather usually met with various people. That is if he wanted a more private setting, as some were held in the Throne Room and that meant that there would be no serious business. As no diplomat with at least some knowledge and respect for their position didn't want to talk about anything in front of hundreds of courtiers and spies.

After a while of walking Harry stopped in front of golden doors emblazoned with the Triskelion and took a deep breath, trying to calm down his racing heart that wanted to jump out of his chest.

He took last one breath and nodded at the pair of guards that stood there, guarding them and making sure that the King wouldn't be interrupted when he didn't wish to be. They opened the doors and waited for them to enter the room, after that they closed them.

Harry looked around and saw that excluding them and his grandfather they were completely alone in the room. Sitting down in one of chairs around an oval table he motioned for them to do the same and his gaze focused on his grandfather.

"Grandfather, what is so important that you decided to see us so soon? I would understand that you want to see me alone, but them?" Harry asked, indicating X-Men that were unsure of what would happen.

"So that I know who they are" Odin said with a faint smile. "While according to what my son and your uncle, Prince Loki, was saying they are honorable and good people, I am too old and too experienced to only trust a report. That is why I want to meet them in person and confirm what your uncle has told me."

Harry nodded, it made some sense to him that his grandfather was so cautious, there was so much at stake here that nobody was insane enough to risk a single mistake if there was a possibility that it could have been avoided. He was glad that it would be in an informal setting without courtiers and annoying nobles that would try to interrupt and get something for themselves.

o-0-o

"He seems friendly enough," Rahne said over an hour later as they were eating lunch in one of smaller parlors of the Citadel.

"Yes," Harry said, his mind returning to the meeting. He was a bit surprised by how generous and open his grandfather had been. "He is usually less warm, but I guess that my presence caused him to change his mind and be more friendly than usual. As I said earlier to Bobby, as long as you managed to impress him, we are good."

"Why?" Warren asked. "I know that he is a King of Asgard and the All-Father of the Nine Realms, but I have thought that Asgard's influence wasn't that far reaching on Midgard."

"It wasn't," Harry said with a smile. "But now? My dad is a common sight there, uncle is dropping by from time to time and I spend most of my time on Midgard, it will rattle a lot of things and cause our influence to grow."

"Fair point," Bobby said. "So what exactly does it mean?"

"That if the Institute needs Asgard's help it will come, no matter the cost to Asgard and no matter how wise it is." Harry said and looked at them. "And that means a lot as most things will back off when they will hear that any move against the Institute will be treated as an insult to the All-Father."

"So most enemies will run away before they even get close to the Institute?" Warren asked.

"If they know what Asgard can do, yes," Harry said and sighed. "Which means that a good part of things on Earth will still gladly attack us."

"Which is still good," Bobby said and Harry looked at him. "I mean that you can't have too many allies, especially when they are as powerful as Asgard is."

"There's this approach," Harry said and looked at them. "The fact that he didn't decide that you can not stay here, means that we can do whatever we want."

"And what are you going to do?" Danielle asked.

"Train and have fun," Harry smiled. "As well as maybe learn about what was going on since I left and knowing my grandfather he will throw an official feast to celebrate the fact that I'm here and that it is a time of winter solstice."

"Which was two days ago," Jean said.

"On Earth yes, here nope."

"So when it is here?" Rahne asked.

"Six days after the one on Earth." Harry said and looked out of the window. "It is one of the most important events here, along with summer solstice and equinoxes."

"Times when winter and summer gain or lose power," Danielle said. "Each of them starts a new part of a year, one that will bring creation and new life or death and cold."

"Yes," Harry said as he finished his meal. "You can do whatever you want, nobody will say no to you and they should be mostly friendly. Just stay in or around the Citadel."

"Why?" Warren asked.

"Because the city is a giant maze designed to trap and slow down anybody that doesn't know what he is doing or where he is going."

"Okay, that can be troubling," Bobby said and Harry nodded.

o-0-o

"What's that?" Warren asked as he mindlessly walked with Harry through the Citadel, mostly wandering and seeing more interesting spots.

"What?" Harry asked and followed Warren's gaze towards a liquid ball of weird silver-grey metal that seemed to be floating above a pedestal. "Nobody knows what it is, Dwarves tried to copy it, but they didn't manage to do it, they only know that it is magical and can be very sharp if shaped properly."

"Seems interesting," Warren said as they got closer to it, he extended his hand and placed above it. "It feels warm."

"What do you mean by warm?" Harry asked as he reached out and felt nothing. "For me it looks and feels normal."

"It just feels warm," Warren said and shrugged. "I can't explain what I mean, it's just warm for me."

"O-Okay," Harry said and at the same time towards Warren's hand shot out a tendril of metal that wrapped itself around it and made its way up his arm, towards his wings. "Warren?"

"I'm fine."

"I don't think that it can be described as fine," Harry said as he watched whole ball of metal disappear and wrap itself around Warren's body. "I think that you better see the healers as it doesn't look too friendly to me."

"I'm fine," Warren said, flexing his hand as this thing was making its way up his body, towards his head and wings. The moment it touched his wings, he screamed in pain and dropped onto the ground, writhing in pain.

"You are fine, really?" Harry snorted and lifted Warren from the ground. Harry threw the body over the shoulder and made his way to the Healer's Halls which from this spot were on the other side of the whole complex. Which made trip there with several dozens kilos of thrashing body not an easy task.

"Can you stop moving?" He asked as Warren's wing slammed into his head and left a long cut that reached to the bone. Harry dropped his cousin's body and when he saw blood on the tips of the feathers he touched the back of his head, only to feel weird, wet and warm thing cover his palm. Looking at them he saw red liquid smeared on his skin and dripping between his fingers.

Focusing on magic he sent a trickle of it towards the wound, willing for it to stitch back and heal. It would take a moment, but it was the least of his worries. The biggest one was thrashing on the floor in front of him.

"How am I supposed to drag your moving and trashing form there if you are going to cut me to pieces?" He asked himself. "That could work," he said as an idea appeared in his mind.

Sending raw magic towards Warren he forced it to ensnare the body and with a snap of his fingers Harry lifted it off the ground. As he looked at it, he wondered why the hell he didn't decide to do something as simple and neat as this. It kept those sharp wings away from him and he didn't need to bother with dragging it.

"Huginn, show yourself!" he said as he walked down one of the massive stairwells and felt a small ball of magic somewhere in the air.

"What do you want?" Huginn asked, landing on Harry's shoulder. "He touched that ball, didn't he?"

"Yes," Harry said. "Can you find Jean Grey and get her to the Healer's Halls? She is his girlfriend and if I don't tell her that something happened to her precious boyfriend, she will murder me."

"Host of the Phoenix Force?" Huginn asked, shifting uncomfortably on Harry's shoulder.

"Yeah, the same one. You have issues with her?"

"Might have an argument a while ago."

Harry sighed and glanced at the feathery advisor of his grandfather. "With whom you didn't have an argument in the past? Dad hates you, Jane wanted to murder you a time or two, Atalanta isn't too happy when you are nearby."

"Your grandfather?" Huginn suggested. "Your grandmother?"

"I think that you still get what I want to say," Harry said and looked at Huginn. "Will you do it or should I turn you into a new stuffed animal."

Huginn croaked in indignation and disappeared, making Harry smile.

"It works as well as it used to," he said to himself and focused on dragging Warren's body through the palace.

It took him over fifteen minutes of walking and dragging Warren to get into the Healer's Halls, who only looked curiously at him and later at the thing he was dragging before indicating one of the cots.

"What had happened to him?" Eir asked, looking at Warren. She was one of very few people that scared Harry. While she was just a Healer she was the one that patched him up after training mishaps or more heated duels and he preferred to avoid getting her angry or annoyed at him. She was a tall, graceful person with dark chocolate eyes, fair skin and fair hair and she was wearing green robe of a Healer.

"He touched that weird ball on the tenth floor or so," Harry said. "You know which one and it attached to him."

She nodded and moved her hand surrounded by a soft green glow just above Warren's body. "He seems to be fine, it bonded with his body in a way that will cause unpredictable effects. Some are visible." She indicated Warren's wings that turned color to silver and instead of soft and gentle feathers, now there were sharp and metallic ones. "But most of them are still unseen, it won't kill him or change his mind, but it will change his body."

There was a sound of someone running and when they turned they saw Jean running towards them. "What happened to him?" she asked as she came to stop and looked at Harry. "Your raven didn't mention a thing."

"He touched an artifact," Eir said. "It activated and merged with him, he is alive, but in coma as his body tries to merge with the thing."

"Will he be alright?" Jean asked.

Eir looked at the unmoving form of Warren and later at Jean. "He should be, so far all of his vitals are looking okay and that means a lot. He should wake up in a couple of hours, but how soon I can't predict."

Jean nodded and looked at Eir. "Can you send someone to find me when he wakes up?"

"Of course." Harry could swear that he had seen a small smile on Eir's lips, as if she was able to tell that the two were in love. "Your Highness, do you want to be notified about him waking up?"

"Yes, he is my cousin after all," Harry said and looked at Jean. "Are you staying here or doing something else?"

"Actually I was showing some telekinesis to one of your friends," she said with a smile. "Atalanta has one that is quite potent and can develop into something even scarier than it is now."

He paled as he looked at Jean. "This was a joke?" He finally asked.

"No, she is learning quite fast and already knows a lot."

At those words Harry groaned. "She will be a nightmare to fight and she was already almost impossible one to beat."

"Maybe you also should stop slacking off?" She suggested "And actually train."

"Maybe," he said and looked at her. "Do you know your way well enough not to need a guide?"

"Yes," she said. "You can go and smash some targets."

He nodded and with a smile walked towards the training grounds to train and let loose some of his pent up energy.

o-0-o

Warren groaned and slowly opened his eyes, he looked around and saw that he was laying on some sort of a cot. In a place that looked and felt foreign. "Where am I?" He asked, sitting up and taking a better look around. He could see that the walls were made from the same golden material as everything on Asgard was made and that they were covered in swirling patterns interwoven with runes.

"In the Healer's Halls of Asgard," one of women that were walking around said as she walked to him. "Your Highness has brought you here when you lost your consciousness and the metal connected with your body."

"So what did it do to my body?"

"Your wings are now made from it and from what we learned while you were asleep your body is far stronger than a normal human's would ever be," she said. "There might be some other changes, but we were unable to find any of them."

"Thank you," he said and touched his back and wings. They were cold and hard, not warm and soft as they used to be. They felt as if made out of metal, not an organic tissue. Standing up he walked around as he tried to get used to the feeling of a different wings on his back. He could feel them being different. Not worse nor better, but different and strange. "Where can I find His Highness?" he finally asked.

"On the training grounds behind the Citadel," one of Healers said and he nodded in thanks to her. Walking out of the hall he entered a large swathe of open grounds that created most of the more open and public training grounds.

He fully spread his wings and with a jump to propel himself higher, he took off into the air. He made a circle around the Citadel and took a look at it from above. Finally he could see the true beauty of the building, it's golden surface dotted with hundreds of spires, towers, balconies and terraces as well as concealed weapon emplacements. Spotting the winged form of his cousin on the ground he folded his wings and dived there, wind howling in his ears.

"I see that you are awake and that you have changed," Harry said as his presence was noticed.

"Yes," Warren said as he gracefully landed on the ground. He looked around and saw Harry's wolves laying to the side and watching them. "So what would you say about a duel?"

" Hand to hand or with weapons?" asked Harry. "Hand to hand."

And so they began. Harry avoiding the strikes that could hit him and blocking the ones that he couldn't avoid.

o-0-o

"He is good," Hrolf said as he placed his axe on the ground and looked at Harry who was fighting with Warren.

"You don't say, brother dearest?" Alaric asked, he was the oldest son of Volstagg with a mane of black hair and keen brown eyes that seemed to be a common trait for all of them. "They know how to fight and they do it quite well."

"Though Warren doesn't play as hard as he can," Hrolf said and frowned. "As if he is getting used to the power."

"Watch his wings," Alaric said and Hrolf's eyes widened when from Warren's wings flew feathers that looked like darts. If rumors about the metal were true, they were going to be a problem, even for someone as tough as Harry.

They flew through the air and towards Harry whose eyes widened in a mix of shock and fear. He slapped the ground and barely avoided those feathers that howled above his head, screaming through the air and ready to bring death on ones that were stupid enough to get into their path.

"Okay...," Hrolf said as he watched those darts and saw them impact the hard stone of the wall to the side of the training ground. They slammed into it and instead of falling to the ground, they lodged into the wall. "That was scary and he did it unintentionally."

"Yeah," Alaric said and looked at the wall. "If he masters it, they will be a scary thing to deal with. Almost impossible to stop and can change you into sliced meat."

Hrolf only nodded and looked at Harry.

o-0-o

Harry rose from the ground, looked at the wall peppered with darts, looked at the wide open wings of his older cousin and back at the wall. "Can you explain to me what just happened?" He asked, as he checked if none of them hit his body.

"I don't know," Warren said, wings folding on his back and starting to regrow missing feathers. "It just happened on its own."

"Uh, sure," Harry said as he walked to the wall and tried to pull out of it one of the darts. He gripped it and grunting he slowly pulled it out, it didn't change shape and the tip wasn't bent. "Whatever it is, it's tough and sharp."

"Looks like it," Warren said as he joined Harry and placed hand on his shoulder. "I didn't want to injure you, it just happened."

"I know," Harry said and looked at Warren. "And you didn't injure me, I'm fine. You just need to watch out for how you are moving your wings."

"Easier said than done," Warren said and looked at Harry. "Any idea how I sent those things at you?"

"Not the slightest." Harry looked at the dart and later at Warren. "I think that you might be able to launch some of your feathers as projectiles."

"As well as have other kinds of powers?"

"Looks like it," Sif said as she joined them. "You are visibly stronger as I saw you duel His Highness and while you were far below anything that normal Æsir use, it was above human levels of power."

"Okay," Warren said and looked at Harry. "One more duel?"

"Just don't turn me into a piñata," Harry said with a grin as he walked towards the training grounds. He looked back at Warren and saw him hesitate for a moment, but then follow him.

o-0-o

 **Lemon ahead!**

o-0-o-0-o

"Who am I?" Warren asked. As he sat down on his bed and looked at Jean Grey. He was only wearing silver boxer briefs, revealing the rest of his toned body to her. Faint scars covering his body made him look somewhat wild for her, but in a good way. He was a perfect example of a human male with his curly golden hair and blue eyes. She was glad that he was hers and only hers.

"The same person that you used to be," she said with a smile. She was wearing only her red bra and plain black panties. When it came to her looks, she wasn't lacking in any department, in fact she was one of the most desired girls out of the whole Mutant High. She had long, wavy fiery red hair, green eyes and body toned from hundreds of hours of training. Her large, perfectly round breasts made her even more desirable for ones that were able to take a better look at her. "At least you are the same person for me and our friends."

"Yet I can kill any of you with just a move of my wings."

"You can," she said and looked at him. "But do you really wish to do it?"

"I don't want," Warren said and sighed. "Yet I can do it, even when I don't want to do it."

"Don't worry about it as you will drive yourself mad."

"Did you see what I did whilst training today?" Warren asked. "I almost killed Harry, completely by accident."

Jean rolled her eyes and fought the urge to chuckle. It reminded her of Warren soon after his arrival at the Institute, he was broody, angry and arrogant. Now it looked as if it was returning on a bigger scale than it did in the past. "You received new wings that you don't know how to use and you are worried because you did something not knowing their limitations and capabilities?"

"Yes," Warren said and made her sigh.

"You are a sweet person and I love you, but you are also incredibly worried about everything," she said as she looked at him and into his haunted blue eyes. "You did nothing wrong, it was an accident and nothing will change that. Stop brooding about the past and focus on the things to come."

He looked at her, not sure where she was going with it. "You don't understand it, he is my only relative that I can tolerate and I don't want to kill him and the last time it got awfully close to me killing him."

"Did you kill him?"

"No."

"Then stop being angry about yourself," she said. "You will drive yourself into insanity by doing so and I'm in no mood to pull you out of it."

Warren was silent for a moment, but he finally nodded and looked at her. "Than what am I supposed to do?"

"Don't get so broody and focus more on the future," she said and looked out of the window, she could see eight moons of Asgard climb up the sky. "You have everything you need or want to so use it and focus on the future."

"It's just that I don't want to harm anybody with those wings," he said and she could see conflict of emotions in his eyes. "You didn't see their reaction when I used those winds for the first time. They were scared, afraid of me and the power I have."

"Because it is something new and foreign to them," she said and reached out to touch Warren's wings, who didn't even flinch and let her do it. "They are not like any wings they had seen, especially not for a living being." She plucked one feather from them and Warren didn't even wince. "Did you feel it?"

"Not really," he said, shaking his head. "They are less sensible than they were and feathers are different."

"They look like darts or knives," she said as she held in her hand and she could see light shine on the surface of the feather, making it look like a pure silver. "Not to mention that they look magical, not in a bad way. So don't think too much about what they can be, but about who you are."

"I will try," Warren said. "It's just I thought that I had some resemblance of normalcy and was settled into some usual life."

"New isn't always bad," Jean said and looked at Warren. "Don't think too much about it. It's late and you are tired, which means that you aren't thinking clearly."

He yawned and nodded. "You are right."

She only smiled and watched him. She was quite surprised that they were actually dating each other, few months ago her feelings about him were unsure. But now she could tell that she loved him and she could tell with her psychic powers that feelings were mutual. "But I don't think it is too late for some fun," she said as she caught his lips with her.

It took him a moment to grasp what she meant, but he finally opened his mouth and allowed her tongue inside while his own explored her mouth. He was glad for an opportunity to forget about the events of the day.

He lightly pushed her and they tumbled onto the bed, as he kissed her, he could feel that his underwear became a couple of sizes too small and really uncomfortable. He could feel her writhe under him, as if she felt him.

"I love you," he whispered between the kisses as his fingers snaked across her torso and towards her back.

"And I love you," she whispered back and moved so that he could unclasp her bra and throw it to the side. He kissed her neck and collarbone and smiled when she moved under him. As if attempting to tell him where he should focus.

"You want it, don't you?" he asked, looking deep into her emerald green eyes. He felt his heart tighten as he waited for her answer. Then, she nodded and he could feel a rush of excitement spread through his body as he realized what would come next. He lowered his head onto the level of her breasts, white, freckled and nipples hard with excitement. As his lips latched onto her nipple his nose entered her smell of exotic incense and freshly fallen rain.

He lightly bit it and her breath hitched as she moaned in pleasure.

"I will take it as a sign of approval," he smiled as he stopped for a moment and looked into her eyes. He could see that she wanted him, desired him, which caused another wave of excitement pass across his body.

"Yes," she said and moaned as his tongue darted across her breasts, leaving in its wake trails of saliva. Finally he smiled and sat up on her. He looked at her toned and tanned belly, muscles visible under her perfect skin, untainted by imperfections. Then his gaze lowered to her crotch. He could see wetness turn her panties into a soaked piece of material. And more importantly into a translucent one, allowing him to see through them. As he looked at her most sacred and precious part of the body, he smiled and lightly licked his lips from excitement.

"Someone is excited," he chuckled as his fingers touched her panties, for the first time being able to feel how excited she truly was. He could hear her moan and deciding to stop torturing her, his fingers hooked up around the elastic and pulled them down. Revealing her nether region in all of its glory, other than a small bush of neatly trimmed hair there was nothing around her slit.

"As if you weren't," she said, looking at his underwear and following her gaze he smiled. His erection was standing up, straining the material of his boxers.

"Point taken," he said as she pulled them down. He sucked his breath as a rush of cold air smashed into his hardness. The cold of the air crashing against the heat of his body. He moved so that his head was above her pubic area and lowered it slowly. He sniffed the air and his tongue shot out from between his lips. The moment he touched her heated clit, he felt her shudder under him.

"Warren," she moaned as his tongue swept across her clit and into it, exploring every space he could reach, making her shudder and writhe under him. As he looked at her green eyes he could see that she enjoyed herself. They were glazed with lust and pleasure, pleasure that he didn't have an opportunity to see for far too long. Recently they didn't have that much freedom at the Institute to make love to each other.

"I love you," he whispered and kissed her snatch. It was enough to make her whole back arch, moan loudly and for fluids to gush out of her snatch. He lapped at them with gusto and when he drunk all of them, he looked up and licked his lips from the rest of them.

She laid there, breathing heavily, a happy smile on her face. "It was awesome," she said finally catching her breath.

"Thank you," he smiled as he laid to her side and kissed her. "I love you, Jean."

"And I love you," she whispered, her hand wrapping around his hardness and sending jolts of electricity up and down his body. "And I want you."

He smiled, reached out to his bedside table, he grabbed one of condoms that were laying there, tore its container and rolled it over his throbbing erection. He waited for it for too long, far too long.

"Always prepared?" Jean asked, some amusement in her voice.

"For you, always." He smiled and crawled onto the bed. He almost lost control of himself when she wrapped her hand around his hardness and guided it to her heated snatch and into it. As he slipped into her, he groaned and his groan turned into a moan of pleasure as her legs wrapped around his back and pushed him deeper than he dared to. He looked at her and after a nod he started to move inside of her.

His first few moves were a bit reluctant as he tried to synchronize them with her own moves. However the moment they found their pace they picked up speed, making them groan and moan in pleasure.

"I love you," she said, between one hitched breath and another. Sound of their bodies slapping against each other filled the room. Occasionally interrupted by their moans of pleasure and lust for each other.

"And I love you," Warren said before groaning, arching his back and hitting his release. He could feel tensions leave his body as his heartbeat reached its peak and then started to slow down. He could feel his whole body shake as stream, after stream of cum flowed into the condom. He laid there for a moment, trying to extend the moment for as long as possible. But finally he was forced to remove himself from her. He tried to extend even that,he slowly slipped out of her, removed the condom and threw it into a trash can that was nearby.

"It was fantastic," she said as they snuggled against each other, covered by a thick woolen blanket. He closed his eyes and with a happy expression on his face they drifted off into sleep

o-0-o-0-o

 **End of lemon!**

o-0-o

Danielle twirled daggers in her hands and looked expectantly at Sif, who was supposed to show her how to use them. As she looked at the Goddess of War she needed to admit that Harry was right in saying that the moment his grandfather accepted them on Asgard all kinds of doors would open for them.

Sif cleared her throat and Danielle focused on her. "This is a weapon designed for you, it relies on speed, agility and being nimble. Three things that you have spades of, so you should be able to learn how to use it effectively in a couple of weeks of training," Sif said and she nodded. "From what I know we have around a week and a half to two weeks, which for the basics will be enough."

"I understand," Danielle said and looked at Sif. "I normally use my psychic powers and a bow, but when at shorter range I need to switch to hand to hand which is often-"

"Insufficient," Sif finished, making Danielle look at her. "I learnt and mastered most of the weapons that we use and most of martial arts that we know. I know too well that a marksman without any decent close combat weapon is dead when the enemy gets close to him.

"Those daggers that you are holding were designed with marksmen in mind, they can be also used for throwing," Sif said as her hand shot forward and she released a single knife, similar to one that Danielle was holding and it slammed into a target. The move was so fast and fluid that Danielle almost missed the moment when Sif did it. "But that is a thing on which we will work at a later date, now the basics."

"Okay," Danielle nodded as she walked to Sif, hoping that she wouldn't embarrass herself too much.

o-0-o

Illyana smiled as she summoned a ball of light to her palm, she didn't believe when Harry told her at the Institute that she had some magical potential. How she could see it with her own eyes and she smiled at him. "How did you know that I have magic?" she asked him.

"When you are a sorcerer you tend to spread your senses over a large area to pick up things that can be a danger to you or are users of magic," Harry said. "So when I did it once you arrived at the Institute I almost immediately picked up your magic, but until now I wasn't sure."

"Why?" She asked, her eyebrows forming a line on her forehead.

"Because there is a lot of creatures and human beings that have the same signature as a sorcerer unaware of their power," he said and summoned two balls of energy, one of them substantially larger than the other. "If someone isn't aware of how powerful he is, his magic will be like this smaller ball, if he is aware of it, it will be much larger."

"And what does it mean?"

"That a lot of creatures and beings will try to possess, control or kill you," Loki said as he appeared in the room. "There is a reason why most of magical families have houses that look more like a fortress, not a house. So that their children even if they know about magic from the beginning of their lives can develop in safe and friendly environment. My nephew had at least enough intelligence to show you magic when you got here."

"Why, if I may know, Your Highness?"

"You can and please drop those titles," Loki said as he sat down on the floor. "Asgard has one of the strongest wards, that is magical protection, in the known universe and nothing, I mean nothing will get through them. And even if it gets, it will be weak and easy to banish."

"And there is Heimdall," Harry said from his place as he tried to avoid Loki's glare.

"There is that," Loki nodded and Illyana could feel his eyes focus on her. "You have power that needs to be developed and it is too powerful for me to teach you from time to time as I'm teaching my nephew. You need to be taught in a continuous way, without any breaks and interruptions. Which leaves three options, but if I was honest, I would only name two of them as ones that you will profit from."

"What are they?" She asked as she glanced at Harry could see his eyes widen as if he guessed to what his uncle was referring.

"Hogwarts in the UK on Midgard, I could without any issue get you accepted there," Loki said and winced. "But if I was being honest, I'ld say, that it was a good school, a long time ago and while they are still good, they don't have a good approach for people from foreign countries and I don't trust its Headmaster. Which leaves two options apprenticeship under Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme of Midgard, I trust him and I know that he can teach you magic and how to use it. However there is also an option on Asgard, one that I think you can enjoy more."

"What is it?"

"Academy of Magic on Asgard," Harry said. "Rahne asked me about them when we were walking from the Observatory to the city. Do you remember those floating buildings?"

"They are hard not to remember," she said. "They look kind of cool."

"That was the Academy," Loki said. "They will teach you magic as well as you will learn how to fight in more normal way. So if I was being honest it is the best opportunity for you to learn magic and learn it in a way that will make a lot of people on Midgard jealous."

"Why?"

"Because it is on Asgard," Harry said, trying not to chuckle. "And because they don't have too many prejudices when it comes to magic, so they will teach you about all of the branches of magic."

"While on Midgard they have issues with using certain branches of it," Loki added. "So what do you say about this offer?"

"I think that my answer is yes," she said after a moment. _I don't have too many options to choose from and even if brat disagrees, Harry and Loki are right. I need to learn how to control my magic and power. Right now I'm useless at the Institute as everybody else has some power and control over it. While I have none and it is annoying,_ she thought and looked at them. "The answer is yes, my brother will not be happy, but I want to learn how to use magic."

"Good," Loki said with a smile. "Talk with him and I can show you the Academy, also I don't think that Harry will mind a trip over there?"

"No," Harry said and grinned at her. "You did a good choice with this one."

"Thank you." She smiled. "Any idea where my brother is?"

"I would guess Ulf challenged him to another duel," Harry said with a weird grin on his face.

o-0-o

Convincing her brother to see reason proved a harder task than she thought it would be.

"No," Piotr said. "As much as I like Asgard I don't want you stay here for most of the year while I am on Earth."

"No?" She repeated softly, anger burning inside of her. "You won't let me study magic because of what?"

"Because I don't want to lose you," he said and her eyes narrowed. "Our parents are dead, our brother is missing and you are my last living relative."

"I will be fine here, also you won't lose me and I want to learn magic. We both saw what Harry can do with it when he wants to."

She could see him be silent for a moment and then he nodded. "I don't like it, but I know that you would do it even if I said no," he said. "Don't get killed so that I won't feel guilty for letting you stay here."

"Thank you, _brat,_ " she said, launching at him and hugging him. "I won't get killed, that much I can promise to you."

"Good," he said with a smile. "So you will be a sorceress?"

"Given proper training and education, she will," Loki said as he joined them, they looked in the direction of Loki and she could see Harry walking to the side of the God of Mischief and Magic. "So shall we see the Academy? Your brother can also see it as it isn't a secret," Loki said and on his face appeared a small smile. "Also I think that it will put him at ease."

"How are we getting there? It is a bit far away from here," Piotr asked and she looked at Loki.

"Magic," Loki said and smiled. He snapped his fingers and in the air appeared a rectangle of black, opaque space. "It leads into the Academy."

Illyana glanced at her brother who nodded and walked through the portal, she waited for him to step through and she followed him. She stepped out of it in a large circular chamber with a massive tree in the middle of it, with a large pool formed around its roots, she could feel powerful magic spread from the tree.

"It's beautiful," she said, looking around. The room was massive with floor made out of different kinds of wood, with circular mosaics placed around the massive tree that was in the middle of the room. Walls were made out of colorful stone and with massive stained glass windows. Between windows were placed massive golden sculptures of some beings, all of them looking ancient and wise. She looked up and she couldn't actually see the ceiling, she only saw nine arches of gold with nothing between them. Her gaze slipped back onto the ground level and she took a better look at the tree she spotted a pair of Æsir standing in front of it with staffs in their hands. They were wearing loose brown robes with wide red trim and tied with a wide golden sash to which was attached a scabbard of a knife. One of them was a girl in her teens with blonde hair and sapphire blue eyes, while the other one was a boy in his teens with black hair and golden eyes. But the thing that got her attention were his ears, they weren't round, instead they were slightly pointed.

"That's Yggdrasil, or to be proper, one of its saplings," Loki said as he joined them. "Those two." He indicated two that stood in front of the tree. "Are honor guard, students rotate and are standing guard all the time."

She nodded and looked more keenly at one with pointed ears, she saw his skin have a subtle glow to it. "Who is he?" she asked. "He doesn't look like most of people I had seen here."

"He is from Alfheim, isn't he?" Harry asked. "Home of the elves and one of the most powerful magic users."

"Indeed," Loki said. "Though their magic is mostly focused on healing and illusions, typically battle mages are a rarity amongst them, so if he managed to get here."

"He is very good, but most likely a lazy slowpoke," Illyana said and they looked at her. "What? I just most likely stated the obvious truth."

"Your tongue will get you into so much trouble here," Harry said as he tried not to chuckle. "But anyways, uncle, can we stop standing here?"

"Yes," Loki said as they slowly walk through the hall and towards the tree. "Student's quarters are in different part of it," he said, looking at her. "Here are mainly administrative and ceremonial chambers, as well as some of the classrooms and training grounds." He knocked at the large, golden doors and they opened without a single noise. Revealing another long and tall hallway, she looked expectantly at Loki, curious about what was there. "Administrative part of the Academy," he said with a shrug.

"Humans are accepted here as exceptions and only when they are exceptionally powerful so a lot of paperwork needs to be done," he said after a moment. "From what I remember in the last thousand years there were three hundred wizards and witches of pure human origin, there was more of them with blood of Asgard in their veins." He looked at her. "You will be treated here as a ward of the royal family, as I said, humans are a rarity."

"What does it mean?" Piotr asked.

"That for all intends and purposes she will be treated as if she were under protection of my father," Loki said. "Which means that anything you will need will be provided to you and most of people will know that doing anything untoward towards you is going to end badly for them. Badly as in suicidal kind of badly."

"Why?"

"Because whatever can be said about my father, he treats agreements and treaties as sacred things. As well as he does not ignore any of his responsibilities," Loki said with a weird smirk on his face. "And unless someone is utterly and completely foolish, he will back off well before incurring wrath of him."

She nodded and looked around, she could see that the decor changed. Instead of loud, gold decor that around the tree, here it was decorated with more taste. Walls were decorated with banners and tapestries. The thing that got her attention was the roof, it was translucent and she could see the sky above it.

"Here we are," Loki said as they got to the doors at the end of the corridor. He pushed doors open and they stepped into the room after him. She looked around she saw a massive room decorated in the same style as most of rooms she had seen on Asgard, behind a massive desk that was placed in the middle sat an Æsir with a completely bald head and braided silver bear. He was wearing red robe covered in rich embroidery and around him was a feeling of airy confidence.

"That's Bragi, God of Poetry and Magic," Harry whispered and she nodded. "Lord Commandant of the Academy and one of the most powerful sorcerers."

Bragi seemed to be focused on something that he was reading, but the moment they entered he looked up and his eyes widened. "Your Highness," he said. "What do you need from the Academy?"

"She is a sorceress of unparalleled power and potential," Loki said as he placed his hand on Illyana shoulder. "She needs to study here as schools of magic on Midgard are lacking knowledge and experience, how to train people with the same amount of power as she has. So it would be detrimental to her development if she was placed there, instead I offered her training here and she has agreed, so would it be a possibility?"

Æsir looked at her and she could see his brown eyes focus on her for a moment than he nodded. "Indeed, she needs the training we can provide her with. I'm guessing that she doesn't have any knowledge of runes or magic whatsoever," he said and looked at Loki. "She will be a ward of your father?"

"Indeed." Loki smiled. "So I think that the usual paperwork can be done and will be done."

"Perfect," Bragi said and looked at her. As she looked at him she saw that he was merely curious about her and who she was. "I would like to officially greet you to the Asgard Academy of Battle Magic and Sorcery."

"Thank you," she said with a smile as she glanced at Loki, who only nodded and smiled. "It will be an honor to study here."

"Your Highness learned a couple of things here," Bragi said as he indicated Harry. "So he can tell you some things about how it looks and probably give you a tour of it. Prince Loki, can you make sure that she makes her way here by noon tomorrow"

"Of course," Loki said. "For today that will be all."

"What now?" she asked.

"Do whatever you wish, paperwork needs to be pushed through and done," he said and looked at Harry. "Giving her a tour wouldn't be a bad idea."

"Can you send the rest of the X-Men to the lobby?" Harry asked. "So I can show it to all of them?"

"Why not," Loki said as they walked to the hall with a sapling of Yggdrasil. Loki waived his hand and her eyes widened in a mix of shock and surprise when she saw the rest of their group appear in the room. She was getting used to magic, but this was a new thing.

o-0-o

 **A/N –** _Academies of magic on Asgard fall under the control of their military which causes a lot of things, different titles and names for positions, focus equally placed on normal ways of fighting and magical ones, as well as topics strictly about warfare, stricter discipline and much tighter control when it comes to quality of education. Also this honor guard comes straight from military, more of such things will be revealed in coming chapters._

 _Royal ward is a term generally used for description of people under protection of ruling monarch and it means that any attack against them can be treated by monarch as an attack aimed at him. Which means that basically when they are attacked one that did it will pay, also he covers any expenses they have, but other than that they are treated the same way as everybody else. For Illyana it basically means that nobody will be eager to do something untoward towards her or to pick fights with her, however she still can be punished as harshly as everybody else. And Hogwarts ways of punishment will look kind of soft and weak compared to ones here._

 **Reviews:**

 _naruto_ – is there any point in it? Without it he would look like a copy of his uncle which normally would be ignored or mostly ignored, but not on Asgard where legality of children is extremely important and even rumors can be bad. Also this particular shape doesn't have the worst meaning out of all runes, it is a sign of sun, which implies growth, hope and peace.

 _Iptfog_ – I try to improve my grammar and compared to my earlier works this is really good, also this particular chapter should be even better. Mysteries aren't bad and soon there will be more of them.

 _TimothyB_ – I think that you will be happy with the amount of romance in this chapter.

 _*I am a human, I consider nothing human alien to me._


	21. The calm before the storm

**A/N – This is official end of peaceful part of the story, or more properly this arc. Next couple of them will be bloody and dangerous, some players will discover that rules of the game were changed. Read and review!**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

 **o-0-o**

Harry tried not to chuckle when he saw a look of shock and surprise on the faces of those that were brought into the room by Loki.

"Where are we and how did we end up here?" Kitty asked

"My uncle sent you here," he said and paused to look around and let them digest the news. "And we are in the Academy Sorcery and Battle Magic on Asgard, the main facility where mages, wizards and sorcerers can train when on Asgard."

"And why are we here?" Warren asked, as Harry looked at him, he could tell that Warren was less broody than he was right after receiving his wings.

"So that you can see something that in the opinion of many looks even better than the Citadel," Harry said with a small smile. "Also a certain someone needs to learn its layout, sooner rather than later."

It was Jean who broke the silence. "It is Illyana, isn't it?"

"Yes, she needs to learn sorcery and my uncle suggested this place," Harry said. "So I thought that a small tour of the whole thing wouldn't be a bad idea for you,as well."

"It certainly wouldn't." Bobby said with a smile. "So where do we start?"

"Well, that's a tough question," Harry said and smiled. "The training grounds look kind of interesting and scary, so we might start from them."

"Kind of scary?" Illyana asked, her eyebrows arched.

"You will see," Harry said as he ignored the pair of sentries standing guard in front of the tree and lead them out of the hall and through a wide stairwell that led upwards. When they left it above their heads was brightly shining the sun and they could see a clear sky without a single speck of cloud.

Harry tried not to laugh when he saw the expression of his friends as they looked at the training grounds that were in front of them. They consisted of pieces of terrain and platforms made from stone and metal that were floating in the air, as if they were laughing at the laws of physics that should make them fall onto the ground.

"That is a thing that I didn't expect to see," Warren said. "How do you get onto them?"

"Magic," Harry said and smirked. "As my uncle said, it's a good motivation to learn teleportation and flight spells, or at least learn them so good that they won't fail you."

"You will do it or you will end up falling to the ground where you end as a red paste on the rocks?"

"There are spells that will slow you down and grab you before you smash into anything," Harry said and shrugged. "But it is still an embarrassing experience."

"I can see that," Kitty said. "So what do you train here?"

"Anything that is too dangerous to do in a closed space. Elemental magic, battle magic and major duels as during them there is so much energy released that it can get dangerous."

"Sounds cool," Illyana said and Harry chuckled.

"It will take some time before you are allowed here," Harry said and she slumped. "Though other training grounds are also nice looking and you won't mind them."

"How do you know it?"

"I trained here a couple of times," he said and smiled. "It's one of the few places that I like and enjoy on Asgard."

"So where next?"

"The Amphitheater and other more official chambers," Harry said as he turned back to the staircase. Each time he walked up and down it he was impressed by the masonry of it and attention to details paid by the ones that had carved it. They seemed as if they were creations of nature, not of an artist.

"Why do they wear black robes?" Kitty asked as a pair of students passed by them and nodded to him, their closed right fists touching their hearts. "Also what was that sign?"

"Because it is a color that is the most neutral one and nobody is upset that one realm is favored," he said and added "It is a normal salute made to their superiors."

"And the color of their trim and sash?"

"The trim represents speciality," Harry said and waited for her to nod. "Red means fire, blue water, brown earth, white wind, yellow time-space and shimmering green illusions and healing. While the sash shows the level of mastery, beginners have black, after your first trial you will get silver, after it blue and the final one for a student is a golden one. Ones that finished their education can use red with their normal clothes and a pendant with a triskelion placed inside of an eye. Oh, and staff has red robes, while senior members of it with wide golden trim."

"What about their staffs?" Illyana asked. "You and your uncle don't use any of them."

"I use one," he said. "It's just that I don't use it at all times and my sword is also a focus for magic. While my uncle uses his scepter to do the same thing, the staff is just a thing that everybody can use without much training."

"So will I be given a staff?"

"Yes, as well as few other things, but that's a secret that you need to learn on your own." He opened the massive doors leading into the amphitheatre. It was a massive domed chamber with hundreds, if not thousands of seats rising in a circular manner from the middle of it. It's walls were covered in various semi-precious stones that formed mosaics telling the story of Asgard and the ceiling was covered by a massive painting showing a triskelion of the house of Odin. While the floor of it was covered in lapis lazuli with veins of gold flickering across it.

"It looks good," Warren said. "I'm used to wealth and all, but this is not that showing off, it's more tasteful."

"Thank you," Harry said with a smile. "The Ctadel was designed with showing off in mind, here it is more tasteful as there is no need to show off."

"Is all the school this nice looking?" Illyana asked.

"Yes," Harry said with a grin. "Since we don't have a lot of good things to do I might show you it more in depth."

o-0-o

"So in a weeks time you are back on Midgard?" Hrolf asked as they sat on one of smaller terraces of the Citadel, there was only a few of them. Harald, Ulf, Atalanta and him.

"Yes," Harry said with a wince. "I wish that I could stay here for longer or invite you there, but it is getting too dangerous for you there and dad is firm on the fact that I need to go there."

"Too dangerous?" Hrolf arched an eyebrow and Harry looked at him.

"Assassins and more open attempts to take me out or at least cause a lot of pain to me," Harry said and sighed. "There are things there that will kill just to kill, not because they want or need to kill."

"Which seems primitive," Ulf said. "I mean, even we have some resemblance of a reason when killing someone."

"Yes, as much as I like humans, some of them are beasts that should be put down."

"Well, some of them might be sooner than you think," Hrolf said and everybody looked at him. "My father was asked by Hrimhari about joining him for some hunts to Midgard, hunts for criminals that are an issue for His Majesty's plans."

"That will make life on Midgard an interesting one," Harry said with a wicked smile. "Not that it isn't interesting, it will just get more interesting and certainly more loud."

"Why?" Atalanta asked.

"Because Hrimhari is a person used when you want to get someone eliminated and be sure that he won't come back," Hrolf said. "Especially if he comes with his Rangers and most likely they will be also deployed."

"Ouch," Harry said with a wince. "I forgot about his Rangers, then it will be really nice to watch from a safe distance."

"Anyways, can't you convince your father to allow you to take us on Midgard?" Hrolf asked, changing the topic.

"No," Harry said, shaking his head. "I have tried and even my mother was as stubborn as he was and I don't think that grandfather will have a different opinion on this one."

"No, knowing him he won't have," Ulf said. "Especially when it comes to me or Atalanta, especially her, me to a lesser extent."

"Right," Harry said and rubbed his forehead. "I keep forgetting that she is a ward of my grandfather and he is responsible for her safety. While you are annoying your father so much that he wants to keep you on a short leash."

Ulf pouted at those words. "Be honest, you are not much better."

"But he is a Prince and he has a bigger leeway, while you don't have a lot to say," Atalanta said and Harry smiled.

"Thank you, At."

"No problem," she said and smiled. "I'm just stating the truth that sometimes is a bit harsh, especially for Ulf and his overgrown ego."

"Overgrown ego?" Ulf asked. "It is in perfect shape and of a perfect size."

"Maybe for you," Harry said as he hid his face behind his goblet as he tried not to laugh, loudly. His mouth escaped a short burst of chortle, dulled a bit by the metal of a goblet. "If it was oh so perfect how is it that the fight with Piotr shook you so badly?"

Ulf's cheeks became flushed with embarrassment. "Because he surprised me, that's all that he did."

"And broke half of your ribs in the process," Hrolf said. "If you weren't so arrogant you might have come out of it unharmed."

Ulf's eyes flashed with anger and he reached over the table to grab the hem of Hrolf's shirt. "You wouldn't dare to suggest that a mere mortal is better than me?"

"Yes, I would suggest so," Hrolf said, his voice flat and even, not showing any interest in Ulf's hand keeping his shirt. Harry gulped slightly as he heard this voice, it wasn't a bringer of good news, usually it meant brawls and fists crashing into something.

"Calm yourself." Harry said, trying to sound as commanding as he could.

"No," Ulf said and slammed his fist into Hrolf's jaw before older boy had a chance to react and sent him tumbling backwards. "He deserved it and you also deserve it." Harry barely had a chance to dodge the strike that came flying towards his head. He jumped away and landed in a crouch, one hand on a handle of his saxe knife, ready to draw the steel.

"Ulf, calm yourself," he said, eyes hard and all of the usual friendliness gone. "This is your last warning."

"Or what?! You have everything that you need, want or desire, you just need to say it and it will be given to you," Ulf said, his eyes glazed with barely contained fury, he walked forward and Harry tensed. "While I need to work for every single bit of respect and appreciation. I won't inherit any of my father's titles while you will have all of them and more."

"You know that it doesn't matter for me," Harry said and jumped out of a way of a swing of Ulf's safe knife. Harry crashed against a stone pot with flowers, destroying it, pieces of stone embedding in his back and legs. He stood up and watched as Hrolf launched himself at Ulf, using his bigger mass and experience to tackle the son of Ullr onto the ground.

Any of his thoughts that it would end soon vanished like a smoke the moment he saw a flash of steel. "Hrolf, he has a knife!" Harry shouted and could only watch as steel embedded itself in Hrolf's arm who shouted in pain and jumped away from Ulf, blood generously flowing down his back, smears of it covering the floor and shining like a silver thanks to the moon.

"We need to take him two on one," Hrolf said as he tore away a strip of fabric from his shirt and tied it around the wound. "He isn't thinking too clearly and might kill one of us."

"I noticed it," Harry said and braided his hair backwards. He saw Ulf's muscles tense and looked at Hrolf, who nodded. When Ulf jumped into the air they stepped to the sides and allowed their crazed friend to land between them. Harry let Hrolf crash into Ulf, pushing him to the side and used this moment to grab Ulf's hand and tore out of it a knife. He threw it towards Atalanta who grabbed it with ease and the moment he saw her catch it, he focused on Ulf who somehow managed to get out from below Hrolf and slammed into Harry. He bit down a scream as he something painfully crashed into one of his ribs as Ulf landed on him. Harry felt something snap and at the same time his legs coiled, muscles tensing, and shot upwards, crashing into Ulf's stomach and sending him flying into the air.

Ulf landed on the ground with a dull thud and for a moment was dazed as his body finally started to register damage it suffered. Harry was about to see if he was fine when he heard someone, a lot of someone's in heavy boots walking towards them. He glanced towards the corridor that led into the terrace and gulped in fear when he saw a dozen or so of guards walk towards them. With a very unhappy commander leading them. They were in trouble, deep trouble, if it was his Wolf Guard they would clean up the mess and nobody would hear, but not them.

Harry looked around the terrace and gulped as he saw how much destruction they caused, a better part of the railing was destroyed, a couple of pots were in shards, the plants growing in them destroyed or at least damaged. The stone table was overturned and two chairs were in pieces scattered over the floor. The stone floor was covered in blood and the soil spilled from those pots, as his gaze landed on his own body and his friends he realized that they didn't look much better with bodies covered in small cuts and scratches as well as with blood smeared over them or in case of Hrolf flowing from a stab in the back of his shoulder.

Harry only sighed as he saw guards enter onto the terrace and look around, trying to understand what had happened here. He wasn't too surprised by the fact that they had troubles to wrap their heads around this mess, it looked as if they fought a battle here.

"Can any of you explain to me what is going on here?" Commander asked.

"Small misunderstanding between friends," Harry said, sheepishly scratching back of his head. "Nothing serious happened here."

Commander laughed and took a good look at them. "It's as probable as a moon crashing into the Citadel in a few minutes. You will explain exactly what happened to your grandfather in the morning," Commander said, weird smile on his lips. Harry gulped at those words, this was getting worse and worse with each moment. "Bind them and drag them to the Healers, make sure that they won't cause you any problems. While you do it, I'm going for a pleasant talk with His Majesty." With those words he turned around and walked out.

"I will go on my own," Harry said, his voice resigned, to a guard that tried to put shackles onto his hands. "Even with my weapons I wouldn't do much to you." Guards looked between each other and nodded.

"Why did you need to be such an asshole?" Hrolf sighed as they walked through the palace. "If you didn't punch me we wouldn't have this questionable pleasure of being dragged by guards."

Ulf didn't say a word and stayed silent.

"Good choice," Harry said as he tried to feel how many of his ribs were yet again in pieces. He knew that some were broken, but he couldn't tell how many and how badly.

"It will be troublesome," Hrolf said and Harry looked at him. "I mean, you have a couple of broken ribs, Ulf has most likely two or so smashed and I have a couple of wounds. If we were just beaten, they wouldn't care, now..."

"I get it," Harry said as they entered into the Healers Halls.

o-0-o

Harry gulped in fear as he looked at the face of his grandfather early in the morning, all three of them had various bandages covering their bodies as Healers decided that outside of broken bones everything could heal on its own and they would be still fine. Only Atalanta wasn't injured, but as she stood alongside them in his grandfather's study she was as scared as they were.

His initial feeling that they were in deep trouble was right, as he looked at his grandfather he didn't see the usual calmness and even some warmth, instead he could only see the face of a King that was really unhappy and was going to show it. Even the fact that Odin would have some words with them, didn't stop Harry's dad from telling Harry how stupid he was in a very direct and simple manner.

"Can any of you explain to me how all of this happened?" Odin asked, his voice even and lacking any emotions. "Half of the terrace is demolished and the healers had reported to me that you were rather severely injured."

"Grandfather, it was simply a small misunderstanding between us," Harry said, as he glanced at Ulf and told him with his eyes to keep his mouth shut. "And we didn't estimate level of strength each of us had and that's how it happened."

"I see." Harry almost flinched at those words as he could tell that his grandfather was not happy and didn't believe this story. "I saw a lot of people behave in a rash way, but this is the biggest show of rashness in the last several centuries that I had seen. Be happy that your fathers convinced me not to send you to some miserable planet on the other side of the galaxy. This is your last warning and the next time you wil do this, you will end up in Nilfheim for the next couple of centuries. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," they chorused and bowed their heads in submission to his commands.

"Good," Odin said. "Now disappear and don't cause troubles or the next couple of centuries in Nilfheim will be a fact."

They almost ran out of Odin's study and stopped when they were almost in front of the training grounds on the other side of the Citadel.

"We were lucky," Harry said as he tried to catch his breath.

"Or not," Ulf said as he saw Sif walking towards them, when Harry looked at her he paled. Her lips resembled a thin line and her eyes looked like two balls of ice. She looked like a storm that was slowly coming and they could do exactly nothing to avoid getting hit by it.

"Yeah," he said and gulped. "She will murder us."

"Slowly and painfully," Hrolf finished with a wince. Harry only nodded and they followed her as she motioned them to go with her.

o-0-o

The rest of the stay on Asgard was less disastrous for Harry and the X-Men, they used it to relax and rest in a friendly atmosphere of the Realm Eternal, away from the worries of the Middle World. Even the weather seemed to be perfect with light breeze and almost no rain, as if it knew that they were about to land in frosty and snowy America.

"Don't get killed," Thor said as he embraced Harry. "You are my only son and I don't want to lose you."

"I don't plan on dying," Harry said with a smile.

"Good." Thor smiled and handed Harry a small pendant with a single rune inscribed on it. Harry took it from his dad and looked at the rune, his eyes easily recognized this sign. It was Fehu – Power, rune usually used by sorcerers or kings. "It will help you with magic and make it stronger than it used to be."

"Which will make it as volatile as my strength," Harry said as he put it on and touched the stone that glowed for a moment. "Which means more training and keeping it in check."

"It's not that you don't have anybody to ask for help," Thor said and Harry looked at him. "Ask your godmother for it or even Stephen, he will be grumpy and unwilling, but he will train you if need be."

Harry's eyes glowed for a moment. "I like this idea, I like it a lot," he said, smiling.

"Good," Thor said. "Let's join your friends, I will also be going to Midgard with you, but my destination is somewhere else."

As they walked into the Observatory Harry could see Illyana hugging Piotr, she would be staying on Asgard and learning how to be a sorceress. Something that was going to help the X-Men a lot in the future as sorcerers tended to be a massive force multiplier.

"Will you write?" Piotr asked looking at Illyana.

"I'll try, brother dearest," she said and looked at Harry when she heard him approach them. "Can I borrow Hábrók to carry messages?"

"I guess that you can," Harry shrugged and looked at Heimdall. "Can he use branches of the Tree to move through the time and space?"

"He can," Heimdall said. "His Majesty allowed him to do it some time ago so he won't have a single issue with finding and reaching Midgard."

"Use him whenever you want," Harry said as he looked at Illyana. "Just please, don't blow up the building as it is a nice one and I would prefer it to remain whole."

"I will try," she said

"Good," he said smiling and looked at Heimdall. "Is everything ready?"

"Yes, Your Highness," Heimdall said as he inserted his sword into the control terminal and energy could be seen flying over the walls of the Observatory. They waited for it to stabilize before jumping into the portal and letting it sent them onto Midgard.

o-0-o

Natasha Romanov was dozing in and out of sleep when she heard characteristic sound of gunfire. It was enough to force her mind to think and work. She sat up on her cot and looked around, trying to see from where the sound was coming.

"It's not a Russian weapon," she said to herself as she tried to learn as much as she could. "Which means that someone is here to free me."

She walked to the doors leading into the cell and looked at them, trying to find any weak points. On her lips appeared a devilish smile when she saw that they weren't reinforced, as if someone wanted her to escape her imprisonment.

Her heel crashed against the wood of the doors and she smirked when it was turned to splinters. She needed to kick them a couple more times to make herself hole big enough to slip through. Stepping out of the cell she looked around.

 _Nobody here, which means that something nasty got their attention,_ she thought, her eyes scanning the corridor. She stalked through it like a cat, easily slipping from one patch of shadows into another. Her steps not making a single noise.

At the intersection she turned right and smiled when after a few meters she found a small armory. _If they didn't change anything with the layout of the armouries, the rest should be the same,_ she thought, grabbing AKS-74U, upgraded and compact version of venerable AK-47. She checked it, stuffed as many magazines into her clothes as she could.

She heard sound of boots on the concrete behind her and without thinking she spun around and aimed at the person walking towards her. When she was sure that it was not a friend she depressed the trigger and watched as three bullets left the barrel and slammed into the unsuspecting sentry. All of them hit him in the chest and killed him on the spot.

She looked around, just to be sure that there were no more enemies coming and slowly stepped over the corpse of the one she just killed. She broke into sprint, trying to get onto the upper levels as fast as she could.

Running up the stairs she heard bursts of gunfire erupt above her, followed by screams and cries of the hit ones. She shot down an enemy that ran out of the side corridor and didn't notice her until it was too late.

 _Who is causing so much mayhem that every sentry and guard is rushing towards him or them,_ she thought as she climbed the stairs, watching out for enemies. _He needs to be scary as otherwise I would have met at least a couple of sentries and so far I met one that was there and one that was rushing upwards._

When the staircase ended she looked around, her eyes scanning the darkness as she tried to find where were the ones storming the prison. She heard gunfire right in front of herself and her eyes widened as she saw red and black body armor lighten up by muzzle flashes of guns.

"Yeah," she said to herself. "He would cause that much mayhem to draw everybody's attention." Shaking her head she walked through the corridor to one that was most likely her savior, though she had a couple of issues with him. But for now they were going to stay in the closet as she wanted to get out of this hellhole.

o-0-o

It was a calm January afternoon and nothing suggested that something terrible would happen later this day, six Rangers were laying in hiding deep in countryside somewhere in the UK, snow was piled high and the sky was cloudless. Generally it looked like a typical January afternoon. Rangers were laying there in matte black armors, white cloaks over them, which made spotting them virtually impossible.

"That's our target," Hrimhari said as he spotted the tall, muscular man with long black hair and a thin mustache appear on the road. "Walden Macnair."

"Kill or kidnap him?" One of Rangers asked.

"Kill," Hrimhari grimly said as he watched as two of his Rangers took aim at Macnair with their rifles and waited for his signal to fire. He nodded and they depressed triggers, streams of hypersonic bullets left the barrels of the two rifles and slammed into Macnair's chest. The bullets tore through the flesh and bones, and exploded, exiting the body.

"Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!" Hrimhari shouted and at the same time the whole group was whisked away, leaving behind weird pattern in snow and a dead body that would be later identified by wizards. He was the very first casualty of a campaign which mastermind was a Prince of Asgard, the most ruthless one out of the whole group.

o-0-o

"It seems that one of our problems was solved by someone else," Amelia Bones said as she looked at Peter Wisdom. It took her a moment to get used to her new job, but now she liked it, especially considering the fact that she was earning more, much more than at the Ministry. "Someone murdered Macnair, I can guess who, but I don't think that it matters."

"No," Wisdom said with a thin smile. "One less Death Eater is one less, I don't really care who kills them as long as he does it."

She was silent for a moment and glanced at the photos that showed the remains of Macnair, she was used to seeing murders, but here was something wrong. "Someone has something else on his mind," she finally said and Wisdom looked at her. "What I mean is how he looks, if it was a murder done by a wizard, he would have clean wounds or none. Here his chest is in pieces and I don't think that we will find all of them. For normal assassination it is too dirty, but not for..."

"For a campaign of terror," he finished. "Whoever it is, wants to make the Ministry afraid of every shadow and force them to make mistakes and rash decisions. Decisions that normally wouldn't have been done and there aren't too many people that dislike the Ministry so much as to resort to such measures."

"Strange would be direct and open or would use proxies that are magical, but he usually plays the game of chess from the shadows and hates the Ministry with passion. Magneto would show that it was him who did it," Amelia said, counting names on her fingers. "Which leaves either Nick Fury or something not from this world."

"Yes." Wisdom winced. "I think that we both know who it is, question is why now and why Macnair."

"We need more," she said. "I will ask my contacts in the Ministry to keep me updated, but I don't think that the next one will be soon."

"So that they get over this one and think that one that did it is gone, while he is just waiting for the right moment to strike."

"Exactly, Voldemort used the very same tactic with deadly effect," she said and winced. "But here it is even better done, it was in the middle of the day and nobody saw who did it."

"Yes."

She nodded and looked at the photo and later at her notepad and started to jot down notes and ideas to check. She had a rough idea who did it, but she needed further proof to confirm that she was right about it, the last thing she wanted was blaming

o-0-o

"Are you sure about it?" Asked a person, they were almost completely hidden by the shadows. The only visible detail about him was a large cross on his chest and black beard with specks of gray and white. He was completely unaware that there was one more pair of eyes watching him from afar.

"Yes, getting this information was costly, but it is true." He was a tall man with substantial muscle and over his body was draped a plain cloak, hiding his identity from curious eyes and protecting him from the weather, cold rain and strong wind. He placed a large case on the ground and opened it.

Hawkeye focused his gaze on the case and sharply inhaled when he recognized what was inside of it. There were bars of some metal there, each and every one of them packed separately and separated from others by a thick layer of foam.

"Thank you, your efforts are of great importance to our cause. The Mutants will feel our wrath with that data. May God show you the light."

"And to you, Reverend," He said before walking towards the car that stood nearby and driving away towards the distance.

Hawkeye smiled when he saw them split, it just made his job a lot easier. "One of them is driving a black SUV towards 16th Street, you should see him easily" he said into his earpiece and after a confirmation from the agents on the other end of it he dropped onto the ground. Without making a single sound he slipped into the church, his eyes for a moment lingered over the decor of it, but quickly focused on his target. He didn't know why Fury wanted this Reverend alive, but an order was an order and he was not going to disobey it.

o-0-o

Fury looked at Loki and wondered if he should shoot the Prince of Asgard or let him explain himself and then shoot him. "Can you explain to me how Macnair ended up dead? My people looked at his remains and said that something not from this world killed him. I know just one person that could order this assassination and I don't like when someone is doing such things to me."

Loki smiled and Fury reached out to a Saiga-12 that was laying on his desk, he was pretty sure that if he emptied full thirty rounds drum loaded with a mix of silver, iron and adamantium right into Loki's face, it would be a problem for him. "My father wants the wizards tempered and wants it done secretly, or at least so that it isn't known that we are behind it."

"You will get me killed one day," Fury said and sighed. "We had agreed that I will know about every major move of your troops or agents on the surface of Earth. I don't mind you helping me with my work, but I want to know what is going on."

Loki was silent for a moment, then he slowly nodded. "Perhaps you are right that I should have told you first, but we were forced to do it quickly. You will know about every next of our moves."

Fury nodded and looked out of the window. "This move on your part was a risky one and will cause us more issues than good."

"They need to feel fear," Loki said. "We want them scattered and unable to work."

Fury focused on the Capitol building and for a moment stayed silent, sorting out his confused thoughts. He finally turned around and pinned Loki with his gaze. "There are some merits to it, but be careful as it might end up badly."

Loki only scoffed. "I played this game when you were killing each other with sticks and swords, so I know how to do it. They won't see me coming until it is too late for them to do anything. Or at least for something dangerous."

"Wizards are a minor pain, so I won't cover your tracks if something goes awry," Fury said. "My main issue is here and I need all of my forces to deal with him."

"I understand, but I won't need your help."

"And don't ask for it," Fury said as he focused on the report that was laying on his desk, its content was worrying to say the least and if only a part of it was true, than they were in deep trouble, very deep. While the words used to write it were formal and nice, he read more between them than was written in them. Someone was a spy somewhere in the agency and he was holding rank high enough to know about every single mission and operation. Which was a huge issue, he himself lost a couple of friends because of leaks and if he had anything to say about it, it was not going to happen again.

o-0-o

 _ **A/N –**_ _Robes, I didn't really have a good idea for colors and that's why I chose those seven. Black looks a lot like black of Hogwarts, but Hogwarts robe have the crest of the school on them and those are plain black. Also they have a completely different cut and are more practical._

 _Rangers, they are Asgard version of SEALs, Rangers and Pararescuemen combined into one unit, you want someone removed, they are ones you will use, you want someone freed from a prison in more discreet manner than blowing up a hole in the wall, they are your choice. You have someone stuck in some forgotten place and he needs to be found and rescued, they are your choice. Usually they are subtle and stay in the shadows, but there are situations when they show in the open._

 _Saiga-12, my favorite Russian shotgun, thirty rounds in military version and unless you are dealing with Hulk, well, it will kill or more properly obliterate the target._

 _Harry and his friends getting relatively light punishment from Odin, brawls are something that is so common that if he was to punish everybody that do it, he would need to punish 90+% of nobility. He was more annoyed at the damage and few other things._

 **Reviews**

 _UnitedOsprey1991_ – those schemes are only the beginning and more of them will be appearing as the time pass, generally every single character plots against someone else.


	22. Murum aries attigit

**A/N – The storm is here, bloody and grim chapter, short one, but the amount of action should be more than enough for you. Few people discover that the rules of the game changed when they weren't paying attention and now it will bite them. As always read and review.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy sat back on his armchair, looked at the fireplace and smiled. This was going so, so good. He didn't need to work, his goals were achieved by other parties and it seemed as if two of them were going to fight each other which was even better for him, he didn't need to use his limited resources in risky endeavors. He only needed to find the proper moment for launching the blow that would finish both of them for good, which considering their hatred for each other wouldn't be hard to find. Sooner or later they were going to fight and bleed.

o-0-o

The air was crisp and he could see well into the distance as he stood on top of the Institute. Harry smiled as he inhaled it and felt how cold it was, he didn't mind it, he even liked it. He looked around and his eyes slipped over snow covered ground and trees. Braiding his hairs backwards he glanced at Storm. "It is too quiet and you train me more and more, these days."

"Storm is coming," she said. "Nobody will admit it, but it is. So we want to be prepared as much as possible."

"You are standing to my right."

"You know about what kind of storm I'm talking about," she said, faint smile on her lips. "So don't play dumb, as your uncle probably taught you, about it and the fact that you can feel it tells more than you think."

"Oh?" He asked, innocent expression on his face.

"Many can't tell that there is this tension in the air."

"I see," he said and looked at her. "More training?"

"Yes," she said, jumping into the air. "If the storm is going to strike, you need to be ready for it."

He grimly nodded as his wings unfolded and propelled him into the air.

o-0-o

Thaddeus Ross thought that he wouldn't need to fall this low to achieve his goals, he looked at Reverend Stryker that was sitting across the table and hid a look of disgust and hatred for the man. "I will give you weapons and ammunition as well as some of my men as long as all of the mutants will be alive, it will be done in secret and nobody will learn about it."

"Of course, I will help our country when it needs help," Stryker said. "May I know why do you want them alive? Wouldn't it be easier to kill them?"

"Because I need them," Ross said. "Tomorrow you will get your weapons and I want you to strike within a week of time."

"Of course," Stryker said, Ross could hear some sort of glee and enjoyment in the voice of his temporary associate. He just hoped that this thing wouldn't completely destroy his career. Fury was protective of his assets and the X-Men were a personal fiefdom of SHIELD and it had fangs. Fangs that could easily destroy anybody that was deemed a threat.

o-0-o

Suggested music – 40:1, The Final Solution by Sabaton or The Twilight of the Thunder God, Guardians of Asgaard by Amon Amarth

o-0-o

Harry was deep asleep when the glass of the window in the room shattered with a loud noise, it was enough to get the attention of the part of his brain that wasn't fully asleep. He was taught to watch out for such things as they usually announced the arrival of a very sloppy assassin or someone of similar profession.

He opened his eyes and looked around the room while his hand grasped the cold, familiar hilt of his saxe knife that was lying nearby. He saw something black appear in the window. At this sight all of his muscles tensed and when it leaped into the room his hand flickered.

The blade flew out of his hand, flickered faintly in the sparse light and slammed into an unsuspecting person, he managed to let out a hoarse cry before he died as blade was embedded deep in his chest.

"What is going on?" Bobby asked as he woke up and looked around. The moment his gaze landed on the body of a dead person in the middle of the room his eyes widened, but he quickly got over it. "We are under attack," he stated.

"Yes," Harry said as he put on a belt with a dozen or so of throwing knives and his gun. He walked to the corpse laying on the floor and pulled out of it his saxe knife that was covered in crimson liquid – blood. "I think that he was not alone," he said as his gaze darted into the darkness where he spotted several human shapes rushing towards the Institute.

"No," Bobby said and looked at Harry. "Those are Purists if I'm not mistaken, a bad, really bad group of mutant haters and it seems that they decided to attack."

Harry only nodded and turned towards the window. When he saw someone's hand grab the frame to lift himself into the room. Harry pulled out one of the smaller throwing knives. When he was sure that the person wasn't a friendly one, his hand flickered and another dagger sailed through the air. This time Harry could see with perfectly clarity as steel blade of his weapon flew through the space and slammed into the jugular of the opponent. With a stream of blood it cut through the flesh and came to a stop in the spine.

The force of the strike was so great that it threw the enemy out of the room, he died before he slammed into the ground, blood pooling around his throat.

"Give me a knife or pistol. We need to help the rest," Bobby said as he placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "My powers are weakened at night and I need to be exposed to moonlight for them to work and well, it won't happen."

"Sure," Harry said as he grabbed his shield and sword, gave Bobby his saxe knife and pistol and they walked out of the room.

o-0-o

Sean Cassidy emitted a loud shriek and the Purist that was crouching behind one of the pillars fell onto the floor, blood pooling out of his ears. Sean grimly smiled, took aim with his pistol and killed him. His gaze darted to the other one that was still hiding and had somehow survived the shriek.

Sean's gaze swept over the corridor as he tried to find any more Purists that made their way into this part of the mansion. He needed a moment of peace and relative calm to inform SHIELD of what was going on and to get them alerted, after that it was a matter of simply holding long enough to give them an opportunity to get here.

He saw a streak of something gray flash through the room and when he turned his eye in its direction he heard a couple of gunshots from the other Purists that was in the room. Sean's eyes widened when he saw Freki shrug them off and clamp down its massive jaws on the neck of its target. It dragged his screaming and shouting form out of the cover and snapped the spine with a brief sharp move of its neck.

"I guess this problem is solved," Sean said, he saw Freki look around, it's muzzle covered in blood. He wasn't going to mind someone helping him with dealing with enemies and more importantly it gave him an opportunity to call for help. He crouched behind the pillar and pulled out his phone.

o-0-o

Wolverine growled as he charged through the corridors of the Institute, his claws fully extended as he looked for his next target. He knew that there were some, but he needed to find them. He jumped over the railing of stairs and landed in the lobby. On his lips appeared a feral smile when he saw a couple of Purists there, just waiting to be killed.

They saw or rather heard him land and on his lips appeared an even bigger smile when they raised their guns and pointed at him. He charged at them and completely ignored bullets that were slamming into his body. He jumped into the air and slammed his claws into the first one's, just below his helmet.

Skin and bone wasn't a challenge for adamantium claws and Wolverine watched with some satisfaction as they passed through the tissue and into the brain of the target, killing the Purist unfortunate enough to get into Wolverine path. He removed them from the wound and looked at the rest of Purists.

"You are a monster," one of them shouted.

"Maybe I am a monster," Wolverine said as he walked towards them. "But I at least have morals that you seem to be lacking." His claws flickered in the dim light and he slammed his fist into the chest of other Purist, that was unable to react. Pulling them out in a shower of gore and blood he turned to look at the rest of Purists.

o-0-o

Harry's eyes narrowed into slits as he saw one of Purists drag a student by her hair. Harry threw to the sides his shield and sword, and charged at the Purists, who didn't even have a chance to react when Harry slammed into him, tackling him and forcing to release the girl.

"Find Sunspot, he is behind me!" Harry shouted at the girl and focused on the Purist that was still dazed and shocked by the thing that happened. Harry used this opportunity and slammed his closed hand into the solar plexus of the Purist, he winced when he heard an unmistakable sound of bones snapping from the force of the strike. He didn't like it, but he knew that it was either him or the Purist.

"They are everywhere," Bobby said, joining him, there was blood and grime smeared over his face. "And there are a lot of them."

"I know," Harry said as he used his shield to deflect a couple of bullets that were fired by someone. His hand with the sword shot forward and he grimly smiled when it found resistance, he turned it in the wound and pulled out. Crimson stains on the blade.

"Let's go." Bobby patted Harry's shoulder bringing him out of his musings as he looked at the blade. "The time for tears and grieving will be later."

"Yes," Harry nodded as he wiped the blade.

o-0-o

"He is insane," Fury said as he stormed into the command center of Triskelion, he was somewhat glad that he decided to stay up late. Agents that were working looked at him, unsure what he meant. "Get every STRIKE team that you can get and send them to Xavier's. Also get our Helicarrier there."

"What is going on?" Alexander Pierce asked, he was a tall person with brown hair and dark, stormy eyes.

"Stryker attacked Xavier's and I think there is more to it," Fury said, not even looking at Pierce. "Banshee is there and he said that it can turn into an all out battle."

"The son of Thor is there?"

"He is," Fury grimly nodded as he too walked through the room. "I will go there and try to take control of this madness, I want you to check who was responsible for providing them with weapons and gear."

"What about the Avengers?"

"They need to stay out of it. The good thing is that Thor, Loki and Stark are on Asgard. Hawkeye is somewhere in the South and Widow is licking her wounds."

Pierce nodded and left him alone. Fury entered the hangar level and as he looked around he could see heavily armed agents rush into Quinjets and helicopters that were preparing for take off. He just hoped that it wouldn't turn into a bloodbath, he knew of what mutants were capable when furious and here they wouldn't have many reasons to hold back.

o-0-o

Warren swiped his wings forward and with some satisfaction watched as dozens of metal darts flew out of them and towards Purists, slamming into them and piercing their bodies. They killed some of them, but those were the lucky ones. The rest of was horribly injured with their chests ripped open or limbs torn apart, they would die over time from blood loss and injuries. There was nothing that modern medicine could do to help them.

He felt some sort of magical, mystical power build behind him and when he glanced there he saw Jean wrapped in a cocoon of blazing orange fire that formed an image of a large bird around her. He gulped as he recognized it, it meant that she summoned the Phoenix and someone would burn.

He saw some stupid Purists empty whole magazines of their weapons into Jean, only for her to catch bullets with her telepathic powers and send them back, coated in flames. He almost felt sorry when he saw them burn, but then they deserved all of it.

"Jean!" he shouted and she looked at him, her eyes golden and full of power out of this world. "We need to join the rest of students, on our own we will get killed!"

"Lead," she said, her voice distorted and full of power, power so terrible that it could burn with just a touch, but was also able to heal.

o-0-o

Fawkes squealed in fear. Dumbledore looked up from a document he was reading and his gaze landed on his familiar and companion.

"What's going on?" He asked, trying to understand why his familiar was behaving so strangely.

"She is here," one of portraits said. "You should have known it."

Dumbledore nodded and stood up. "She is at Xavier's, isn't she?"

"Yes."

He extended his hand and Fawkes nimbly hopped onto it. With his second hand Dumbledore made a swirling move and focusing on the lobby of Xavier's, he was gone out of Hogwarts. He felt the world squeeze him and later it released him in a familiar lobby of Xavier's, yet it was so different than normal. There were corpses and stains of blood on the floor. With Wolverine fighting someone and killing him with ease.

"How did you get here?" Wolverine asked, the moment he spotted Dumbledore's arrival.

"Phoenix told me to get here," Dumbledore said and grimaced. "What is going on?"

"Purists are here, that's what is going on," Wolverine said as he jumped into the air and buried his claws in someone that was coming down the stairs. There was a short cry, but it stopped when Wolverine's claws found their mark and killed.

Dumbledore sighed when he saw Wolverine so carelessly kill someone. For him killing wasn't the best thing to do, nonetheless he pulled out his wand and started to cast spells.

o-0-o

Rahne turned her nails into claws and struck at the throat of the nearest Purist, on her face was a grim expression as she buried them in his throat and easily killed him. She pulled them out, letting the body crash onto the floor and looked around, trying to see if there were any more of them.

"I think that he is the last one," Danielle said, her wicked daggers in hands, their blades stained with blood. "Or at least I can't feel any of them being close."

"Me neither," Rahne said and looked at the end of the corridor, where it split into two more. "Harry, Warren and the rest should be somewhere there."

"And we better join them," Danielle finished.

"Exactly," Rahne said, before she turned into a wolf and looked at Danielle.

o-0-o

"Fury is on his way here," Sean said as he joined Scott and Havok. "He said that he will come with STRIKE teams and everything that he can get."

"Any idea how soon he can get here?" Scott asked as he looked around, trying to spot any Purists that might come towards them.

Sean reloaded his gun before looking at Scott. "It depends, if he has teams that are free and ready, he will be here in thirty or less minutes, if not then up to an hour."

"And you called him ten or so minutes ago," Scott drawled and Sean nodded. "So up to fifty minutes of waiting, twenty we can survive, fifty might be tough," Scott said grimly as a couple of Purists came charging from behind a corner.

o-0-o

"Will they stop coming?" Harry sighed as he threw a pair of knives at the Purists that seemed to have unlimited amounts of bodies to be thrown. The knives slammed into their foreheads, killing them on the spot.

"They should," Piotr said as he slammed his fists into one of the Purists, knocking him back and most likely killing him. Harry could see bones deform under the strike and he knew enough about anatomy, to know that it was a bad thing.

His musings were cut short when he heard an unmistakable sound of gunfire, he dropped to the ground and jammed out of the scabbard another one of his throwing knives. His eyes scanned the room. The moment he spotted the one that had fired, his hand flickered and released the deadly projectile that flew through the air and slammed into the Purist's neck.

"There is a limit to the amount of people that they can have," Bobby said and Harry looked at his Brazilian friend who was covered in various things, mostly blood that wasn't his. "So a couple dozen more minutes of holding them at bay and we are done."

Harry rolled his eyes and looked at his belt with throwing knives, he could see a lot of them missing and only four were remaining there plus his saxe knife, that Bobby had and sword. Which wasn't good, getting up he looked around and focused on hundreds of different noises that filled the room, trying to find where the next fight was.

Harry was about to move when he heard a gunshot, almost immediately followed by a searing pain to his back. Handle of his sword slipped out of his hand, he crashed against the ground and screamed in pain. He was used to pain, but this was different and much stronger than any that he had felt. He could feel energy and blood slowly leave his body, even with his Asgardian physiology there was a limit to how much it could do and it was already working overtime trying to keep him fully focused. He only saw darkness around him as his eyes closed on their own and his breath was almost impossible to detect.

o-0-o

Stryker heard a sound of a helicopter passing above and when he looked at the night's sky his eyes widened in fear. There were dozens of helicopters and Quinjets flying towards the Institute, he could tell that their hulls were pitch black which meant it was SHIELD. Even if he was unsure at first, the fact that they were followed by a giant shadow that could only be a helicarrier quickly verified them. Only one agency was using those things and it's name was SHIELD.

"You said that they wouldn't come," he said, glaring at Thaddeus Ross.

"They weren't supposed to," Ross said, Stryker could tell that he was even more afraid of SHIELD than he was. "We should be alright, the problem will be your people, Fury doesn't have a lot of mercy."

Stryker nodded, kneeled and looked towards the sky. _God Almighty give us strength to beat ones that are anathema to the image of a human you had created_ , he prayed, his lips moving, but not making a single sound.

o-0-o

Fury stood behind the pilots as Quinjets and helicopters carrying STRIKE teams slowed down and prepared for landing in front of the Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters. Looking at the old facade of the building he could see fresh stains and wounds to it, signs of the events that were still happening in and around it.

"Get us as close to the building as you can ." he commanded the pilots, who nodded.

"What about the ones on the ground?" One of them asked.

"Avoid them," Fury said as he walked to the back of a Quinjet and checked his assault rifle. He was going to be leading from the front, his agents were getting tense and going through the familiar and well-trained drill. The moment the Quinjet touched down and the ramp slammed into the ground they spilled onto the grounds surrounding the Institute.

Fury stood in the back and saw flashes of gunfire as his agents were dealing with the Purists that felt brave and wanted fight, but most of them dropped their guns and raised their hands in a gesture of surrender, not that they would receive a lot of mercy for the things they had done.

He slowly walked forward, his eyes scanning the area around him and as he got closer and closer to Xavier's he was truly able to see the amount of damage and casualties. Most of the windows were in pieces and he could see blood smeared over the stone. Parts of the structure had also collapsed onto the ground and would need to be checked to see if beneath the rubble there were any survivors. As he looked at the ground he could see corpses there, some of them students that had tried to fight back, but most of them of Purists that attacked.

Fury kneeled in front of one of the corpses and looked at it. The reason of death was an obvious one, it was a knife embedded in its jugular to the handle. He pulled it out and took a good look at it, he wiped blood from the blade and a small smile appeared on his lips when he recognized Norse runes written on it.

"He is good," he said as he slid the blade into the pocket of his coat. "I knew that Lily was good when it came to throwing things, but he seems to be even better than she was." Fury stood up, dusted off his coat and walked to the doors leading into the Institute. His eyebrows arched when he saw a Purist being thrown out of one of many windows above and slam into the ground. "It seems that defenestration is still a popular way of dealing with ones you don't like." He said as he tried not to smile, there were ways of killing people that were always amusing and never really ceased to be used.

He pushed thr doors and immediately raised his hands into the air to show that he wasn't dangerous or hostile. "Wolverine, it is me. Nicholas James Fury, we fought together in the U.", Fury said as he pushed away claws that were millimeters away from his throat.

"He is speaking the truth," someone said and Wolverine's claws lowered.

"Most of the Purists are already dealt with," Wolverine said. "You just got in time to help with the clean up."

"I will help with making sure that it will stay as a secret," Fury said and looked around, his eye narrowed when he saw Dumbledore in the room. "We need to speak once this is over," he growled, reaching for his pistol. "There are things that you need to confess to me and Loki, things that you were hiding away."

"I also want to learn them," Wolverine said as he pointed his claws at Dumbledore. "We will talk once everything here is done."

"We can explain how much we dislike each other," Fury said, his voice conciliatory. "But now we have a bigger issue to deal with, don't you think?"

"Yes," Wolverine nodded. "If you have any medics send them as we might have a lot of wounded ones."

"I brought them, as well." Fury said, pocketing his gun and walking deeper into the building.

o-0-o

Following the initial wave of helicopters with heavily armed operatives, the next wave that landed around the Institute was carrying far less deadly cargo. They were carrying medics and search and rescue personnel whose task would be to help everybody that was wounded and stabilize them so that they could survive and heal, at least in the mutants' case. In the case of Purists, so that they could be safely dragged into the court.

Future looked grim, but there was a small light of hope. But were mutants capable of securing it and surviving, or not, the future would show.

o-0-o

 **A/N – Purists are for a moment neutered, but they aren't defeated. They got smacked down, but they still have some claws and are willing to work with weird people just to do something against mutants.**

 **Harry might be alive or not, God and I only know it.**

 _STRIKE_ – in the MCU they are muscles of SHIELD, used when you need to kill or capture a dangerous terrorist and so on.

 **Reviews:**

 _randomplotbunny_ – We don't want Harry turning insane and his normal guards will make 99% things living on Earth back off before even the battle starts. Things built up enough to cause an explosion that caused enough havoc to cause Fury a massive headache.

 _Guest_ – he is not weak, it was a combination of shock, surprise and if he went all out he might accidentally kill Ulf. Magic? I won't tell you yet, too big of a spoiler.

* The Ram has Touched the Wall, meaning no quarter or mercy once the assault started.


	23. The storm

**A/N – Fallout of the mess caused by Stryker and Ross, or at least part of it as it will take much more to show all of it. I also wasn't that cruel as to kill Harry, at least not yet, it might happen one day, but not now. Some questions are answered, but even more is made and the main one is what Loki is trying to get.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Warren stood with Kitty in the medical bay of SHIELD Helicarrier and tried to stay out of the way of the doctors that were focused on patching up everybody that took part in the fight the previous night. He had a couple of bandages covering his arms and legs, while she was completely unscathed, which was a lot better than most of the people that ended up in the medical bay.

"Will he be alright?" Kitty asked as she looked at the unmoving form of Harry, his whole torso covered in bandages, some of them slowly soaking with blood. Around his bed a wide circle was made by a life support machine that was mostly what kept him alive.

"He should be," Warren said, his voice warm and soothing. "They removed the bullet and patched as much as they could, the rest is up to him. He is tough and he should survive it, we both saw him survive duel after duel when on Asgard."

"Yet he was getting up after every battle without a single issue," Kitty said.

"I know," Warren quietly said and wrapped one of his wings around her. "I'm just as worried as you are, but we need to hope that he will be okay."

There was some commotion outside of the bay and when they turned their heads in the direction of the noise they saw an unusual thing. Unusual at least for Earth, as on Asgard it would be quite normal. Four people were walking towards the medical bay, the two in the front were clad in heavy golden armor with massive shields and spears in hands, while behind them were two women. One of them was easily recognised by Warren as Frigga, Harry's grandmother, while the second was Atalanta, Harry's cousin and friend. While Frigga looked the same way she looked on Asgard. Atalanta changed her appearance, she was wearing a leather armor with a couple of weapons strapped to it.

"Your Grace," Warren bowed his head when Frigga walked past them and towards Harry, her face not showing a single emotion. Even if she was calm, her guards were telling much more, their hands were gripping their spears and they were shifting uncomfortably. As if they wanted to grab Harry and get to Asgard with him.

"Be at ease," she said, her voice lacking any emotions. With a wave of her hand all of the machinery that surrounded Harry disconnected from his body and moved to stand against the wall. She extended her hands and placed them above his chest. They glowed green and she slowly moved them up and down Harry's body.

"She's trying to find the reason of his state," Atalanta said as she saw confusion on their faces. "Even if they removed the physical object that caused it, there might be more to it."

"Magic?" Warren asked.

"Or poison," Atalanta said with a shrug. "Poisoning is a thing frowned upon, but still used, so it could be a reason for his state."

"How do you know so much about ways to kill someone without being seen?" Kitty asked.

"Her grandmother is Hera," he said. "And from what Harry told me she isn't the most loving one."

"She isn't," Atalanta said with a wince. "She was the one that forced my father to send me to Asgard as a ward of my uncle, far out of her reach."

"I'm sorry," Kitty said

"Don't need to be," Atalanta said and placed her hand on Kitty's shoulder. "I don't mind staying on Asgard."

Kitty nodded and all of them focused back on Frigga who hovered above Harry's body with a thoughtful expression on her face, as if she tried to guess what was the reason for his state. She formed a ball of light between her hands and sent it into Harry's body, making him sharply inhale and arch on the bed.

With a sharp jerk of her hand she pulled out of Harry's body a whisper of black substance that was mixed with blood. She looked at it and than her eyebrows formed a line as she focused on it. Snapping her fingers she ignited it and obliterated.

"He will be fine in a couple of hours or days," Frigga finally said as she moved away from Harry's bed and walked towards them. "Atalanta, stay on Midgard as long as you wish to stay. He might be in shock when he wakes up and you should be able to pull him out of it."

"What shock?" Kitty asked, "I mean no disrespect, Your Grace."

"He killed for the first time during that night, didn't he?" Frigga asked

"Yes," Warren curtly nodded and then his eyes widened. "I forgot that killing for the first time and realizing how easy it is to take someone's else life, can be scary."

"Exactly," Frigga said. "And sometimes a telepath or an empath needs to help someone deal with it, if I had a choice he would be taken to Asgard, but the situation is precarious and bringing my comatose grandson could be... _dangerous_."

"Thank you, Your Grace," Warren said. "He is one of the few living relatives I have and can fully accept."

Frigga nodded and walked out of the room, guards falling into place in front of her, their hulking forms making room for her.

"Now we just need to wait," Atalanta said as she glanced at sleeping form of Harry. "He is too stubborn to die and too rash for his own good, so he will be soon awake."

"That sounds familiar," Kitty sighed as she sat down on one of the chairs and looked at Atalanta. "Since we have some time, we might as well talk."

o-0-o

The atmosphere in Fury's office was tense as Loki sat in a comfortable chair, a pair of massive guards in ornate armors behind him, with their hands on their swords. It was obvious that Asgard was furious and wanted heads.

"How did it happen?" Loki asked, his voice ice cold as he looked at Fury.

"I don't know," Fury said, his voice sour and on his face were visible hundreds of new lines. "I had agents track Stryker, but I never expected him to work with Ross and do something as stupid as this."

Loki summoned a goblet and filled it with mead, took a sip from it, placed it on a nearby table and finally looked at Fury. "So let me get this straight, having all the resources and data you could dream of you were unable to keep an eye on over thousand of extremists and their ties to the military."

"Yes," Fury admitted and Loki knew well that this was more painful for Fury than the fact that he was surprised.

"If not for the facts that you are useful, that I like you and you are really good I would have removed you and found a more suitable leader for this organisation," Loki said. "But as I said, you are too useful so you will stay, however this is the least important thing. Something entirely else is much more important." Loki leaned towards Fury. "How is it possible that my nephew is comatose and how the hell did those morons got their hands on top of the line military equipment?"

"The answer to the first question is something that I would also like to know," Fury said and looked at Loki. "The answer to the second is easy, Thaddeus Ross, I told him that I won't approve of his ways and he decided to ignore a command and do it on his own."

"So a power-hungry idiot that has no moral code and is stupid," Loki smiled nastily. "One that is responsible for how many deaths of children and teens?"

"Twenty," Fury said, if Loki had to guess every single one of those that killed were about to die. Assuming that they were still alive.

"So twenty dead, over two hundred injured, one Prince of Asgard comatose and making my father furious," Loki said and sipped his mead. "There is an easy solution that will satisfy my father's lust for revenge and blood."

"And what is it?"

"Thaddeus Ross," Loki smiled, his smile would make a shark ran away in fear. "Preferably alive as I want to introduce him to some of my toys that are mostly gathering dust."

Fury shuddered at those words. "What if I say no to your humble request?"

"We might destroy some things until we are given him," Loki smiled and picked up the goblet. "Starting with Tokyo, followed by Pekin and other major cities until we have him in our hands."

"Would you kill millions just to have one person?"

"I would and you would be unable to stop me from reaching this goal." Loki sipped his mead and looked at Fury. "So what is your answer to my humble request?"

Fury rubbed his forehead and was silent for a moment. "You can have Ross, as long as nobody on Earth will learn about his fate I won't have a single issue with giving him to you. But first I want to get everything out of him, so I will give him to you in a couple of weeks."

"Perfect," Loki smiled. "Now there is the matter of our common friend from Scotland, one that we need to have words with. I wasn't paying much attention to him and Hogwarts, but I feel it is time for a small revolution inside of it."

Fury sighed and tiredly rubbed his forehead. "Hogwarts and Dumbledore caused me more troubles than everything else from the magical world. So if you manage to get him under control, I won't mind at all."

"I think I can make him behave." Loki smiled. "But I don't think that without a revolution inside of Hogwarts we will stop this annoying trickle of dark wizards and warlocks that want to cause mayhem and chaos."

"What would you suggest?"

"Crash course from reality and showing them that they aren't at the top of food chain. They are an arrogant, brash and narrow-minded group that needs to be reined in. Not to mention that they believe that they are the best," Loki said and tilted his head. "Did I miss something?"

"No, that's the best description of British wizards that I have heard. So how do you plan to deal with them?"

"Show them that there are sorcerers that can beat them without trying," Loki smirked. "And after that tear apart and rebuild Hogwarts."

"You know that they will protest?"

"They can as much as they want, nothing will stop me."

Fury nodded and looked out of the window. "You have my approval to do to them whatever you deem necessary," he said turning back, as Loki looked at him, there was grim determination on his face. "I don't care how you do it, but I want them less arrogant."

"What about the Purists?"

"They will be dealt with and I will make sure that all of their claws are chopped away," Fury said. "Can you take all of the Institute inhabitants to Asgard for the next let's say two months as it will take some time to repair the building and restore the damage caused by the Purists, as well as to conduct an investigation?"

Loki tilted his head for a moment and looked at Fury. "I will say yes, my father seems fond of Harald's friends and he won't do too many things that will cause a temper tantrum from Harald or Thor."

"Perfect," Fury smiled. "It will make my task a lot easier as I will be able to sweep every single room and get every single piece of evidence. Otherwise it would be rather hard as they would trample everything and made it a hard task to isolate pieces of data connected to the events of the night."

"I know," Loki said and looked at the sky, listening to what Heimdall was saying. When Loki's gaze was once again focused on Fury it was colder and more determined than before. "It seems that Dumbledore decided to retreat into Hogwarts and not wait for any more talks that we might want to have with him."

"Bastard," Fury spat. "He knew that I would have words with him and decided to get away from them."

"I will deal with him and I can assure you that it will be nothing pleasant for him," Loki smiled dangerously and the guards behind him shuffled, as if feeling the bad mood of their leader. "How badly do you want the confidence of the wizards crushed?"

"As badly as it can get, my patience for them is running out and the next time they do something stupid I will simply smash Hogwarts and decimate them."

"Then I think that I have something perfect, but it will take a couple of days to prepare and might require the approval of my father, though his patience is also running out."

"Do it," Fury simply said. "I have more than enough of them."

"I will do it." Loki stood up and smoothed out his robe. "I will be back in a couple of days, but now I'm going to talk with Dumbledore." He looked at the sky and beam of Bifrost descended from heavens above, whisking him away to Asgard.

o-0-o

Thunder rumbled above Hogwarts as an extremely powerful storm raged, it seemed to laugh at the petty laws of science and nature that said that in winter a normal storm was an unlikely event. Yet it was there, and with each moment it was getting more and more intense. Winds were slamming into the ancient walls, carrying with themselves pieces of debris – stones, branches of trees and even whole trees.

Suddenly it calmed down and only rain remained, than a beam of light descended from the heavens above and impacted the ground in front of the castle. When the brightness was gone on the ground there were fourteen people standing, thirteen males and a female. They were warriors of Asgard, accompanying Prince Loki.

"Is it here?" Sif asked, she was clad in her golden armor and armed with a spear and a shield in her hands, while a sword was placed in a scabbard attached to her belt.

"Yes," Loki said as his gaze ran over the massive form of the Hogwarts castle, his eyes cold and ruthless, none of his usual mischievousness was visible in them. He was dressed in his armor and a helmet with a pair of massive horns was visible on his head. "This is Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I helped create it, but much has changed since then and I fear we will need to use force."

"Humanity decided to go on their own?" She asked as guards formed around them.

"In a way yes," Loki said with a wince. "But also the current Headmaster of it isn't fond of me and he knows well why I'm coming here."

"So he will try to stop us?"

"Yes," Loki said as he looked at the gate leading onto the grounds belonging to Hogwarts. He struck it with his scepter and it disappeared in an explosion of smoke. "This gate was supposed to stop almost everybody from breaking into the castle."

"They are confident that nobody will attack them," Sif noticed as they entered onto the grounds.

"Yes," Loki said as he looked around. "This should be much harder than it is." He indicated the main part of the castle. "This should be much more heavily protected, I weaved into the stone the same pattern of wards as ones protecting the Academy."

"So where are they now?"

"Probably not activated and not used," he smirked as they came to stop in front of heavy, thick wooden doors reinforced by iron. "Seriously? Are they expecting those doors to survive any more determined attack?"

"I guess not," Sif said as she kicked them open and sent them crashing into the hall. "That was easy," she said as they entered the room.

"Indeed," Loki nodded and sent a ball of light into the air.

o-0-o

It was perfectly silent in the Headmaster's office when something slammed into the doors leading into the chamber. Dumbledore looked up and his gaze landed on the wooden doors of his office, he could see them buckle under the strain as something heavy was slamming into them from outside.

There was a loud snapping noise and the remains of doors flew into the room, spilling sawdust and hundreds of splinters over a large round rug that was placed in the middle of the room. When he glanced at the hole made by whoever was responsible for the damage done, he saw people in horned and winged helmets enter the room. All of them armed and armored for war.

"What do you want?"

"That you will stop acting like the slimy and clever bastard that you aren't," one of them said.

Dumbledore looked in his direction and recognized him as Loki. Yet here he was different, it was not the merry and friendly Loki that Dumbledore had been seeing, this one was cold and ruthless.

"I did nothing of the kind-"

"Be silent, mortal!" Loki snapped, raw magic manifesting in a gold and ice blue halo around his body. "You did it, don't play a fool as Heimdall told me that you apparated out of the Helicarrier and you knew that we would want to have words with you."

"I was needed here as I can't leave the school for too long." Dumbledore said. "Also my presence there wasn't required anymore."

"Wasn't required you say," Loki snorted and motioned for two of the guards carrying something to step forward. They threw it onto the floor and Dumbledore's eyes widened when he saw Snape there, his robes torn and blood covering his face. "Death Eater in your ranks? The one that betrayed my brother's location to his petty lord."

"Severus seeks redemption for his mistakes and I offered him this position in exchange for staying away from Voldemort or any other of his followers."

"Yet he does a bad job of teaching his students how to make potions, poisons and antidotes to them, also he is biased," Loki said as Snape groaned from the pain on the floor, blood leaking from the wounds covering him. "So I see no reason why you keep him, it would be better to put him down."

"He has his uses and is a brilliant potion master."

"Maybe he has, but he will either change his behavior or end up dead as some of his friends, such as Macnair."

"I promise that he will be more impartial and that he will behave fairly towards all students,"

"Good," Loki smiled, twirling his scepter. "I also have an invitation for the whole school to Asgard for a couple of days or weeks. Unfortunately due to some reasons you can travel there in a week's time as we need to make preparations ahead of your arrival."

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, considering the words. The offer was generous, yet he could feel something more to it, yet he shrugged it as something not important. He knew it was too good to ignore. "I will accept it."

"Perfect," Loki smirked. "I will be here when the time is right. Until that I bid you a goodbye." He kicked Snape in the ribs and disappeared out of the room, guards vanishing with him.

Dumbledore looked at the bleeding and moaning Snape and snapped his fingers, sending a message to Poppy to get here. She was the only one that was capable of fixing him. In the meantime he looked at the wall, thinking about the future.

o-0-o

"Hook, line and sinker," Loki said as he appeared in the office of Fury. "He doesn't even know that it is a trap and other arrangements are being made as we speak. He also has a mole in the castle, a mole that he knows about, yet keeps him."

"Who?" Fury asked, diverting his attention from the display on which he was reading something.

"Snape. Severus Snape," Loki sneered. "I don't know why he is still alive, but if Dumbledore wants to have a pet I won't mind as long as both of them behave."

"Snape?" Fury arched an eyebrow. "The same one that betrayed Lily to Voldemort?"

"The same one," Loki winced. "As much as I hate him, I can also see why Dumbledore keeps him on a leash. He is too brilliant to be allowed to roam the world without control."

"And what is the surprise for Hogwarts?"

"Something that should shake them to their very core," Loki smirked. "I spoke with a couple of people on Asgard and they will make sure that it works. Shock and awe works on almost anything and at the Academy they were supposed to have a tournament, so I thought that it might get into the heads of those annoying Hogwarts students."

"And they will tell their parents what they had seen," Fury said, feral smile on his lips. "And they might decide that those tales about Asgard weren't that far from truth or were, but more important is the fact that it will shake them. The question is how badly. But it certainly will."

"Also those children one day will be the new elite of their community and if they are afraid, they will be wary of doing something that can enrage us."

"Among other things," Fury agreed. "But short term goals are really important for me as if any dark lord is about to rise, he will be from their ranks."

"A Dark Lord that is more of a petty criminal than a true warlock," Loki snorted. "Kemmler or Grindelwald were on a completely different level than Voldemort, he looks like a petty thug compared to a murderer."

"Yet they are a danger."

"Minimal compared to other things," Loki said and looked at Fury. "I need to get to Asgard to oversee those preparations and get away from my nephew before he wakes up."

"Why?"

"I have my reasons," Loki shrugged before disappearing in a ball of fire and light.

o-0-o

Harry groaned as he opened his eyes and looked around, he didn't remember getting here and he certainly didn't expect to find Atalanta looking at him with a worried expression on her face.

"You woke up sooner than I thought you would," she said, some unhappiness in her voice. "You would be better if you slept for a couple more hours."

"Where am I?" He asked as he sat up and saw that he was not alone in the room and there were few dozens of cots in it, most of them surrounded by a lot of medical equipment. "The night was a true event?" He asked as memories washed over him and he wanted to vomit when he remembered that he killed. He managed to fight the urge, but was shaking violently as he looked at his hands in disgust.

"You did it," Atalanta said, walked to his bed and sat between his legs. As he looked at her he could see a lot of compassion in her golden eyes. _"Your grandmother asked me to speak with you, I am an empath and I know how to deal with emotions and have control over them. Also, as she said, it will be easier for me to beat some things into your mind that you might otherwise be unable to understand."_

" _What things?"_

" _As she said it, don't be an idiot and don't think about yourself as a monster, you did what was right and what was expected from you to do. Also she said that the fact that you feel guilt is a good thing to feel as you know how easy killing is and you need to watch your power and how you use it. She would have told you the very same things, but you know that she needs to stay on Asgard."_ Harry could feel that Atalanta was sincere and he knew that on this level liying was almost impossible to achieve. _"So don't be a foolish person and stop blaming yourself for something that you were forced to do."_

" _Yet I killed them and I saw them die,"_ Harry winced as his body shook.

" _Harald James who are you?!"_ Harry almost cringed as her voice roared in his mind, he had almost forgotten how scary she could be.

" _A monster and a freak-"_

" _Who?!"_ She asked. _"I don't know those things, I know you as Harald James Thorson, not some monster or freak. So think again who are you?"_

" _Harald James Thorson, Prince of Asgard."_

" _Much better."_ As he looked at her she could see a faint smile on her lips. _"We both train to kill in the future and you don't know how bad it is for an empath when you or someone else that has some resemblance of psychic power does it. So be a good boy and stop blaming yourself for everything bad in this world as it hits every single empath and above like a sledgehammer._

" _I will try,"_ Harry said, shook his head and looked at his hands to see if they were red. _"It's just that it is a scary thing and it is so easy to kill, you don't know how easy."_

" _Yes, I don't know, but it doesn't mean that I can't beat you over your head until you behave,"_ she said and as Harry looked at her, he had troubles believing that she was usually quiet and a bit of a shy girl. Here she didn't have troubles with stomping onto him and beating things into his mind.

" _I will try,"_ he finally said. _"Did you say that I have some psychic powers?"_

" _Very slim ones, the most basic of telepathy, it's a part of the All-Tongue all of us have. Normally you cannot speak with someone else in his mind, but since I'm a telepath I can get into your mind and we can talk here."_

" _Uh, cool, I guess,"_ Harry said and blushed a bit as he felt her probes looking around his mind, especially the parts that he wanted to have been alone and out of her reach. _"Can you leave some parts of my mind alone?"_

" _Sure,"_ she said apologetically. _"I'm still learning telepathy and I can't control what I am seeing. Though some of your thoughts about me are rather interesting."_

Harry's cheeks turned to beet red as he pushed everything deeper into his mind and far out of her reach. _"You didn't see anything, did you?"_

As he looked at her, he could see her cheeks redden a bit. _"I did and they are quite a bit amusing,"_ he could hear some laughter to her thoughts.

" _Can we drop the subject?"_ He asked pleadingly.

" _Yes, sure,"_ she smiled. _"I didn't want to see them and I'm sorry that I did."_

" _Don't mention them to anybody,"_ Harry said and looked at her. _"I have more than enough trouble without this and dad will chew me out for being foolish and the last thing I want is him teasing me."_

" _I will not tell anyone,"_ she said and shook her head. _"Are you okay and can I get out of your mind?"_

" _You can,"_ Harry smiled, though it was a smile lacking mirth and happiness. _"I'm still not okay with the events of the night, but I can see some reason to do those things. Still it feels bad and terrible."_

" _Good, ask Professor X once you have time as I spoke with him and he said that he will help you as much as you would need or want."_

"Thank you," Harry said and looked at his hands. "Can you leave me alone? I will change clothes into something more fitting and meet you."

"Sure." She slid off his bed and walked out, leaving him to his own thoughts and deliberations. He shook his head and reached out for a box that someone was intelligent enough to left by the bed with some clothes for him.

o-0-o

"You look good," Jean said when Harry entered a room where the X-Men had gathered, his gaze ran over them, easily spotting various minor or major bandages covering them. They were sitting on some rather comfortable looking armchairs and sofas. He didn't spot Nightcrawler, Professor, Beast, Havok, Banshee, Storm and Wolverine.

 _They are most likely helping with patching up those that are in a worse shape than I am,_ he thought, _some are also helping Fury with looking through the mansion_. He almost whistled when his gaze landed on Atalanta who discarded her leather armor for something more practical, probably borrowed from Kitty or Jean and she looked good. She looked different, but in a good way, in sweatpants and a hoodie, she didn't look like a person going to war. "Thanks," he said. "She also helped," he added as he joined Atalanta.

"She also mentioned something about us going to Asgard," Warren said. "Not that I mind it as the last time wasn't a bad one."

"Thank you," Harry smiled and shrugged. "About the trip to Asgard I know as much as you do, maybe even less."

There was an explosion of fire and light in the middle of the room from which emerged Hábrók that flew to him and landed on his shoulder. As Harry looked at his eagle he saw a thin scroll attached to its leg. He paled when Hábrók lightly bit his fingers, its beak easily cutting flesh on his hand.

"You know that they know when they need to convey additional feelings?" Atalanta asked, seeing the behavior of his bird. "And by the looks of it someone isn't happy."

"Thank you." Harry said as he removed the scroll and looked at it. His already pale face turned into a snow white when he saw a seal keeping the scroll together. It showed a pair of crowned wolves holding a triskelion.

"Your grandfather's seal," Atalanta said as she took a look at the scroll. "He must be furious because of your behavior or something."

"Yes," Harry said as he broke the wax and slowly unrolled the scroll. He gulped when his eyes landed on the first line of signs. His grandfather usually used Ancient Greek or Norse when he sent messages, this however was written in the very first version of language used in Asgard. He lapsed into it when he wanted to ensure that nothing was lost in translation.

 _Harald James Thorson_

 _While the news of the attack on the school you are attending saddened me and your uncle will offer to its Headmaster an opportunity to stay on Asgard for as long as it is needed. However your behavior is a scandalous one, you shouldn't have charged into the battle head on and you should have called the Wolf Guard. Their sole purpose is to guard you at all times and they would have died if need be, yet you decided not to do it and be a rash and stupid youngling._

 _When you will be back on Asgard we will speak young man about your behavior and common sense, or lack of thereof. I had higher hopes for someone that is supposed to take the throne in the future, be happy that I didn't disinherit you and chose someone else as second in line to the throne._

 _If you think that the amount of freedom you will have will be the same, you are sorely mistaken, Heimdall and my Ravens will be keeping a very keen eye on you and what you are doing._

 _Grandfather_

"Wow," Atalanta whistled as she scanned the letter. "He seems livid, but honestly. I'm not surprised by his reaction."

"Thank you," Harry said as he folded the piece of parchment and looked at her. "But can you leave my letters alone and private?"

"Sorry."

"You got chewed out by your grandfather?" Warren asked, Harry could feel amusement and laughter underneath the question.

Harry glared at his older cousin and sighed. "You won't let me live this down, will you?"

"You are my only baby cousin and I need to annoy you."

Harry rolled his eyes and sighed. "Let's just say that he did it, are you all going to be happy with that?"

"Yes," Warren said. "There is more to this letter than the fact that he chew you out?"

"He said that all of the mutants are invited to stay on Asgard, for as long as we deem it necessary." Harry placed the letter on a table and looked at Hábrók. "Can't you be a good bird and bring some nicer news than this?" He asked, stroking beautiful plumage of the bird. Who only bobbed his head and disappeared.

"Do you have an idea when we should be able to travel to Asgard?"

"Dunno," Harry shrugged as he spread on the sofa and started to pet Freki that appeared to his side. "I guess once everybody is in good enough condition for travel across galaxies and dimensions."

"Dimensions?" Cyclops asked. "You never mentioned a thing about Asgard being placed inside of its own dimension."

"Because it was not always there," Harry said and smiled. "It's shadow is still visible when you look at the night's sky, auroras are a faint reminder of the glory of it. It is in this universe, but not on the same level as Earth and the Milky Way are. Do you remember this weird thing called the Great Attractor something like seventish millions of parsecs away from Earth?"

"Yeah...," Cyclops said. "Are you suggesting that Asgard is hidden there?"

"In a way, yes, but for a moment imagine that this part of the universe is completely flat and forms an even, plain area." Cyclops nodded. "Now imagine adding a third dimension, height, Asgard will be there, as well as other realms that wanted some peace and calm."

"Strange and weird, but it makes sense," Cyclops said. "I don't think that you can prove it to me until we will get there?"

"No." Harry shook his head. "I know that my grandfather's scientists proved it with equations, but when I look at them my brain doesn't want to work."

"Fine," Cyclops said. "I was merely curious and I'm sure they will sate my curiosity."

"They will."

"Good," Cyclops smiled and stood up. "I will see the Professor and tell him that you are awake. Don't cause too much destruction and chaos."

o-0-o

"What is the price of your help?" Professor Xavier asked, looking at Fury. They were in Fury's office,on the Helicarrier. Professor looked out of the window and at the terribly scarred face of the Institute with many windows missing, blood smeared over the walls and some parts of the building collapsed.

"None," Fury smiled. "At least not at the moment. The X-Men are of too much use for me not to protect you and I try to keep deals that I made in the past. One of them was with Magneto and you know it as well as I. Though I wouldn't mind a closer cooperation with you."

"What do you mean by a closer cooperation?" Professor asked, arching his eyebrow.

"Exchange of data, more legal deliveries of weapons and everything X-Men need and I will make sure that the media don't learn about your actions, unless you want them to, though this mess will be an exception as I want Purists gone."

For a moment there was only silence as the Professor looked out of the window, his eyes focused on the form of his family mansion and now school for mutants.

"I guess that I will accept it," the Professor said. "I hate to admit it, but we need your support as we both know that when together we are a much more formidable force than alone."

"The Order of the Phoenix taught us that," Fury smiled, though it quickly became dour. "Also we lost a lot of our friends and comrades during it."

"Yes," Professor said with a wince. "Lily being one of our biggest losses."

"Indeed and I don't want to suffer even more losses, at least the ones that I can avoid." Fury looked at Professor. "Your X-Men are one of those that I would like to avoid."

"So that's why you asked Loki to ask his father if Asgard could play host to us."

"Among other reasons, but this is one of the most important ones." Fury flexed his hand. "Also I want to have an opportunity to find every single piece of evidence that I can get. I want to get the Purists locked down as good as possible and for that I need evidence that will survive in the court."

Professor winced and sighed. "I hoped that it would never turn into this, but I guess that them being thrown into jail is the better out of the two outcomes. I believe that humans always deserve a second chance, but I'm willing to ignore it when it comes to them."

Fury smiled, but it was not a nice smile. "Thank you, it will solve a lot of my troubles and Loki should be getting here in a couple of moments."

"I'm here." When both of them turned, they saw Loki walking towards them. "I would have been here sooner, but there were duties that I needed to attend, as well as some plans that are being put into motion."

"So when can we travel to Asgard?" Professor asked.

"As soon as you would wish to," Loki smiled. "Even with your injured ones as believe me our Healers have seen weirder things than those injuries. After all they are used to my brother or nephew getting into brawls or fights."

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness." Professor bowed his head. "We are grateful for your help."

Loki only rolled his eyes. "Can you not use Your Highness when talking with me? I hear enough of it from various nobles. Also there is little kindness in my actions, I'm a practical man and I don't leave friends alone."

Professor smiled and nodded. "I think that we can go there now as there aren't many things that we need to take from the mansion and I think that Nick would like to get his ships fully under his control." At those words Professor's gaze flickered to Fury who nodded.

"I would like, while your company doesn't annoy me, it is a problem as the ship can't work at full power."

"Heimdall?" Loki said looking at the ceiling. "Start sending them to Asgard in the pattern we had talked about... Yes, start with the healthy ones and me."

The Professor wanted to say something when a beam of light descended from the heavens above and swept them away to Asgard.

o-0-o

 **A/N** – _The All-Tongue or however you want to name it was always a very blurry subject and you could bend it to the version you liked. Here it is based on a very slim telepathy that all of those races possess, but if they wish and focus to they can still speak in one language and only it. Development of it is one of signs that Æsir/Vanir/Olympian is going through puberty and generally it fully unlocks when they are between 13 and 16 years old._

 _Placement of Asgard was my own idea based on two things, it is said to be in its own dimension and there is just one place in physical universe where you can fit something that massive. The Great Attractor, probably the most massive point in space, big enough to house a couple of galaxies._

 _Harry is developing a crush on someone, I wonder if you guess who it is._

 **Reviews:**

 _BarbyBells_ – Jane will be in this arc, certainly there will be more of her than was in the last couple of chapters. I should finish the story, I have a basic outline of it in my head and on a piece of paper, now it just need to be filled with actual text.

 _randomplotbunny_ – you have fallout here, but it is only the beginning of it and the storm is just starting, by the end I think that not much will survive unscathed.

 _TimothyB_ – I'm not insane enough to murder Harry, at least not now, on the other hand it could be an interesting plot development. Yes, I know that I'm crazy.


	24. Calm follows the storm

**A/N – Continuation of fallout of what Stryker did and few things are happening on Asgard. Not much happens in terms of plot, they mostly try to relax and in Harry's case survive. As always read and review.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Harry wanted to delay the trip to Asgard as much as possible, he didn't want to meet grandfather so soon after that letter. As he felt the Bifrost latch onto him he gulped in fear and looked at Atalanta, who seemed to not care.

"You will be fine," she said, squeezing his hand. "He is just worried about you and unhappy about your behavior."

"Uh, sure," Harry snorted as they traveled to Asgard, he could see that most of the X-Men looked around curiously. He sighed as he wanted to not care about the future and look at the marvels of space around. But he couldn't look at the nebula, galaxies and hundreds of stars as they sped through the cosmos.

The moment his feet touched the edge of the Observatory he gulped in fear and looked around. His gaze was immediately drawn to his own Wolf Guard and Sif that stood behind Heimdall. While his guards had neutral expressions on their faces, she had her arms crossed over her chest and her lips pulled into a thin line.

"I'm doomed," he said and looked at the ceiling. "Why does the Fate hate me so badly?"

He shook his head and walked to them, Atalanta following him half a step behind. Sif didn't even acknowledged his arrival, which was telling a lot about her feelings for him.

"I am here to ensure your arrival to your grandfather's study," she said, her voice lacking any emotions and he gulped even more in fear. "And to ensure that you report there right after your arrival here, so get on a horse and follow us." She indicated one of guards that walked forward with a pair of horses.

Harry smiled for a moment when he saw his brown one, he took its reins and jumped into the saddle. When he landed on the horseback he bit down on a scream. Even if the wound on his back was healed, it was still causing pain.

"Should we wait for you?" Warren asked and Harry looked at his older cousin.

"No." Harry shook his head. "I will be fine or mostly fine and I will find you when I will have time."

"Let's go," Sif said, not giving him a chance to talk more with his friends. As they rode out of the Observatory she fell into place to his right. Close enough to catch reins of his horse if need be.

"You don't trust me?"

She looked at him, her eyes ice cold. "Your grandfather was explicit in his words, as soon as possible. Remember that your father also wished to see you once you are done talking with your grandfather and after that Eir is supposed to see that wound on your back."

"Do you have any good news?" He asked, his voice hopeful as they passed under the massive gates that were the border between the bridge and the city. "So far it looks like I won't come out of this alive and in one piece."

"No," she said and shook her head. "You were foolish, brash, reckless and a couple of other things, but I will leave it to your grandfather to explain them to you."

He sighed and focused on watching the city, even if he was seeing it for the thousandth time, it always had the same impact on him as when he saw it for the first time. It's wide alleys paved with plates of lapis and beryl, lined with various trees that thanks to the climate were constantly green, filled with happy people that minded their business. It looked like a paradise and his gaze for a moment darted to the houses that lined the alley. They were huge, their walls were shining in hundreds of colors and their roofs were made out of a golden material that shone brightly in the sunlight.

His good mood disappeared the moment they got onto a plaza in front of the main entrance that led into the Citadel. Sculptures that normally didn't destroy any of his happy feelings, here they crushed them and completely obliterated. He knew that it at this point ,he didn't have a single hope of avoiding those talks.

They dismounted and his guards formed a tight circle around him, not giving him a lot of freedom and in not so subtle way telling him that he didn't have a lot of freedom and needed to behave. They were walking quickly, not stopping for a moment and he was almost forced to run to keep up with them. With each step he could feel his heart beat faster as the moment of the meeting was getting closer and closer.

He didn't even notice the moment when they crossed the threshold between private chambers of the royal family and the main part of the palace. He only noticed it when he couldn't hear as many voices as in the rest of the palace. This eerie silence made him worried about the future, normally he liked it. But now he was scared of what was to come.

"It is good that you feel fear," Sif said as she walked to by side. "Nobody should feel confidence when being dragged for a meeting with your grandfather. He is a scary person and one that you don't want angered."

"I know," Harry said, tying his hair into a ponytail. Before he noticed they got to the doors leading into the study of his grandfather. He took a deep breath and nodded at Sif, who smiled and pushed them open.

"Your Majesty," she said, entering the room and bowing before Odin. "I brought your grandson as you had asked me to do."

"Leave us alone and make sure that nobody interrupts us," Odin said, his voice grave and quiet.

Harry almost winced at those words, but he managed to control his reaction and watched as guards walked out of the room. The doors behind them silently closed, leaving the two of them alone. "Sit," Odin said, indicating at the chair on the other side of his desk.

Harry dutifully sat down and looked at his grandfather, trying to read the mask he wore. There was no emotion visible and his sole eye was focused on some spot above Harry's head. "Grandfather, may I know what do you want from me?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Odin asked. "You were a fool and risked your life in a very reckless manner, you were told multiple times to call your guards when needed and you decided not to do it. Can you tell me why did you decide to ignore all of those things and behave like a berserker?"

"Because I didn't think that-"

"You didn't think? Do you have anything inside of your head that can think? You were told more than a couple hundreds of times that you don't think or assume that there is only a couple of enemies," Odin snapped. "Do I need to remind how important your life and well-being is to Asgard?"

"No," Harry quietly said as he felt those words hit him like a sledgehammer, each and every one of them burning out inside of his mind. "You don't need to tell me how important I am. But can't I have some freedom when on Midgard? You always told me that I was supposed to spend my time there not caring about duties and responsibilities that I have here, on Asgard, and that I'm supposed to learn there. Not be surrounded by hundreds of guards that will follow me everywhere I go!"

"Watch your tongue, young man," Odin said, not bringing his voice up and Harry looked at his grandfather. "You have freedom, but there is something called common sense. You should use it and this was one of those situations. I won't punish you for the events of that night, but the next time you call the guards or I will order them to drag you here. Is it clear?"

Harry was silent for a moment. _I can argue, but he won't change his decision or I can accept it,_ he thought as inside of him raged a whirlwind of emotions and feelings. "Yes, it is clear," he finally said.

"Good," Odin nodded, Harry could feel some satisfaction in his grandfather's voice. "Your father was forced to travel to Vanaheim for a couple of days and he won't return until the end of this week. I expect that you do not leave this realm until his return as he wishes to speak with you."

"I understand."

Odin smiled and pressed the rune embedded into the surface of the desk in front of him. Seconds later doors opened and through them entered Sif. "Yes, Sire?" she asked, looking at Harry and her liege.

"Escort my grandson to Lady Eir and once she confirms that he is fully healed you can stop guarding him."

Sif looked at Harry, making him sigh as he got up from the chair and followed her through the maze of corridors. This time she was different, more relaxed and not so focused on making sure that he would behave. Previously she almost held him by his arm to make sure that he would go the way she wanted, now she simply walked to his side.

"Lady Eir," she said as they entered the Healers Halls and walked to one of the smaller and private examination rooms located at the end of it. It was a small rectangular room with a cot and the most basic diagnostic equipment and data terminal. "His Majesty asked me to deliver his grandson to you, you are to ensure that he is in good shape."

"Leave us alone," Eir said cooly and Sif bowed and left the room, doors silently sliding behind her. Eir turned and looked at Harry, who could feel her eyes scrutinize him and try to see what was the issue. "Lay down and take off your shirt."

Harry nodded and sat down on the cot, taking off his shirt, he winced as the cool air slammed into the skin over the wound. It was still irritated and causing him some discomfort.

"Your grandmother removed the poison," she said as she channeled bit of magic into the fresh scar. "Or at least most of it, as some is still inside of your body, not enough to cause serious harm, but enough to cause discomfort."

"What is it?" Harry asked, turning to look at Eir and wincing when he moved as his body protested. Pain flaring across his whole side and making him scream in pain.

"Depleted uranium mixed with adamantium," Eir said, a hint of disgust in her voice. "It is being fought by your immunity system, but it will take some time to heal. It shouldn't cause you too much of a problem, but it can be a hindrance as it might flare up at random."

"How soon will it pass?"

"In a couple of days or weeks, it is something that your body will heal," Eir said. "If it keeps appearing around spring equinox come and see me, then I will purge your body from whatever is left of it."

"Of course," Harry nodded as he put back on his shirt.

o-0-o

Harry stood on the balcony of his chambers and breathed in the salty air that was coming from the ocean. He was glad that his audience with his grandfather went far better than he had hoped for and was mostly painless. He heard doors into it open and when he glanced backwards, he smiled as Jane entered onto it.

"You know that your father will not be happy with your behavior?" she asked. "He can forget a lot of things, but even he has some patience and this pushed it's border a bit too much for him."

"It was you who sent him to Vanaheim?"

"Yes," she smiled. "I understand how Earth works better than him and I know much better than him that Purists are unpredictable and you couldn't have done much to avoid landing in the middle of it. Even if I'm unhappy about it, I know that it was not your fault, at least not totally yours."

"Thank you," Harry said, bowing his head lightly. "I've had enough of being told to for some time and I think if he has time to cool he will be more reasonable."

"No problem," she said. "You know that I don't care about the fact that you are only my stepson."

"You mentioned it so many times that it is hard not to know it," Harry chuckled and looked at the ocean. "Wizards are supposed to come here and I'm not too happy because of that."

"The ones that call you the Boy-Who-Lived?" Jane asked, dangerous tone appearing in her voice.

"The very same and while I like a few of them, I dislike most of them," he said and shook his head. "Hopefully I will be able to avoid them for most of the time and keep them away."

"You know that you won't be able to do it infinitely?"

"Mom, let me live," Harry sighed. "Jean already told me that much and Warren did it yet again, so you really don't need to remind me that I won't be able to dodge it endlessly. So be kind and let me live."

"I will let you, it's just that I'm worried about you."

"Who isn't?" Harry asked, rolling his eyes and walking back into the room. The wings on his back moving in synchronization with the rest of his body. After so many years of having them he didn't have the slightest issue with it. At first he was stumbling a bit as they moved his center balance, but now it was as easy as breathing.

"Point taken," Jane said as she walked out of the room and left him completely alone. Allowing his mind to wander and think about everything he wanted or needed to think about. He sat down on his bed and looked at the tapestry showing his great-grandfather during a battle at the end of the Dark War. He was surrounded by his warriors and was charging at the last line of defense that the warriors of Malekith the Accursed constructed. Bør was showed as a hulking man in a horned helmet and with a red cape over his armor, in his hand was the same spear that now Odin was wielding – Gungnir. Bolts of energy were flying from it and its tip was glowing golden.

Diverting his gaze from the tapestry Harry shook his head and slipped off his bed. He walked to one of the wardrobes and pulled out the clothes that he normally wore. While he didn't mind the clothes that he wore on Earth, they wouldn't be the best choice for him to venture into the city, they would have drawn more attention than his normal clothes.

o-0-o

Illyana sighed as she tried to understand was being said by an Instructor, Asgard name for a teacher. She had perfect or almost perfect scores when it came to practical usage of magic, but the theory behind it was something with which she was struggling. It was weird, illogical and for most of the time she was dumbly staring at the paper, trying to understand what was written there.

"Focus," whispered a girl to her right, Idunn Ragnardóttir. She was a tall, graceful girl of Illyana's age that came from Alfheim. When she was looking at Idunn, Illyana had issues wrapping her head around the fact that Asgard could be that diverse, while most of them had bright hair and blue or brown eyes. Idunn was different with her black as night hairs and striking golden eyes that were shining with intelligence.

"It's so hard," Illyana said, rolling her eyes as she made a couple of notes. "I know what he's saying and how to do it, but understanding the theory behind it, is something else."

"If you were attempting to focus, you'd understand it." Idunn said, braiding her hair backwards. "Also it's the last hour for the day."

Illyana nodded and focused, if she was going to be honest, she loved every single moment she was spending on Asgard. Her magic was growing in leaps and bounds, with each moment getting stronger and more powerful. Also she had plenty of opportunities to make friends that also used magic and could help her get acclimated here and explain things that were obvious for them. Recalling her talk with Prince Loki during Yule she needed to agree with him that being a ward of the royal family meant a lot. She had everything that she needed to have and nobody seemed eager to pick fights with her.

For one last time her gaze swept over the large classroom with its high, stained glass windows that provided plenty of light, wooden floor and walls covered in various mosaics, before it finally came to stop on the lecturer. On whom she focused and tried to hear what he was saying, while making notes so that she could try to understand what he meant.

Thirty minutes later she packed her bag and walked out of the room as the lecture ended, she was mentally exhausted and wanted nothing more than rest and forget about the events of the day. She made her way into the room she was sharing with Idunn. Entering it her gaze swept over everything that was inside of it, large beds, small bathroom attached to it, a couple of drawers and desks, thick rugs covering the floor and a large window that provided plenty of light.

Her eyes narrowed when she saw someone lean against the wall inside of the room, then they widened as she recognized who it was. "Harry?!" she finally asked.

"Yes," he smiled, braiding his hair backwards, mischievous smirk on his lips. "Sorry for this, but otherwise I wouldn't be able to find you. At least without too much noise."

"Idunn won't be here for some time so we can talk for a moment," she said, sitting down.

"Idunn?" He arched an eyebrow.

"My roommate, Idunn Ragnardóttir."

"She won't have a single issue with me being here." He shrugged. "And anyways, I wanted to show you one of the better parts of the Academy, one that you most likely didn't see."

"I need to study," she sighed. "While I understand the practical part, the theory is something that I can't understand."

"If I was being honest, theory isn't that important as long as you can explain the magic you just used," Harry smirked and looked at her. "I might have some of my notes about the theory that my uncle corrected and they could help you."

"I wouldn't mind it," she smiled. "How can I understand runes so easily?"

"Because you wanted to learn them and everybody around you uses them?" He arched his eyebrow and looked at her.

"Probably," she said and smiled. "So why don't you show me that thing you mentioned?"

"Why not," he said with a shrug. "I want to stay out of sight and there are some things that you should know."

"So where are we going?"

"You will see," he said, standing up and walking out of the room. She followed him out of the room, curious where he was going. She didn't have any idea of where he was walking.

o-0-o

"I'm shocked that you didn't discover this thing, yet," Harry said as the massive metal gates of the arena opened in front of them. It was a large triangular arena covered in white sand. Its walls were high and were inscribed with hundreds of runes that kept violent magic in check. Behind those runes were thousands of seats and boxes for the audience. It was roofed with a glass dome with four golden arches keeping and reinforcing it. "It's the place where a lot of magical duels take place and you can let your magic go wild."

"Why do I have a feeling that it will be used soon?" She asked, he glanced at her and saw that she was looking around curiously and trying to guess why he had decided to show it.

"Because you know that you should trust your feelings? Or maybe you know that I always have a reason to do something?" He asked and looked at her. _She looks good in the sorcerer's robes,_ he thought, his eyes sweeping over her form. She was a bit short, but had started to develop some nice muscles. Mainly thanks to the months of training and exercise at the Institute and now a lot more training here.

"Yes," she smiled. "Most likely because you have some reason."

"I have, the Tournament is coming and you might have an opportunity to shine and show your prowess in magic," he said and winced. "But from what I know there will be guests from Earth, ones that I don't really like."

"Who?"

"Students of Hogwarts," he said, sitting down, she followed him suit. "Do you remember Oliver, Tonks and others at the Institute?"

"Yeah..."

"They were students of Hogwarts and while they were nice, the rest aren't that good. As my uncle described, arrogant and narrow-minded."

"That can be... _a problem_ ," she said. "Especially when it comes to some customs."

"Yes," Harry nodded and looked at her. "Also the X-Men are here and the whole Institute is too."

"Why?"

"We were attacked and forced to relocate here," he said with a wince and saw her eyes widen in shock. "The Professor is here, as well as your brother and everybody else, but I didn't have an opportunity to see them. I was dragged by my guards to see my grandfather."

"So that he could tell you what did you do wrong?"

"Yeah and he took great pleasure in it," Harry briefly smiled. "But now it is over and I want to relax."

"I can understand that," she said and looked at him. "Any idea about when I can see my brother?"

"I don't know," Harry said and looked at the sky. "I think that you better return to the main part of the Academy, I stole enough of your time."

"What about you? Why can't we talk for longer?"

"I have some business that needs to be done, also they don't know that you are with me, so they might be worried a bit."

"I won't have much freedom, will I?"

"The problem is that I didn't mention to the Lord Commandant that I was going to show you some things," Harry admitted sheepishly. "So he won't be the happiest man alive when he learns that you went with me, without even informing someone."

"You are breaking the rules?"

"Not breaking," Harry smiled slyly. "Just bending them into a shape that fits me."

"If you say so," she snorted and stood up, dusting off the robe. "For me it is breaking them."

"Whatever," Harry rolled his eyes and they made their way out of the arena and into the proper part of the Academy.

o-0-o

William Stryker sat up in his cell as he heard footsteps outside it. For the first time in ages he felt a lump of ice form in his stomach. It was a feeling he had almost forgotten, fear.

The door opened and through it stepped a man that for him was the worst enemy and anathema to his beliefs, Nicholas J. Fury. "What do you want?"

"To talk with you," Fury smiled. "About your fate and your organization as well as this attack that was the biggest operational failure that I have seen in ages."

"What do you mean by my fate?"

"You won't see the daylight for as long as I'm Director of SHIELD or maybe even longer."

 _He isn't bluffing,_ Stryker thought, _he is good at lying, but not that good and he has too much pleasure in saying those words. Damned ignorant that doesn't understand what is the true danger to the world._ He gulped in fear as beads of sweat started to ran down his forehead.

"Good, you fear me," Fury smiled. "Also don't think that anybody will be able to free you, your organization is in pieces and I made sure that none of them will be able to reach you."

Stryker only nodded and watched as Fury left the cell. He knew that he needed to bid his time and wait for Fury's mistake as otherwise he was going to get killed one way or another.

o-0-o

"You are getting sloppy," Hrolf said as he pushed Harry into the deeper part of the pool.

"Am I?" Harry asked as he easily resurfaced, several meters away, his whole body covered in droplets of water. While at first he felt a bit uneasy about swimming naked, now he almost completely ignored it. "I always thought that you were the slow one and had issues with catching me."

"Now, I'm quite sure that I'm the better one," Hrolf said and narrowed his eyes when he saw a large, ugly scar close to Harry's spine. "How did you get it?"

"Lucky shot," Harry said as he rubbed the spot. "Bullet with poison that caused some pain," He shook his head and playfully punched Hrolf. "Now I want to forget about it."

"Sure," Hrolf smiled and sent Harry into the water, but before he had an opportunity to pin Harry, Harry managed to weasel his way out of Hrolf's grip. "When did you get so good?"

"Training," Harry smiled as dived and swam between Hrolf's legs opened wings, sending older boy underwater.

o-0-o

"He changed a lot since his arrival on Asgard," Volstagg said as he watched his son and Harry have fun.

"Indeed," Gudrun said, faint smile on her lips. "Also it changed the Crown Prince in a way not many expected."

"He is calmer and somewhat more responsible. Two things that never were his strong side, but now he thinks and is able to control his temper."

"Yes," Gudrun nodded and her gaze flickered to her son. "He is also less focused on himself and more willing to teach his younger siblings or His Highness."

"Yes," Volstagg smiled and placed his hand on her stomach. "And we are expecting another one, not that he knows it yet."

"Yes," she said as she placed her hand on the calloused hand of her husband.

Volstagg only smiled and looked at his son as he tried to catch His Highness.

o-0-o

"What?!" Fudge roared as he looked at Umbridge. "How did it happen?! How?!"

"I don't know Cornelius," she said. "Our best aurors are looking for the assassin responsible for this crime. When he is found, he will be punished with the highest possible severity."

"What about Avery's family?"

"They will be given protection at all times and we will provide them with enough money to support their lifestyle," she smoothly replied. "I also thought about awarding Avery the Order of Merlin First Class to show that he died like a hero and his death won't be forgotten. It should sway a large number of people to our cause."

"Indeed, indeed," Fudge said, looking at his most trusted underling, one that had yet to fail him. "Do you have any idea about how we can protect Hogwarts from those assassins?"

"I would suggest the deployment of some of our aurors to keep an eye on what is going on inside of it," she said, her voice sweet and too convincing for him to disagree.

"What about Dumbledore? While I see merits in this decision, he will oppose violently to it and he has much sway over the Wizengamot."

"Don't announce this move to him, simple as that."

"Yes," he said as he considered her words. "Yes, this makes a lot of sense and I like it," he said more firmly, determination appearing in his eyes. "It should make him wary of angering us and more docile."

"Indeed." As Fudge looked into her toad-like eyes he had a feeling that one day she might decide to take his place. "So Mr Minister, can I implement those measures?"

"You can," Fudge said and when she left his office,and he pulled out a bottle of fire whiskey and a tumbler. It was time to celebrate the victory and weakening of Dumbledore. It was a small pebble, but that usually was able to start an avalanche.

o-0-o

"No!" Dumbledore firmly said, his gaze focused on Umbridge. "Hogwarts was and is autonomous from the Ministry and you won't change a thing."

"I didn't arrive here to negotiate with you," she said, correcting her pink cardigan. "I travelled to tell you what was the agreement reached within the Ministry. The agreement goes as follows, due to the series of murders the security of Hogwarts needs to be upgraded and as such, for this task a group of forty aurors will be delegated, that have the right to patrol the whole castle."

"You might place them here, but they won't get any support from me. The castle is autonomous and answers to nobody so watch your tongue, Mrs Umbridge."

She hissed and looked at him, a challenge in her eyes. "Don't oppose me on this one, you won't like the outcome. They can come in by force or you can let them in willingly, I assure you that you don't want to make them force their way into the castle."

Dumbledore was silent for a moment, but then he finally nodded. "They can be deployed, but they step a toe out of line and I will remove them."

"Perfect," she smiled. "Minister Fudge will be happy with you and your loyalty to our country."

o-0-o

"Where did you disappear for a whole day?" Kurt asked glaring at Harry. "Even Warren didn't know where you were and he is the one that always does."

"Sorry," Harry said with a shrug. "But my grandfather thought that he needed to speak with me immediately after my return to Asgard and the guards he had sent wanted to obey his command to the letter."

"I see," Kurt said, his prehensile tail swinging lazily. "Can you be kind enough to mention such things the next time you are going to do something similar?"

"I will try," Harry said as he rolled his eyes and walked to the window. His gaze swept over the landscape visible behind it. He could see the dark blue calm waters of the ocean surrounding the city and in the distance the Observatory. "But you need to remember that Asgard is my home and I know it far better than any of you will ever know it. I will walk the paths that I decide to walk and you don't have the power to stop me." He turned to look at Kurt. "You need to understand that it is a different world, one which I know far better than you do, so don't expect me to obey you here. I will listen to what you say and maybe accept it."

"Fine," Kurt nodded. "I will tell that to the Professor, he also wants to see you."

"Lead then," Harry smiled and followed Kurt to a room that Professor decided to use as his office. "Professor," Harry said, bowing his head. "Did you want to see me?"

"Yes," Professor smiled. "How do you feel after that night?"

"Well enough," Harry said as he sat down in one of the chairs. "I'm not thinking about it and I don't have a single issue. I focus on it and I want to cry or curse myself."

"You shouldn't blame yourself for it, you did the only thing that was right and proper at the time. Killing is something that you should avoid, but there are times when it is necessary."

"And this was one of those situations," Harry finished and shook his head. "My logical side is agreeing with you, but my more emotional one is throwing a fit."

"Guilt," Professor said and Harry looked at him. "An emotion that usually tells us what is wrong or good, in case of killing someone it can be bad. You need to see a reason for what you did."

"To protect others," Harry said, without pause. "To protect the ones that can't protect themselves and need to be protected from those wishing them harm."

"But do you understand the meaning behind those words?" Professor asked and Harry looked up. "You were taught them, but I don't think that you know the meaning behind them."

"No." Harry shook his head.

"You are a part of the royal family and as such it is your responsibility to protect those that are too weak or incapable of protecting themselves," Professor said. "You need to accept that it might require killing someone to do it. You are not a monster, but a protector."

"What's a difference between those things?"

"A very thin and easy to miss line. When you are a protector, you kill to protect, when monster, you kill because you can and want. Do you see it?"

"Yes," Harry said and shook his head, sending away those thoughts. "There is a rather interesting tournament coming up, one that most of the Institute would enjoy watching."

"Your uncle mentioned it," the Professor said, a smile on his lips. "And I decided to accept his invitation as it should be a good way to relax for most of the students."

"Also he said something about curbing the arrogance of a certain group," Harry said and looked at the sky that was becoming clouded and in the distance there could he heard a rumble of a thunder. "I better disappear as father is coming and he isn't happy."

Professor X only nodded and Harry walked to the window, opened it and jumped out, his wings spreading and keeping him in the air.

o-0-o

"Do you know how foolish your actions were?" Thor asked, both of them in Harry's chambers. "I know that your grandfather explained those things to you, but it doesn't change the fact that you are a foolish and stupid person."

"I know," Harry said with a sigh. "He explained it and later Sif also had a couple of words for me, harsh words."

"Because you disappointed her," Thor said. "She hates when one of her students fails her and you just did it."

Harry winced at those words.

"Also I'm not happy about you, while what you had done was brave, it was also foolish," Thor said. "I won't punish you as your grandfather already did, but the next time you do it you won't be able to get away from it. Is it clear?"

"Yes," Harry said with a gulp.

"Good." Thor ruffled Harry's hair. "You won't do anything as foolish as this for the second time, will you?"

"I won't, I promise." Harry said sincerely.

"As I thought," Thor smiled. "You can now do whatever you wish, though be careful as the Hogwarts students might be arriving shortly."

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes before walking out of the room and towards the training grounds, he wanted and needed to release some pent up energy.

o-0-o

A blade flashed in the sunlight and flowed towards Harry's head, he rolled out of its path and raised his shield to stop it. With a loud clash they collided, sending sparks in every direction.

"Not bad," Atalanta said as she was the one that sent the blade. "You are better than you were before."

"Thanks," Harry smiled as he flexed his fingers tightly and gripped the handle of his sword. He launched himself at her, his sword making an arc in the air, where it was met by her shorter and more nimble blade.

His eyes followed the path of her sword, while his mind tried to calculate the best possible counter. Before he had a chance to do it, flew a hunting knife flew towards his chest, one of two she had. It forced him to jump away and use the blade of his sword to deflect it. "Clever," he said as he saw her smirk.

"Didn't you miss something?" she asked and his eyes widened when he saw that both of the knives were missing. He barely heard the sound of the metal cutting through the air and just in time moved his shield into the path of it.

"When did you get that devious?" He asked as he walked towards her, his eyes watching for any more surprises.

"I always was, you just didn't see it," she smiled, pulling out her sword and charging at him. This time he didn't get surprised by anything and his sword slammed into the hilt of her weapon, forcing her to release it with a pained yelp. "I surrender," she said, the moment his blade touched the side of her neck. With his second hand he easily caught her blade and pointed it at her heart.

"I didn't injure you, did I?" Harry asked, some concern visible in his voice as he lowered the weapon.

"No," she said, flexing her fingers. "I just didn't expect it to hit so hard, that's all."

"You asked for it," Harry said with a cheeky smile and handed her the sword she lost.

"When?" she asked and with a swipe of her legs she sent him onto the ground. He didn't have a chance to do anything before he was the one that was forced to surrender. "Someone is getting careless."

"No, I'm not," Harry protested and yelped when her sword embedded in the sand between his legs, too close for his comfort. He gulped and looked at her. "Fine, I was careless."

"Much better," she smiled and helped him get up.

"Why are you so angry at me?" Harry asked, massaging his sore back.

"Because I don't want to lose you. You are one of my true friends, you know that most of my family doesn't like me and would love to see me killed."

"I get it," Harry said as he looked at her.

"Good," she smiled. "I wouldn't like to lose you, I like you too much."

"Thanks." He picked up his discarded weapons and looked at her. "Another round?"

"Why not," she shrugged, her hands wrapping around the handles of her daggers.

o-0-o

Amelia Bones frowned as she looked at the photo showing Avery's body or what was left of it, his head was intact, but most of his chest was gone. Though on the remaining part of it there was a sign left, a triskelion placed inside of a crosshair. She looked at it and closed her eyes, trying to recall her knowledge about the runes.

"Why does it look familiar?" Wisdom asked her as he entered her office.

"Because it is a sign that all wizards should know, or at least the weird spiral in the middle of it." She rubbed her forehead. "I'm almost certain that whoever is responsible for this has only issues with certain members of the society. Macnair was a Death Eater, Avery also. More important is the fact that nobody out of their families was targeted."

"They want fear and they are getting it," Wisdom said. "You also saw the reports from the Ministry, they are afraid of walking out of the building alone."

"As if in a group they had a better chance against trained assassins."

"True, but psychology makes us seek company when we are unsure of our surroundings and when we feel fear. It somehow gives us some feeling of safety, even if rationally it changes nothing," Wisdom said and shrugged. "Not that this is the worst thing that will happen to them, Fury called and according to him, Loki and him are planning something for Hogwarts. Something that should shake them."

She looked at him and nodded. "Not the worst idea ever and it certainly will help us, especially in the long run and maybe undermine Fudge's position."

"We will see, but I don't think so. Once you left there is nobody excluding Croaker that is opposing him and he can rule as he wishes to. Also Dumbledore doesn't want the position of the Minister, he prefers being in the shadows and leading from there."

"Still, if everything we learned about Asgard is true, it will be a good lesson for them," she smiled. "And remember that children will tell their parents and they might look weirdly at Fudge. Considering the fact that even with the current involvement of Asgard nobody contacted the Ministry says a lot about Asgard's feelings towards it. While it won't convince Malfoy or the other extreme conservatives, it should do its work on the more reasonable ones."

"And that should weaken his support by quite a lot. Which even if it doesn't destroy him, it will force him to be more careful and consider his moves and actions before committing to them."

"Assuming that he can think," she said sadly. "If he works with Umbridge, it won't happen. I saw enough of her to know that she can manipulate anybody to do her bidding and now she is his second in command."

"We will see," Wisdom said as he threw onto the table a thick pile of papers. "Those are transcripts from the Interrogations of all of our prisoners, those that got caught in the USA."

"You want me to take a look?"

"Yes," he smiled. "You will learn more than I ever could."

"Yes," she sighed and reached out for the first sheet of paper. She didn't even notice him slipping out of the room.

o-0-o

Fury drummed his fingers on the surface of his desk and looked at Alexander Pierce that entered his office. Looking at his second in command he had a feeling that there was more to him than he was willing to admit. "What can you tell me about the Congress and the President?"

"They accepted your explanation of what happened and won't ask any questions," Pierce said.

Fury smiled and looked out of the window. "Prince Loki mentioned in passing that he can make sure that some people are forever lost and won't have a chance to escape their punishment. He also assured me that they will be out of the way and they will completely disappear from this realm."

"What did he suggest?"

"If I remember correctly he mentioned the mines of Nidavellir, hot, dangerous and exhausting work."

"Slavery?" Pierce asked with an archer eyebrow.

"No, he said that it is the harshest punishment short of the death sentence," Fury smiled. "Considering that Thor's son was injured because of those idiots, well, I don't have too many qualms about giving them to Asgard."

"The Council will need to be convinced about this as they might have a problem that we hand humans over to aliens."

"Can I count on you swaying them to our cause?" Fury asked. "I would have attended the meeting with them, but there are other duties that I have."

"You can," Pierce said, stood up and walked out of the room.

o-0-o

"What is this whole tournament that everybody is talking about?" Danielle asked as she, Rahne and Jean walked with Atalanta through the market district of the city. She had trouble wrapping her mind around the fact that it could look so good.

The alleys were wide and paved with various stones, along them were hundreds of stalls filled with uncountable goods, starting from the most common ones to artifacts and pieces of art that she had trouble believing were possible to create. But the thing that got most of her attention was how happy the people seemed to be, it looked as if it was a heaven.

"An opportunity for sorcerers to show how good they had gotten in the last few months and to have fun," Atalanta said with a playful smile on her lips. "Usually it is a bit later, but Prince Loki decided to push it a bit earlier."

"Sounds exciting," Danny said as she stopped in front of one of many stalls with jewellery.

Her gaze swept over hundreds of various necklaces, pendants, rings, earrings and bracelets. Each of them made either out of silver, gold, platinum or this weird metal that Harry showed her, which was called mithril. "Is this pure gold?" she asked as she looked at a necklace showing a pair of wolves made out of gold holding a triskelion made out of something that looked like emerald. It's chain seemed to be so thin that it was almost impossible to see it. "And emerald?"

"Yes," the Dwarf said, he was standing behind the stall, his voice was laced with indignation. "I wouldn't even dare to make jewelry in anything else than pure metals and real gems."

"I thought that I mentioned it," Atalanta said with a sly smile. "You need to work hard to impress some tastes here and nothing else than the best would pass."

"Indeed, Your Highness," Dwarf said with a bow of his head. "I guess that the bill for everything needs to be send to the palace?"

"Yes," Atalanta said and as Danny opened her mouth, Atalanta glanced at her. "I have more than enough money to spend and I like you, so I can pay for all of those things."

"If you say so," Danny said. "It's just that for last couple of years I didn't have a family and such things were beyond my reach."

"Oh," Atalanta said in understanding. "As I said, you can buy whatever you want, the palace will pay those bills."

"This shape looks familiar," Jean said as she picked up a necklace with a golden bird with rubies as its eyes.

"It is a sign of the Phoenix," Dwarf said. "Sign of rebirth and creation."

"I know," she said, her eyes flashing gold for the briefest moment and as Danny looked at her, she could feel the power in this color. "I will take it."

"It does look good," Atalanta smiled. "So it should fit you."

"Yes," Jean said with a faint smile. "On Midgard not many know about the Phoenix."

Danielle smiled and looked at the necklace she was debating if she should buy, it looked good and she liked it. "I will take it," she said with finality, putting it on to see how it looked. She could feel the cool metal touch her skin and as she looked at it, she needed to nod in approval. It was going to be an interesting day and one that allowed them to forget about the more gloom issues.

o-0-o

" _Brat!_ " Illyana exclaimed as she threw herself at Piotr. "I missed you," she said, embracing him.

"As did I," he said and looked at her, he could see subtle changes in her, he could tell that she was forced to train not only in magic, but also in more physical things, like martial arts, as she had started to develop some muscle. "How is it at the Academy?"

"Good and tiring," she said as she released him and calmed down a bit. In the brown robe she looked a bit intimidating, at least in his opinion and on the shoulder of it he noticed a triskelion held by a pair of roaring, crowned wolves, a sign of her being considered a royal ward. "I thought that it would be nice and slow, but they don't know those two words."

"You actually need to train?" He asked with a grin.

"A lot," she said with a smile. "But I can feel getting stronger with each day and I like the Academy as well some of my friends that I made there."

"Should I feel envious that you have an opportunity to be there?"

"No," she chuckled. "Unless you enjoy being woken up at an unholy hour and spend half of the day studying and the second half doing your homework and trying to relax."

"I will pass, I think." he smiled. "With X-Men I already have more than enough of things to do or learn."

"Still, it is a nice place to be," she said with a smile. "Also the people seem friendly and helpful, so I really like being at the Academy."

"That's good," he nodded and looked at her. "What is this tournament that Harry mentioned a couple of times?"

"From what I heard it is a traditional tournament held two times per year and it is an opportunity for us to show our abilities and powers. Also we compete with students of the other two academies of magic that are in the realm of Asgard," she said and frowned. "From what I was told, there is a moment when we make an oath in front of Odin about service to Asgard and several other things."

"Do you need to?" He asked, he disliked an idea of his sole sister being forced to make such an oath.

"I don't really have a choice," she smiled weakly. "I also talked with Prince Loki and the Lord Commandant and both of them said that unless I plan on staying on Asgard after I'm done with my education it will have little to no effect on me."

"That's good," he said and looked at her. "So do you have any idea of when the tournament will start?"

"In a couple of days, ten if I remember correctly," she said. "Harry should tell you as he knows it and from what he mentioned the whole Institute will be invited for it."

"Neat," he smiled and looked at her. "Since we have some time you can tell me more about the Academy."

"I guess I can," she smiled in return. Thinking about how to explain to him several things about the Academy.

o-0-o

As the time for the Tournament was getting closer and closer, Realm Eternal started to change. Hidden defense positions were revealed and guns normally unused were brought out, their muzzles pointing at the sky. Ready to unleash destruction upon any enemy foolish enough to get close to the Citadel and the Academy.

Even when silent they were reminding everybody about the might and power of Asgard, their silver turrets and massive cannons placed inside of them standing out amongst the architecture of the city. Each and every one of them stood like a sentinel amongst the buildings, ready to unleash its fury on anybody wishing to harm anything under its protection.

While the defenses of Asgard were revealed, other parts of the city were taking far less lethal and maybe even more intimidating preparations. Hundreds of warriors, sorcerers and cadets of various military academies scattered around the whole city were preparing for the great military parade that would open the tournament. They were the very best that Asgard had to offer and they were going to show that to the whole universe.

Yet one of the most important spectators to be of the event was unaware of the things that he was going to see when he would travel to Asgard. He was completely oblivious to those preparations, his sight focused on much smaller issues than the schemes and games of gods.

o-0-o

 **A/N – Small rant first, while I know that in canon Stryker group is called Purifiers, I changed it to Purists as it sounds better from PR point of view and there is a smaller chance that it gathers attention from SHIELD/ATF/CIA/FBI or any other agency. Purifiers sounds a bit racist and xenophobic which is a bad thing for public image, really bad. While Purists has a more religious vibe which is better and more neutral, as well draws far less attention.**

 **Appearance of Asgard, if you watch Thor The Dark World, you will see turrets and actual energy weapons being used on Asgard. Here it is mostly a show of power and silent reminder of what will happen if you break the law.**

Reviews:

 _randomplotbunny_ – It will be and they will be, but they want to catch breath and rest while Fury can do whatever he wants to do.

 _TimothyB_ – You will need to wait one more chapter for it to fully unravel, generally they won't enjoy it, maybe some will enjoy, that is if they like being woken up by a bucket of freezing water to the face.

 _GothicChevy_ – I think that it should be fixed in this chapter, dialogues will feel stiff, but I'm not a native speaker and still have a habit for writing full constructions.

 _TL14_ – Development of characters is a thing that I enjoy a lot, also alongside building the world it is probably the most important thing in any book. Dialogues might be lame, but if characters have some depth and aren't perfect you will ignore the dialogue, if you add nice world most of readers won't see a lot of issues with the book.


	25. Hogwarts on Asgard

**A/N – Ones that waited for what Loki was planning will be happy as he is the focus of this chapter, or of a bigger part of it. In terms of pushing the plot forward, not much happens.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

 **o-0-o**

Loki stepped out of the portal in the Great Hall of Hogwarts during lunch and frowned when he saw several wizards in red robes scattered across the room. He didn't remember them being at Hogwarts the last time he was there.

"What is the meaning of this?" He asked as he saw them point their wands at him.

"Whoever you are, you are under arrest," one of the aurors said, walking forward with his wand leveled at Loki's face.

"Do you know to whom you speak?" Loki asked, amusement visible in his voice. "I'm Prince Loki Odinson so I really suggest that you lower your wand and get lost. I'm a god and you are just a mortal, a mortal that doesn't even have my respect."

"Nobody will order me!" the auror roared as he pointed his wand at Loki and shouted " _Stupefy!_ "

"They want it the hard way," Loki sighed and snapped his fingers. The red beam of energy fired by the wizard disappeared into thin air and every single auror was flung against the stone walls of the hall. Loki nodded approvingly when he saw them land on the ground and stay there. "Excuse me, but those pests annoyed me," He said with a flourish and turned to look at Dumbledore. "It is time for that thing as we had agreed a few days ago."

"What thing?" McGonagall asked and with a nod he smiled towards her.

"An annual tournament that takes place on Asgard, in the times long gone there was a custom that I invite some of the most promising students from Hogwarts to watch it. Now since we are taking more interest in this planet I decided to invite the whole school," Loki smirked. "So do you accept the offer or not?"

The smirk on Loki's face only widened when he heard the roar that came from the students, and the looks sent his way by some of the more intelligent professors were saying the same thing as the students did. But those looks were far less demanding, they were more of the suggestive kind.

"I will accept." Dumbledore said and Loki smiled, for the first time it was a genuine one.

"Perfect," the Trickster said. "Heimdall, if you could take us to Asgard and get their possessions into the rooms at the Academy."

Before anybody could protest everything was wrapped in a rainbow light that appeared out of nowhere and sucked them into the Realm of Gods – Asgard.

o-0-o

Oliver looked around curiously at the images that were visible outside of the Bifrost, he had heard a few things about it from Harry, but this was even better than what he heard. As they flew through time and space he could see hundreds of stars and galaxies speed past them. He glanced at the rest of their group and saw that only Loki was focused on the target ahead of them. _He has probably seen it hundreds of times and now it's something as common for him as Hogwarts is for us_ , Oliver thought and as he followed Loki's gaze he saw a bright, golden dot growing with every single second.

"Asgard," he whispered, his voice quiet and subdued.

"Indeed," Loki said, turning to look at him. "It is called the Jewel of the Nine Realms and there is a lot of truth to this statement." Loki shrugged. "Anyways, you will see why in a couple of moments as we are close and will land soon. Even if I told you things, they wouldn't be as truthful as seeing it with your own eyes."

Oliver nodded and with each second he could see the dot grow in size and brightness, he was almost forced to close his eyes as the light was unbearable. Then, it was gone and he could feel his feet touch something solid. He looked at the ground and his eyes widened when he saw that it was some kind golden metal.

He shook his head and looked around, taking into account more and more details, the walls were made out of a gold-like substance and they were standing in a large dome. In front of them stood a massive man clad in a golden armor, a two-handed sword in his hands. "Welcome to Asgard," he said, his voice deep and resonating with power. "I'm Heimdall, Guardian of the Bifrost and Gatekeeper of Asgard."

o-0-o

"Thank you, Heimdall," Loki said, walking forward and pushing his way past the Hogwarts students. "They are here on my invitation and are to see the Tournament, so don't scare them, too much."

"Of course, Your Highness," Heimdall said before moving out of the way. Making Loki roll his eyes in amusement.

Loki turned and looked at the whole Hogwarts group. "This is Asgard, the Realm of Gods, the Golden Realm, also known by many other names. I had a habit of inviting the very best of Hogwarts students to study here for some time, but this custom was forgotten due to various reasons, from both sides. Though, that is a thing of the past. This invitation is a different one as it is for the six whole weeks during which you will be able to see how we use magic and learn some things, as well as you will be invited to watch one of the most important magical tournaments, that takes place in this realm twice a year.

"While it is an important event, it is just one of many things you will see during your stay here, you will see how wizards your age train, study and live when at school. If you could, follow me and I will take you to the Academy, as the school is called," Loki said and with a flourish turned around.

o-0-o

Oliver looked around trying to find Charlie, Cedric and Tonks as the four of them had become close friends after their stay at Xavier's. Their stay there was certainly enlightening for all of them and opened their eyes to a couple of things.

"I wonder how many of the things Harry said are true..." Tonks said, appearing at his side, he jumped up and looked at her.

"How did you get so sneaky?"

"My cousin." she said with a weird smile. "He showed me some things, including how to move more gracefully that I normally can."

"Should I know about him?"

"No," she said, he nodded and they joined the stream of students that was walking out of the Observatory and followed Loki. He tried not to gape when he was able to see the city sprawled on the shore of the bay in front of them, everything was graceful, golden and screamed superiority in every imaginable way.

He remembered Harry saying that his family house was a huge one, but this was a something completely else. Bigger, more richly decorated and more powerful than he had ever imagined it to be. When he focused on his mutation, this already incredible building became even more powerful and grace seemed to be flowing from it in waves.

Then, Oliver's gaze swept to the building that seemed to be floating in the air, suspended by some force and his jaw almost dropped to the ground. This was something he hadn't expected to see. "This is the Academy," Loki said, as if hearing their jaws drop. "The main school of magic in this realm and the place where you will be staying for most of the time you spent here. Inside there is everything that you will require and more. All of your belongings were moved by Heimdall to one of its parts, there will be your quarters for the duration of your stay."

They nodded and Oliver's eyes widened when he saw Loki conjure a set of stairs leading towards the Academy as if it was a trivial task, one done by him every single day. The steps were made out of some kind of glass material that allowed them to see through them. Oliver looked at the steps and tentatively placed his foot on one's surface, when it didn't break under him, he started to walk more confidently.

Each step brought them closer to the Academy, bringing out details previously unseen, a ring of domes around the tetrahedron in the middle, hundreds of runes carved into the walls. Statues placed along the edges of the building and an uncountable amount of towers and spires along the central spine of each arm.

"It's beautiful," Tonks said as they climbed the stairs. He arched an eyebrow and looked at her. "I mean, Hogwarts is nice, but this is a completely new thing, one that I didn't expect to ever see."

"Yeah," he said, his voice full of awe. "It is even more interesting than Harry said it would be. He said it was a heaven in Norse myths and in our fairy tales it is described as such, but this is different and much better."

"It looks different and better, but I wonder what is Loki's goal with this," Charlie Weasley said as he joined them. "He always has some goal and I think that he has one here as well."

"Maybe he has, but I don't care about it," Tonks said. "It looks too darn good to care about anything else."

"There is that approach," Oliver said and looked towards the massive arched entrance into the school, that had appeared in front of them. It was placed in a recess in the wall and he could see that every single space around the doors' wings were sculpted and carved. Those decorations were showing various magical arts and their usage, as his eyes ran over them he had trouble believing some of them were possible.

There were six large plates, in total, at the doors that showed that. Going clockwise from top to bottom, on the uppermost right there was a sorcerer summoning massive balls of fire and hurling them in the enemy's direction. Below him someone was summoning winds to create a tornado to use it against their enemies. At the lowest plate a sorcerer was kneeling to the side of a body and healing it.

On the other side of those massive doors were the other three reliefs. The lowest one showed a sorcerer opening a portal for his supporters that were waiting in a far away place. Above it was a sorcerer summoning massive amounts of water to wash away thd enemy troops. Last but not least, the uppermost left plate was showing a sorcerer using his control over Earth to create a new landscape.

Between those stone panels the doors were placed, leading into the Academy, compared to everything around they were plain looking golden doors with a giant sign placed on each wing. It was a sword and a staff crossed behind a large triskelion.

o-0-o

"This is the entrance to the Academy," Loki said turning and looking at the whole Hogwarts group, he could feel their excitement and curiosity about the things hidden behind those doors. "It's full name is _Academy of Battle Magic and Sorcery of Asgard_ , as it's name suggest its main focus is magic used for dueling and battles. However it also provides complex magical education in all fields, it is considered the most prestigious one and you will find here sorcerers from all of the Nine Realms.

"Even if you come from Hogwarts, which in your opinion is one of the best schools of magic don't expect any kind of preferential treatment, you will be treated the same way as everybody else is and you will fall under the rules of this Academy, not Hogwarts," Loki said with a smirk and tried not to laugh, the Hogwarts students were completely unaware of what kind of life was waiting for them.

He fought an urge to sigh when he felt Dumbledore look at him. "What do you mean by the fact that they will fall under the rules of the Academy?" Dumbledore asked.

Loki looked at the elderly Headmaster of Hogwarts, his gaze cool and lacking any emotions. "You are only guests here, nothing else, which means that you will be expected to behave the way everybody is behaving. Also your students will attend the same classes as everybody else in this school." Dumbledore tried to open his mouth, but stopped when Loki's gaze focused on him. "You have no power here so I suggest that you do not do a single thing that can annoy me or anybody from my family. As I said, your students will attend all classes here and will answer to the rules of the Academy, not Hogwarts'."

Dumbledore crumbled and nodded. "I understand, Your Highness."

"Perfect." Loki smiled and touched the surface of the doors with his scepter. They creaked and slowly opened, revealing the inside of the Academy to the Hogwarts students. Exalted halls that saw many thousands of great sorcerers across the ages study inside, each and every single one of them leaving an imprint on them.

o-0o

Oliver wanted to gape as he looked at the hall, revealed, when Loki opened the doors to the Academy. The hall was huge and as he looked at it, he had trouble believing it was possible. It was made out of the same golden stone out of which the whole of Asgard seemed to be made of. It's floor was covered in beautiful mosaics that glittered in the sun and when Oliver looked at them, he realized that they were made out of gems. Along the walls hundreds of sculptures of sorcerers stood, in various poses, but the one thing that drew Oliver's attention were the staff in the hand of every single one of them.

His gaze flickered forward towards their apparent destination, a wide staircase with a colonnade in the middle that supported the vaulted ceiling. He felt here like a grain of dust, the scale of everything here was huge. The Hogwarts Great Hall felt like a broom closet compared to this, this was much, much bigger and grander than Hogwarts.

o-0-o

Loki walked onto the steps and turned around to face the whole Hogwarts group, he glanced for a moment to the side and smiled when he saw Bragi appear at his side. The Lord Commandant of the Academy was in his red robes with light armor visible underneath and a sword strapped to his side.

"I presume those are the Hogwarts students you were speaking about," Bragi whispered, his voice quiet, almost impossible to hear. "They look interesting and there are a few that have a lot of potential in them. Potential to be great sorcerers or sorceresses, they just need to be polished and molded into the proper shape."

"Yes," Loki nodded and looked at the Hogwarts group that looked back at him, shuffling their feet and getting a bit impatient. "They seem eager to hear what I have to say." For one last time his gaze landed on Bragi. "Once I explain things to them and give them a tour, could you find some guides for them to help find their rooms?"

"Of course, Your Highness, it will be done," Bragi said, his fist touching the spot above his heart.

Loki nodded and focused fully on the Hogwarts group and their Professors, he knew that the latter ones or some of them were going to be an issue. How big of an issue, only the future would tell. However he was sure that all of them would have an issue with part of the curriculum and some of the customs.

He cleared his throat and they immediately quietened, focusing on him and what he was going to say. "You have an opportunity, not many of your peers have, as you are allowed to study alongside the very best of the whole Nine Realms for some time. The exact amount of which will be decided in my discussion with your Headmaster. You will attend classes alongside the students of this Academy and you will obey the same rules, they do. Also, you will face the same sanctions as they do for misbehavior and I strongly suggest that you avoid doing something stupid and rash."

"Today you will be given a tour of the building and you will have tomorrow to get used to it. After that you will start attending classes with the other students, so I suggest that you use that time you have well. Your stay here can be a wonderful time or a miserable one, so I suggest that you think well before making any choice."

He paused for a moment to allow them to digest the data, he could see them thinking it over and move their heads forward, as if being physically closer would allow them to hear and understand more. He also wanted to stall so a few of the Instructors from the staff of the Academy could join him. He was in no mood to deal with several hundred excited teens and their annoying teachers, alone.

He saw the robed and armed forms of the Instructors appear at his side and nodded to them. "There are a few hundred of you and it is too big of a group for me to give all of you a tour of the Academy." he said bringing all of their attention to him. "I want you to divide into fourteen groups with one Professor each and we will begin the tour."

o-0-o

Oliver looked around, trying to locate some of his friends. He tapped Tonks' shoulder when he got to her. "We should join Loki's group, he seems like the best one," he said when she looked at him.

"Yes," she agreed, her hair flashing through several bright colors until they settled on black. "Cedric and Charlie I think are thinking the same."

"Yes," he said, as they pushed through the crowd trying to get close to Loki, who was completely focused on his talk with Dumbledore. They stopped talking the moment a small group formed, as Oliver looked around he could see around twenty people there. Most of them from Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

Loki motioned for them to get closer. "The Academy occupies a massive building, so I want you to follow me closely as it is easy to get lost. I will show you everything important that you will need to know and answer all of your questions. So let's get started, first stop is the Hall of Yggdrasil." They nodded and followed Loki up the stairs and into a massive hall in front of them.

"Yggdrasil as in the World Tree?" Charlie asked

"To be exact it is its sapling, but yes. It is a powerful magical tree and it's wood is used in some of the most powerful artifacts. It's Hall is the most important hall in the Academy."

Oliver nodded and as they entered a large circular chamber his gaze was drawn to the tree in its middle with four pairs of students standing around it. They were standing at attention and it looked as if they were guarding the tree. Around them the chamber was brimming with activity with dozens, if not hundreds of people moving through it.

"The whole Academy is focused around this Hall and every single corridor leads here, so if you ever get lost head for this chamber. It is a nexus of magical power, thus you need to be careful when you get close to the Tree."

"So those eight are some sort of Honor Guard?" Oliver asked and everybody glanced at him. "I mean that they stand there mostly for show. You could have probably blocked everybody with the proper array of runes and wards."

"Indeed," Loki said with a smile. "Being chosen to stand guard here is also a sign that you are good which usually keeps everybody competing with each other to be as good as they can be. Not to mention that runes can fail sometimes and there are people that will do everything to test how far they can push."

Oliver nodded and looked at two first years that were in their group. Fred and George Weasley were troublemakers and a bit annoying. He was kind of curious how they would fare here.

"Anyways," Loki said bringing Oliver out of his musings. "Around the Hall are the most official chambers of the Academy. Further away from it and on the upper floor are the classrooms and the library. Above them are the living quarters and the entertainment area for everybody that lives at the Academy. Training grounds used for physical activities are almost at the top of the building, directly above the dormitories, and above them are the training grounds used for magic. Some of those training grounds are suspended in the air and are located outside of the Academy."

"What do you mean by physical activities?" Dumbledore asked and as Oliver looked at the elderly Headmaster, he had a feeling that Dumbledore was not happy.

"Hand to hand combat, martial arts, weapons handling, those kinds of things," Loki said with a shrug. "I thought that I mentioned that magical education here isn't only focused on magic. Whilst magic is a powerful force, it is one of many tools we have at our disposal and sometimes it is not the best choice."

"Will they be required to attend those classes?" Dumbledore asked and Oliver sighed at those words, he wanted to have some freedom here without their Headmaster telling them what they could and couldn't do.

"Headmaster, with all due respect, we are here to see how do they study magic, aren't we? So maybe you could allow us to do the things they do?"

"Yes, you will be required to attend those classes," Loki said. "They are an important part of the philosophy that is behind our way of doing magic."

Oliver smiled at those words and cracked his knuckles. "It will be fun."

Loki looked at him and the smile quickly disappeared from Oliver's face. "I can assure you that it will be, the question is for whom."

Oliver sobered up and focused on their surroundings, they were climbing one flight of stairs after another and when they finally stopped they were on a large balcony that seemed to be running along the edge of the Academy. When he looked around he could see the whole city sprawled below, with the Citadel in the middle and everything spreading from it in concentric circles. There was a wide, white line leading from the Citadel and running towards the Bifrost, while a second one was running towards the other side of the city and its walls. Those lines looked like the main alleys of the city. Symmetric lines of streets and alleys were spreading from them dividing the city into smaller parts, every single one of them filled with buildings and lush green gardens and parks. It looked like a paradise, too beautiful to be true or real.

"It is real," Loki said, seeing their expression. "After all this is the Realm of Gods and this is its capital, the nexus of power in the Nine Realms and one of the most important capitals in the known universe."

"I know that it is real," Tonks said. "It's just that it doesn't feel that way."

"You will get used to it sooner than you think."

"If you say so, Your Highness," Oliver said and looked around. "So when are you going to show us the facilities inside the Academy?"

"Right about now," Loki said before pulling Dumbledore to him and whispering a couple of words into the ear of the older wizard. Dumbledore crumbled and nodded weakly, his happy expression gone. "Since that is settled, we can go," Loki said with a happy expression and looked at the students.

Oliver had the feeling that he really didn't want to know what were those words whispered by Loki. They descended into the building using the same stairs that got them up there. Though instead of going all they way down Loki stopped them when they were at the crossing of the corridor and the stairs on the first floor.

They walked through a short corridor and entered a large, open area with stained glass from floor to ceiling. Windows and a vaulted ceiling that disappeared in the darkness above. There were hundreds of shelves with books and scrolls, as well as data terminals with large holographic displays suspended in the air. Between them small tables were scattered for the use of those studying and working on their homework or simply conducting research. He could see a few dozens of students pouring over books and scrolls as they seemed to study for something.

"I don't want to say anything, but this looks way better than our library at Hogwarts," Cedric said. "Here I want to learn, at home it looks like a tomb."

Oliver tried not to laugh, but failed. "I like your comparison and this place does, indeed, look great."

"Thank you," Loki said with a small bow of his head. "It was designed to be the best school of magic in this part of the universe. You are going to see the classrooms and the training grounds tomorrow and the last thing that I want to show you, are the living quarters. The rest is not that important."

They nodded and followed Loki up the stairs and after a few moments of wandering they found themselves in an area that reminded them greatly of their common rooms at Hogwarts. It was almost round with furs and rugs covering the floor, a fireplace in the corner and a dozen or so comfortable looking armchairs and sofas scattered across it. Just waiting to be used. Two long hallways extended from the room and in their walls they could see doors leading into other rooms.

"Your dorms are in those hallways, there are two people per room and your personal belongings will be moved into them when you enter the first one you choose. There you will find them waiting for you."

"How did you do it?" Dumbledore asked

"Runes and a couple of other things." Loki shrugged. "This place is great, full of surprises and nice spots so you are free to explore most of this level. The upper and lower ones are off-limits, at least for now."

o-0-o

In the room there was only silence as Scott Summers looked at Professor Xavier, arms crossed over his chest and brows furrowed. Even the light shining in his visor wasn't looking too nicely.

"How long are we going to stay here?"

"Till the end of the Tournament," Professor finally said. "A few still need time to be treated and the rest won't mind some entertainment that will allow them to forget about the world around them as well as about the past events."

"Shouldn't we be preparing for a fight against the Purists?"

"No, Nicholas said that he will deal with them and I'm going to trust him. I worked with him in the past and I know how good he is, not to mention that he helps his allies."

"Since when are we allies with SHIELD?"

"We aren't." Professor shrugged. "But we have common goals and he knows that it was me who helped get Magneto to agree to the agreement before it could change into a total civil war." Professor looked out of the window and at the massive, flying form of the Academy. "They need some normality in their lives and this is the best they can get as the Institute is a ruin and it will take time to get it repaired. So even if you are unhappy, accept this as a something you can't avoid."

Cyclops glared at the Professor, but then he nodded. "I will try, it's just that for me living at someone else's expense is not the best thing."

"I know the feeling," Professor said. "But this is the only place where we can have peace, safety and the best medical care we need until the Institute is repaired."

"Fine," Cyclops said and walked out of the room.

"He isn't the most happy man in the world, is he?" Loki asked as he appeared in the room.

"No." Professor shook his head. "He is a reliable one and bright, but he has issues with his temper and doesn't like it when someone else does the job."

Loki smiled and walked to the window. "Those characteristics are an issue, but even the most capable leader has some flaws. My brother being the best example, he is too brash and temperamental at times and doesn't think before committing himself to something."

"What do you want from me?"

"Dumbledore is an issue, he might not agree with the fact that Illyana who is human is taught magic our way, not his and the fact that my dear nephew also knows our magic." Loki conjured a goblet and drank from it. "He is a good person, but even the best one can be corrupted by power, one of your philosophers said: _Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely_."

"Lord Acton," Professor said and sighed. "I try to see the best of humanity in each man, but power is the most tempting force and when you have nobody watching you and everybody treats you like a saint, corruption happens."

"Exactly. He is a bit arrogant and might think that he is the most powerful person there and can order others around. Someone needs to knock him down a few pegs and keep him there until he accepts that there are forces beyond his limited ability to comprehend the world."

"I see," Professor softly said and looked at Loki. "And you want me to help you convince him that he needs to behave?"

"Yes." The smirk on Loki's face would make a shark swim away in fear and terror. "He is a bit rattled and it shouldn't be that hard to convince him, but I wouldn't mind your help. My means of persuasion are a bit more direct and usually leave their victims scarred and terrified of things to come."

"What about that stone of yours hidden in your scepter?"

"It doesn't work that way," Loki said. "It turns a person into a puppet and while you might be able use it to manipulate him, it is too powerful for it to not be spotted."

"I see," Professor said. "I will help you, I know how much of a problem it can get and the sooner it is dealt with, the better."

"Yes," Loki said and snapped his fingers, opening a portal in the air.

o-0-o

Harry walked through the halls of the Academy with Illyana at his side, everybody giving them a wide berth of space and freedom. "So what weapon are you going to choose for weapons training?"

She was silent for a moment, thinking deeply. "We all will learn how to wield staffs, won't we?"

"Yes."

"I was thinking about some kind of sword," she finally said. "But than, swords are also heavy and bulky."

"That depends on the blade, there is a difference between my bastard or a hand-and-a-half sword. As well as the greatsword used by my grandfather, the kopis used by Atalanta or even the sabres used by some of the cavalry. The only thing that they have in common is that they have a blade and a hilt, the rest is vastly different."

"So what would you suggest?"

"Did you see the armory you have at the Academy?" he asked. "There are examples of all kinds of weapons that we use on Asgard there. It's not the biggest one, but it is rather full and you should be able to find something that will fit you inside."

"We have an armory?" She asked, her eyes shining with light.

"You have, after all it is a military academy, even if nobody admits it," Harry said as he walked to the massive double doors emblazoned with crossed swords. To their side a small access panel was placed. "Let's see if I remember the code."

He pressed a few buttons and the doors slowly opened and allowed them through, the moment they stepped inside they closed behind them again.

"How big is it?" She asked, looking at the hundreds of racks, stands, crates and shelves that filled the room, the wide corridors between them and the lamps hanging from the ceiling. It looked like a dusty storehouse, but not many would house these things.

"Big," Harry said with a shrug. "At the Academy there are something like five thousand students at all times and something like four hundred of instructors, in times of war it also gets several hundred warriors of the garrison and all of them need to be armed and armored."

"Oh," she said as they passed the racks holding the more eclectic or exotic examples of Asgardian weaponry and walked deeper into it. Around them there were hundreds of weapons. Starting from simple bows and quivers of arrows, to daggers, staves, spears, maces, axes and ending with hundreds of other weapons, that even Harry was unable to name, after years of living on Asgard.

Finally they stopped at the end of the corridor and in front of a wall, on which various swords and sabres were hanging. Starting with small and short swords, and ending with greatswords which required immense amounts of strength to lift them of the wall and to easily use them.

"This one might work," Harry said as he reached out for one of the sabres hanging on the wall.

It was a weapon with a wicked blade and a beautifully crafted hilt. It's hilt was made out of wood and at it's top there was an eagle head made out of silver with rubies for eyes. It was placed in a black wooden scabbard with iron bindings. Harry pulled it out of its scabbard with a flourish and the black blade shone in the bright light of the room. "What do you think?" He asked as he handed it to her.

"It's beautiful," she said and moved it in her hand, trying to feel its balance. "It also fits my hand."

"Which usually means that it fits someone's style."

"So, what am I supposed to do with it?" She asked, picking up the scabbard and sliding the blade into it.

"Mention to your instructor that you have your weapon of choice and show it to him," Harry said with a shrug. "You can also take it, a lot of these weapons are for students. After all, they are to be used, not to collect dust on the shelves."

"I see, so how important is this weapons training?"

"Very." Harry laughed. "Especially the basics, Sif was able to keep us going for hours until we were doing something right, and for her right means perfect. Here they won't be that demanding, but will still push you hard."

"Oh," she said as she slung the sabre over her shoulder. "So the Hogwarts students are here, aren't they?"

"Yes," Harry said, distaste in his voice. "Which means that either my uncle is getting senile or he has a major plan in mind."

"Maybe you should get over your mindset and try to think more clearly about them?"

Harry was silent for a moment and then he looked at her. "My answer is to you, is wait and watch them," he said and sighed. "I'm supposed to attend Hogwarts in few years, but if wizards are as bad as they look, well, I think that I might stay at the Institute or here."

"Would you disobey your father?"

"Yes." Harry grinned. "It's my choice, not his and I can be stubborn."

"How much stubborn?" She asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Very," he said as he snapped his fingers and his faithful wolves appeared at his sides.

She looked at him, at his wolves and once again at him. "Why did you summon them?"

"The Hogwarts students are somewhere here and Freki and Geri are good at intimidating people."

"How good? I saw them at the Institute and nobody was paying them any attention there." she said and looked around. "Here too, as nobody freaked out at the sight of them."

"Because they learned that unless provoked they won't turn into a furry buzzsaw that can rip apart anything on its path. I also like their company," Harry said and looked at her. "Today I don't have much more time as Sif wants to teach me more about wielding the hammer, but tomorrow I might show you some of the basics on how to use a sabre."

She nodded and with a smile he snapped his fingers, summoning a portal for himself and stepped through it, vanishing from the Academy.

o-0-o

Loki stepped out of the portal in the Academy and looked at Professor X that joined him moments later. "He might be a bit stubborn so I asked someone to help us."

"Who is this someone?" Professor asked.

"That would be me," Bragi said. "Lord Commandant of the Academy, God of Magic and Poetry, as well as distant cousin of His Majesty." He turned towards Loki. "Can you tell me, Your Highness, why you require my presence here?"

"The Headmaster of Hogwarts needs to be reminded of his place in pecking order and the fact that he is not the most important person in the universe. Also that he can't order other people and tell them what they should and shouldn't do," Loki said as he twirled his scepter, the gem set in it slightly glowing. "So we thought that a nice talk with him is in order and should wake him up, if not, well he might end up with some kind of poisoning or at the bottom of the bay."

"Maybe we should first use less violent ways of approaching him?" Professor X suggested. "I mean, poisoning or murder won't get us anything. Except, probably, causing the wizards to be hostile towards us. Which is even worse than the current state of affairs."

"Hopefully he will see reason before His Highness will need to get creative," Bragi said and stroked his massive beard. "Generally people can understand logical and reasonable arguments."

"Ww will see," Loki said as they walked towards the place where the Hogwarts group was. "Violence is a tool for me, one that I dislike using, but on them it might be necessary."

"Hopefully not," Professor said.

"I hope so, as well" Loki said.

They walked through it, most of the Hogwarts students jumping out of their path and allowing them to pass undisturbed. Loki smirked slightly as he saw them move out of their path in fear and with some respect. He could also feel some slight resentment from some of them, but that could wait.

Finding Dumbledore proved to be an easier task than Loki expected it to be and after few minutes of walk they were standing in front of the doors leading into a room Dumbledore had taken for himself. Loki struck them with the scepter and they opened revealing a large room which Dumbledore had adapted to his needs.

Dumbledore looked up from a text he was reading and Loki could see some of it. "What do you want?"

"We merely want to talk," Loki smiled, conjuring seats for himself and Bragi. "About several things concerning your stay here. A few other things that are important for all of us, too. It would be preferable if you remember about them for your whole stay here."

"What are those things?"

"From where should we start?" Loki mused. "We can start from my nephew, one of Charles' students that is at the Academy, or maybe from the different rules that you need to accept while being here. But I think that my nephew and one of his friends, that is my father's ward, are the most important ones. She is here out of her own free will and I do not want you suggesting to her that Hogwarts will be better for her."

"But why?" Dumbledore asked, arching his eyebrow. "Hogwarts is the best school of magic on Earth and it is more than capable of providing anybody with the education they require."

"It is one of the best on Earth." Loki smiled slyly. "But not the very best, you are probably aware that Strange is training his apprentices and there is also Kamar-Taj. Here there are three equally good schools or academies as we call them and I take apprentices from time to time. So don't even suggest it. Besides that, she chose this school and we really don't like giving away our students."

"Then why did you agree to let Harry come to Hogwarts when he will be ready for it?"

"Because by that point he will be given the basics of magical training and will know how to control his power to an extend, while now he is still developing his mutant and magical powers" Loki said and looked at Xavier. "While Illyana will be most likely staying at the Institute or at the Academy."

"Yes," Professor X nodded. "I spoke with her and she is happy with the arrangement, so I want you Albus to stay far away from her and do not suggest to her any idea about transfer to Hogwarts."

"Yes, that sums it up nicely," Loki said and looked at Dumbledore. "Are we clear?"

"What if I don't agree to your demands?"

"Your stay will become a lot less pleasant than it is, it is not something you want to see or feel."

Loki smirked when he saw Dumbledore crumbling under his gaze. Those were harsh words, but they were true and needed, as well. It also meant that if Dumbledore was able to survive this bitter pill, the next one would pass less painfully. One that was, potentially, even more bitter than this one.

"I will accept those demands," Dumbledore finally said. "I disagree with you, but I'm outmatched here as I know that even Charles on his own would be a problem for me, with you also being present I don't stand a chance."

"Good," Loki smiled slyly and looked at Bragi. "I think it is a good time to explain to him about the curriculum and the other things that his students will need to suffer at our hands. As well as several ground rules that affect everybody that is on the campus of the Academy."

"Yes," Bragi nodded. "I plan to announce it to your students tomorrow, but you should probably know first. As His Highness already said, we place equal focus on physical and magical training so your students for the duration of their stay here will be expected to join the rest of the students in this part of the training."

Dumbledore tried to say something, but Loki's glare calmed him down. It looked as if a glacier was coming towards the elderly Headmaster, beautiful, but deadly.

Bragi nodded his thanks to Loki and turned to look at Dumbledore. "There are also subjects purely academical, not connected with magic and they are supposed to attend those classes, too. Their main focus is the science and history of the Nine Realms and of Asgard, something that might be quite beneficial for them."

"If I agree to those terms, what will they get in return?"

"Full access to the facilities of the Academy, unless restricted to specific groups. They will be treated by the staff as every other student, which also means answering to the same rules and falling under the same punishments. Also you and your staff will have access to all of the libraries of the Academy as well as any other facility that is on the campus."

"Not to mention, that you will be provided with whatever you need or require," Loki added with a sly smile. "So unless you are a fool you will accept this offer and you won't complain."

"I will accept it," Dumbledore said

"Perfect." Loki smiled "I hope that your stay will be as enjoyable as it can be. You can discuss the details with Bragi, while we will leave you as there are matters to discuss for the two of us."

He could see Dumbledore nod and after a look at Professor Xavier they walked out of the room. Leaving the Lord Commandant and the Headmaster to iron out the details and finer points of this arrangement.

o-0-o

Oliver looked around the dorm they were given at the Academy and smiled, it looked good and was much more comfortable than the one they had at Hogwarts.

"That's the kind of dorm I can have," he finally said, sitting down on the bed and looking at Charlie with whom he was sharing it. "Big, nice and comfortable. Only for two people."

"Yes," Charlie nodded, pushing his trunk to the wall and out of the way. "I'm more curious about the creatures they have here and what we will be studying."

"We will see," Oliver said and looked out of the window, at the Citadel. "I wonder if Harry is here at the moment."

"You want to meet him?"

"He is a nice person. Also he is someone that knows a lot and I wouldn't mind seeing him."

"He might be. But I think we better focus more on getting used to being here and studying, than on trying to find Harry."

"You are probably right," Oliver said as he reached out to a bedside table and grabbed a book placed there and written in runes, but when he looked at them they changed to normal text. "Neat," he smiled and opened it. It looked like some sort of a guide as inside it he saw a description of Asgard and even the Academy. Things that he should know.

The next couple of hours until night and curfew came, were spent chatting with each other and trying to learn as much as they could about the things to come. When they went to sleep they weren't tired physically, but magically, they were burned out.

o-0-o

Oliver was sleeping peacefully when the silence of the night was interrupted by a sudden roaring sound of a horn. He jolted up in his bed, almost getting out of his skin in the process and looked at Charlie, a confused expression on his face. "The hell was that?"

"Probably wake up call," Charlie said and winced. "It was painful and not nice, but I guess it is what it is."

The doors of their room opened and through them poked in a Perfect's head. "You have fifteen minutes to dress and wash. After that you are supposed to meet us in the common area."

They looked at each other and sighed as it seemed to be worse than Hogwarts when it came to timing, or lack thereof. Quickly washing and putting on their robes they made their way to the common area while trying to wake up and stay somewhat focused. Entering it they found most of their peers as asleep as they were and trying to catch as much rest as possible. They also saw one of the Professors from the Academy standing near Dumbledore and talking quietly. Seeing their arrival the Professor turned to look at them, he was a tall man, for Oliver, he was easily standing well over seven feet and even if his height wasn't intimidating, then his looks would do the trick, he was a hulking person with blond hair and black, as night, eyes. To his side a sword was strapped. A sword that was obviously used, recently at that.

"Since everybody is here, I have a couple of announcements for you," he said. " The Lord Commandant would be here to greet you personally, but he has other duties to attend to and he asked me to officially greet you to the Academy. I'm Bjarni Ragnarsson and I'm the Master-At-Arms of the Academy as well as Deputy Commandant of it. I hope that your stay here will be a pleasant one. Now I will take you to the Dining Hall for breakfast and after that you will be given a tour of the rest of the campus."

They nodded and as Oliver looked around the rest of his peers he could see them brimming with excitement and eagerness for the things to come. He himself was curious about, how their life at the Academy would look like. They were led through a couple of wide and airy corridors and finally they arrived in the Dining Hall.

The Dining Hall was a large oval room with dozens of long tables placed in it and a high table placed on a raised dais. Dozens of lamps were hanging from the ceiling, lighting the room. If that was not enough there were also windows placed in the walls. It was not an imposing structure like the Great Hall of Hogwarts was.

Looking around, Oliver, could feel more of comfort and ease spread around him. It looked so warm and homey that he didn't even have the desire to do anything hostile towards any of the students that were already in the hall, eating their breakfast.

"Is this Valhalla?" One of thd students asked, making Ragnar laugh.

"No, Valhalla is a completely different place, but it looks similar to this. It is one of the palaces of His Majesty. This here is merely a normal Dining Hall," Ragnar said as he looked at them. "Once you eat you will be given a tour around the Academy, shown the facilities that you will have access to, during your stay here, and be explained the rules that you are expected to follow."

At the mention of rules Oliver and most of the Hogwarts group groaned, but the moment they sat down, hundreds of trays with all kinds of food appeared on the tables. Food that quickly reminded them of how hungry they were and pushed thoughts about the future to the back of their minds.

Once they were done with their breakfast they were led into a large amphitheatre, big enough to comfortably house all of them and onto the stage, in the middle walked the same man that showed them where the Dining Hall was.

"There are some ground rules that you need to know even before you will be shown the rest of the Academy," Bjarni started and they looked at him, their gazes focused on his face. "Showing respect to ones that stand higher in the hierarchy than you is expected and you are expected to do it as well. No matter who you are you need to show respect to your betters and the lack of it will be punished accordingly. Secondly, you fall under the same rules as everybody else falls under and the fact that you are from Hogwarts won't be accepted as an excuse for not knowing rules."

Oliver could feel a lot of unhappy looks around him and even some glares at the Deputy Commandant. It reminded him more of the rules that his cousin mentioned from his time at West Point.

"Any kind of misbehavior will be punished severely and we will know about it sooner than you think it is possible to learn about something. Which leads us to the next point, the fact that you are from Hogwarts means nothing to us and you will be treated as every new student. Your past achievements mean nothing as do your failures, you have a blank slate, so use it well."

Oliver could see that a lot of people gulp in fear at those words, but then nodding their understanding.

"Good," Bjarni said with a weird smirk. "Since everything is explained we will give you a tour of the classrooms and after that there will be time to see how fit you are or how unfit I should say."

"Why do I have a feeling that it will be a disaster?" Tonks asked and he looked at her. "I mean that he feels awfully happy about this thing and it gives me creepy vibes."

"Do you remember Wolverine?" Oliver asked as they walked up the stairs and he had a really good feeling of where they were going.

"Yeah," she said with a wince. "And it is not the best experience."

"I have a hunch that this is going to be similar."

She sighed and looked at him. "By the looks of it Harry was not joking about the amount of training he was given."

"Don't use his name here," he said as he saw a lot of their fellow students focus on them. "Use his nickname or whatever, but not his name."

"Why?" she asked and then noticed stares. "Right, so it will be fun, really fun."

"Yes," he nodded as they climbed the stairs and arrived on a floor where they were supposed to train in martial arts. They followed their guide through the maze of a corridor and were led onto a large arena.

"Since this is your first day here I won't push you as hard as I normally push my students," Bjarni said as he paced in front of their group. "Twenty laps around the arena and once you are done with them, we will see what will be next."

o-0-o

Harry looked at the arena where the wizards were running and tried not to sigh, he was expecting something more than wizards panting and trying to stand upright after two laps. But from his viewing point on top of the stands surrounding the arena he saw them fail miserably. "Pathetic," he finally said. "I knew that at Hogwarts they focus only on magic, but I had higher hopes than this."

"Cut them some slack," Atalanta said. "From what your uncle told me they are used to using magic to solve all of their problems, if not for the fact that one person per five thousand here has no more magic than basics for runes and shape-shifting we could end up in the same place as them."

He turned to look at her. "I get what you are saying, but don't they know that magic isn't the solution to every problem?"

"As if you know that strength sometimes doesn't work."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "You won't let that one go, will you?"

"No." She smiled. "Someone needs to keep reminding you that there are times when strength won't work, now apply the same principle to them. We are used to the physical approach to combat because we are almost impossible to kill, while their bodies are much more fragile, so they need to use other means of solving issues that they encounter."

"Point taken. It's just that I don't see a reason to be so narrow-minded and focused only on magic."

"It should change," she said with a sly smile. "Especially if Bragi gives Bjarni free reign and will only watch."

"Yes," Harry said with a wince and placed his hand on the pommel of his sword. "It will motivate them really quickly and they won't know what hit them."

"It is not like every wizard is failing so badly."

"Yes," he said, his gaze following four wizards that were setting the pace or at least were able to jog. "They were at the Institute and Wolverine is as vicious as Bjarni or even more. So they were forced to train or they would have unpleasant surprises."

She nodded and smiled. "Are you going to reveal that you are a Prince of Asgard to them?"

"To whom?" He arched an eyebrow.

"To the wizards in general."

A short, barking sound, escaped Harry's lips . "You know what I think about my fame in their community and I'm in no mood to deal with them. But on the other hand, the sooner I'm done with it, the better."

"There's that approach," she said and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I know that you have something planned, what is it?"

"I planned to leave the Capitol to Wolf Hall for the remaining time until the Tournament and take with me a couple of people. You, Ulf, Warren, Jean, Rahne, Danielle, Kitty, Roberto, Anne-Marie or Rogue as she prefers to be called. I want to stay away from the noise of the court and from what I know from them they also have enough of the noise."

"I like your idea." She smiled. "So when are we leaving?"

"I would need to speak with my grandfather, but most likely tomorrow afternoon."

She nodded and smiled as they focused their attention on the Hogwarts students below, again.

o-0-o

Oliver crashed onto the sand of the arena and looked at the rest of the group, he could tell that he was in the best shape out of them all, but he could also tell that the rest of them was even more exhausted than he was. He heard someone laugh and when he looked at the Professor that was standing in the middle of the arena he felt anger burn in his mind. This man was having fun at their expense.

"I expected something more from the students of the supposedly best school of magic on Midgard," he said, walking slowly in front of them. "This was even more pathetic than the worst group I have ever trained. I knew that you didn't train physically, but excluding a small percentage, every single one of you is weak and pathetic."

"We are not Æsir, so we won't be as strong as you are," Oliver said as he sat up and wiped the sweat off his face.

"Yes, you are not Æsir, but even humans can be better than you are. I trained one human and she is certainly fitter than a better part of you."

"Who is she?"

"Her identity is none of your concern," Bjarni said and looked at them. Oliver gulped when he saw a mischievous smirk on Bjarni's face. "Maybe you will learn one day, but you need to prove that you know something. So far you are leagues away from impressing me and I don't think it will change soon. And there is a rule that until you are somewhat fit you aren't allowed to study more advanced magic. Now scram to your rooms and get cleaned, after that we will begin your proper training."

They almost ran out of the arena and to their rooms, not caring about their past exhaustion. Their fear of Bjarni was more than enough to make them run.

o-0-o

Loki walked onto the arena and towards Bjarni. "How did it go?"

"They have potential, but they need to be worked on," Bjarni said, his hand moving through his beard. "I made them run around the arena and in an hour or so I will introduce them to martial arts."

"They are from a conservative society," Loki said with a smirk. "I think that it will open their eyes to many things. I suggest that you let not so best of your students for them to spar with, Illyana, Idunn and several other."

"What about Your Highness' nephew? He should be more than enough for them."

"No, I have my reasons and my brother has even more of them." Loki said and looked towards the stands and the armory hidden beneath them. "Though him and his friend might decide to demolish this arena."

"I wouldn't mind it." Bjarni shrugged. "It will be a good break from boredom and their duels are always interesting to watch."

"There's that," Loki said and looked towards the entrance to the arena to see Harry and Atalanta walk towards them. "We better vacate the arena as they seem eager to go all out."

"Indeed, Your Highness."

 **o-0-o**

 **A/N:**

 **Harry's behavior, he is used to being around people that are either training various martial arts or are fit, so for him Hogwarts students aren't up to the standard.**

 **Master-At-Arms, he is one of the most important people at the Academy. He is responsible for keeping order, punishing ones that broke the rules, overseeing physical training and the armory.**

 **Reviews:**

 _TimothyB_ – Harry won't take part in the Tournament for this simple fact that nobody would be willing to fight to win against him, he is second in line to the throne.

 _randomplotbunny_ – You should be happy with them and their reaction, but for the Tournament you will need to wait, there's no point in rushing anything.

 _BarbyBells_ – Protector of Midgard is job of his father, not his. About being a Prince and warrior, a lot of famous princes managed to combine it, but you are right that he needs to control himself for some time. The moment he has a child or few more, he can do whatever he wishes to as the line will continue. When he is on Asgard and learns about the history of it he almost constantly hears about one ancestor of him or another that did something for the realm or fought in one conflict or another. And you know how such things can influence the imagination of anybody, especially young kid or teen.

 _Angel Winx_ – My bad, if you want you can hang me, it will get fixed when I will be making corrections to previous chapters.


	26. Culture shock can be painful

**A/N – Easter is tomorrow and since most likely for a better part of the day I will be occupied with family meetings today you will receive a chapter. In it Hogwarts students get some lessons and discover that their culture isn't the only one and in some places there is a different one, one that doesn't take kindly certain behaviors.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Harry put on his helmet and secured it on his head before looking at Atalanta, the coldness of the mithril touching his face was more than enough to keep him focused and concentrated on the coming events. He slowly walked to the middle of the arena, his wings moving in synchronization with the rest of his body and looked at her.

She wore a golden chainmail with silver beautifully sculpted armor over it, it consisted of a breastplate, vambraces, gauntlets, greaves and a helmet. As he looked at her in this armor he had trouble believing that she was the one that he used to know, she had changed and looked a lot more dangerous than he remembered her. What got most of his attention were the two eagle-heads sculpted on the breastplate.

"Impressed?" she asked, he could feel some amusement in her voice.

"Yes," he honestly said. "Previously, you didn't have this armor and used a leather one."

"Sif decided with my father that I need a new one." Atalanta shrugged as she walked forward to him, her hand tightly gripping the handle of her sword. "And I think that it looks good."

Her moves were in some way mesmerizing to him and gathered all of his attention.

"Yes," Harry said and almost didn't have an opportunity to move his sword onto the path of a strike that otherwise would have severed his head from the rest of his body. He parried the strike and looked at her. "That wasn't the most fair strike."

"Life is not fair."

He only nodded and jumped away from her, trying to get the upper hand in the duel with the sheer length of his sword. _She knows the game I'm trying to play and will most likely try to get close and personal,_ he thought and smiled when he saw her jump at him.

His shield flickered in the light and slammed into the side of Atalanta's head, sending her tumbling away from him. It was not the most powerful strike, but even it would be more than capable of dazing her a bit. She rolled away from him and with a groan stood up from the ground. A small trickle of blood was flowing down the side of her head.

She wiped it with her hand and as she looked at it her eyes darkened. "You are dead," she finally said.

Harry only smiled and charged at her, his sword's blade crackling with the energy of the storm. When it slammed into her shield there was a loud clap of thunder that shook the whole arena. With the corner of his eye he could see the sky darken above the arena as the forces of nature answered his call. Clouds were swarming madly, bolts of energy jumping from one to another and huge droplets of water started to fall onto the glass roof of the arena.

"Nice storm," she said, smiling sweetly.

"Thanks," he said and barely had a chance to dodge as her foot almost slammed into his crotch. "That was nasty, but thank you." He grabbed Atalanta by her extended leg and threw into the wall.

"As if you were better," she said as she used telekinesis to decelerate herself in the air and before she had a chance to slam into the wall she was flying towards him.

"What next?" Harry asked "Beams of energy from your eyes?"

Harry jumped into the air and slammed into her the moment she flew directly below him, she yelped in surprise as they crashed against the sand of the arena. Her body took the brunt of the energy and he could see her aristocratic features twist from pain for the slightest moment as he landed on her. He pulled out a knife from a scabbard on his belt and placed it against her neck.

"Do you surrender?" Harry asked, lightly pressing blade against her neck.

"Yes," she said.

He smiled and stood up, looking around he saw that they were not alone and that there were wizards watching them. "Can you tell me that it is an illusion?"

"It's not an illusion," she said with a smirk. "They appeared here some time ago and if you were watching the stands you would have seen them."

"Troublesome," Harry muttered as he helped her get up. "I didn't break any of your bones, did I?"

"No."

"Good," he said with a smile as they walked to the changing rooms and the armory to get out of their armor and into more comfortable clothes.

o-0-o

"This was impressive," Cedric said, looking at the pair of people that walked off the arena.

Bjarni smirked and turned to look at the Hogwarts students. "They are one of the best of their generation. His Royal Highness Harald Thorson and Her Royal Highness Atalanta Heracleia. They are trained by Lady Sif and the effects of her training are, I think, more than visible." He paused for a moment and then smirked. "Now it is time for your first two classes to start, as well as one that I am teaching at the Academy, martial arts. You train here in a different attire than heavy robes, in shorts for boys and shorts and sports bras for girls, so you have ten minutes to change."

"What?!"

"That's outrageous!"

"Why?"

He let them shout for a few more moments before he finally reacted to those words. "Silence!" He barked and every wizard looked at him. "Are you a bunch of children that don't even belong in any place where magic is taught? Or are you something more that I can treat you as reasonable people?"

There was a moment of silence as they shuffled uncomfortably and looked between each other, he knew that his words were harsh, but they deserved it and he needed them to respect him. "You will listen to me and obey my orders the same way you would obey orders from your normal Professors. Is it clear?"

"Yes!"

"Better," he said. "You are here so you will adhere to our rules and tge dress code required here, not your own. One of those things is the way we train in martial arts, is it clear?"

"Yes!" It was a bit more reluctant than the last one, but he didn't care too much about it. He would work on them some more and after a few days it would be much different.

 _Even if all of them agree with my words, there are some that might start to plot the moment I'm not looking at them. Which will be troublesome, even the most conflicted families of nobility can bury their disagreements when their children are in the same group,_ he thought and looked over them.

"What are you waiting for? Nothing gets done by itself, at least not for you," he snarled and smiled when they disappeared out of his view. Running as fast as their legs could carry them. "This is going to be so much fun, so much fun."

o-0-o

Illyana put on her school issued sports bra and shorts and wrapped her hands in bandages to protect them from the worst damage. She scooped her clothes, put them in a locker, locked it and looked around, she could see that everybody was almost done with changing into their training clothes. At first she looked weirdly at the customs of Asgard, but now she came see them as something peculiar that needed to be accepted. She also quickly understood why they thought that a small amount of clothes was a good idea.

"You did it good," Idunn said looking at the bandages wrapped around Illyana's hands. "Most people that didn't train in martial arts have problems with it."

"I'm not most people, I know how to take care of myself," Illyana said with a smile. "Also at the Institute we were taught the basics of martial arts and wrestling so that we knew how to defend ourselves."

"I noticed that during our first spar," Idunn said with a smile. "I expected you to be unable to keep up with me, yet you didn't have too much of a problem doing so. I'm much stronger than you are, but pure strength is not everything when it comes to duels."

"Thanks," Illyana said.

They walked onto the arena where they saw Bjarni waiting for them, the old Master-At-Arms seemed to be smirking. "Good, you are ahead of time. I was gifted with teaching the Hogwarts students that came here from Midgard and someone needs to show them the most basic moves. Since you are supposed to know all of them, you will do it and I will mostly watch."

"That's new," Idunn said.

Illyana nodded, she could hear most people smiling and talking between themselves, it seemed like a nice opportunity to have some fun

o-0-o

Harry sighed in relief as he removed the armor that covered his body, even if it fit as well as his does, it had still caused some minor aches. He threw plates onto one pile, where they were, soon, joined by the chainmail he wore underneath. Free of them he looked at his clothes below and saw them covered in sweat, dirt and blood. He stripped out of those clothes and walked across the hall to the bathhouse that was part of the Academy.

Even if every single room had its own bathroom, the walk from the arenas to them, usually required at least twenty minutes and then around ten minutes to take a shower or a bath. Whilst here, they had everything at hand and didn't have the need to walk across the whole Academy. Well for him there was no need to make a portal and jump to his own rooms in the Citadel.

It was a big complex of various facilities connected with each other and with the changing rooms on the other side of the hall. They comprised of dozens of pools, some of them large, some of them small and they were filled with water of different temperatures. There was also a sauna, a large swimming pool and a gym adjacent to the complex.

As he entered it he could see some people inside, but he didn't care too much about them as by now he was somewhat familiar to the concept of nudity when training and doing a few other things. He looked around the room, searching for any of the smaller pools that were empty and walked to one.

At first he was a bit reluctant and afraid of this concept, but now he sighed in relief as he slipped into the warm water that almost immediately removed all of his aches and sores. As well as all the grime and dirt mixed with blood that covered his body. He didn't care about his wings getting wet as he knew that they would dry on their own in a couple of hours. When submerging himself in the water he could feel all of his tensed muscles relax. All of the tensions and worries also went away with the grime and dirt covering him.

He quickly washed himself of and sighed in relief as he didn't feel the grime covering his body. Stepping out of the pool he could feel streams of waters drip from the ends of his massive wings, he opened them and with a couple of moves all of the water that was in them landed on the ground and the miniscule amounts that were still there would disappear on their own.

Drying himself with a spell he walked across the hall and back into the changing rooms, he pulled out his fresh clothes and started to dress when he felt a large group of wizards barrel into the room. He sighed and looked at them as they were staring at him.

"What?" He asked as he put on his pants and shirt. "Do I have a second head or three hands?"

"No," one of them said. "It's just that we didn't expect to find anybody here."

Harry laughed as he tied his hair and put on the belt with the attached scabbards of his weapons. "These changing rooms are used by everybody, it's not my fault that you live in a backward society where certain things are treated as if they don't exist."

The wizards looked between each other and laughed uncomfortably at those words, he smiled as he walked out of the room and joined Atalanta who seemed as if she was eager to murder someone. "Stupid, narrow-minded bastards," she muttered in the wizards' direction. "Next time I will break a couple of their bones, slowly and painfully."

"Harsh words," Harry said as he looked at her. "What did they do?"

"Commented that I should cover my arms and that I shouldn't be training with weapons," she spat and Harry could see a weird fire in her eyes. "Who are they? Some idiots that haven't seen a woman train in the arts of war?"

"Looks like it." He placed hand on her shoulder and made her look into his eyes. "Don't go on a rampage here, there is a reason why I want to go to Wolf's Hall, it is to stay away from them."

"Yeah," she said. "Let's mention them to Bjarni and be gone from here."

"You are a nasty girl," Harry said as they walked onto the arena and straight towards Bjarni who was pacing along the other edge. The Master-At-Arms easily spotted them and walked towards them.

"How may I help you?" He asked, bowing lightly his head in a show of respect.

"The Hogwarts students don't even know how to keep their tongue on a leash," Atalanta snarled. "And know only insults."

Bjarni growled and looked at them, then his gaze darted towards the entrance into the arena. "I will ensure that they be explained that there are rules to be obeyed. One of them being to show respect for your betters. It seems that the previous lesson didn't get into their minds."

"Thank you."

"No problem, Your Highness," Bjarni said with a bow.

Atalanta smiled and Harry had a feeling that the wizards were not going to enjoy the next couple of hours. His feelings were confirmed when he saw the smirk on Bjarni's face, a smirk that announced trouble for wizards.

o-0-o

Tonks looked around and could feel that a lot of her peers was shuffling uncomfortably, she was more used to her body. Being a metamorphomagus gave her one advantage, you had to came to terms with your body. She walked onto the same arena where they were supposed to gather once again and she could see Master-At-Arms stand in it's middle with a group of his students. Her eyes narrowed when she saw a familiar mop of blonde hair, if she was right it was Illyana Rasputina. But it was not the Illyana she remembered, one Tonks remembered wasn't as confident as this one and didn't have this air of danger around herself.

Bjarni growled and walked forward, his robes billowing in his wake. "What did I tell you about showing respect to your betters?"

"That we should show it."

"Exactly," Bjarni said and looked at them, the cold gaze of his eyes made the blood in Tonks veins freeze. "And what did you do?! You insulted the Princess of the Amazons and ward of His Majesty!"

"But-" one of wizards started.

"No buts, the next time you do it I will personally feed you to the wolves of His Majesty. Now can you explain to me why you decided to do that?"

"She didn't have her arms covered and was carrying weapons."

Bjarni's head whipped in the direction of the one that said those words, a smirk was on his face. "So what? She has the same right to train as any other male has."

"Women are weaker and shouldn't fight."

"If you say so." Bjarni smirked and turned to look at his own students. "Illyana, would you mind showing them how wrong they are?"

"With pleasure," she said walking forwards, and joined Bjarni.

Bjarni's eyes swept over the crowd of wizards. "You, step forward!"

Tonks followed Bjarni's gaze and she saw him point at a large, sixth year student, if she remembered correctly, he was a Slytherin. A rather unpleasant and arrogant one. She saw him waiver and look uncomfortable.

"What is your name, _wizard_?"

"Sagittarius, Crabbe Sagittarius."

Bjarni nodded and with a smile indicated Illyana. "Is she dangerous in your opinion?"

"No," Sagittarius said as he stood inches away from Illyana, who wasn't even paying him any attention.

"Why is she not dangerous?"

"Because she is a girl."

Tonks wanted to punch or kick his balls, but she fought the urge when she saw that Bjarni was smirking and Illyana's eyes had darkened.

"If you say so," Bjarni said and looked at Illyana. "What would you say about a small demonstration?"

"No magic?" Illyana only asked and cracked her knuckles. "Or with magic?"

"Only to enhance your body." Bjarni's gaze swept over them making Tonks shiver in fear. "If I see anybody using any kind of magic to influence the duel they will be thrown out of the room. Is it clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

"You may begin." Bjarni moved away from Illyana or Sagittarius giving them a lot of space.

Tonks had a feeling that it would be a really brief and painful duel, the question was for whom. However she didn't suspect that it would be that short. Sagittarius charged at Illyana with no grace or technique to his moves and Tonks saw Illyana remove herself out of his path. The next thing that happened looked too impossible to be true.

Illyana sent a vicious kick to Sagittarius side, when it struck it was immediately followed by a loud crack of bones snapping under the strain. It sent him tumbling onto the surface of the arena. He landed in a small cloud of dust and laid there, his hand clutching his side and, if Tonks was seeing right, his broken ribs.

"A broken rib or two," Bjarni said as he walked past Sagittarius. "It will heal sooner or later." He glanced at the Asgardian students. "Leif, get him to the Healers, knock him out if need be." Not paying more attention to Sagittarius, Bjarni focused his whole attention on the Hogwarts group. "Was it a good enough example? Or should I ask someone else to beat one of you into the ground? I assure you that they will do it with pleasure."

They shook their heads in a manner that could only be understood as no and Bjarni nodded.

"Then we will begin," he said and looked at his own students. "Pair up and you will demonstrate for them the most basic stances of our fighting style." He turned to face the Hogwarts students. "If you think that this attire allows you to touch anybody in places where they don't like it, then you are sorely mistaken. I can feel when someone lies and the consequences will be terrible for you."

o-0-o

Tonks winced in pain as she felt a fist slam into her shoulder, it looked that mercy was a word unknown to those that trained them and training felt more like a torture. A slow and painful torture, not training.

"Watch your stance," her sparring partner said. "You just exposed your side and nobody is going to wait for you to fix it."

"You could be more helpful," she said as she blocked a strike that flew towards her head.

"You will learn through practice and practice only." he said and with a quick swipe of his leg sent her onto the sand of the arena. "Focus more and talk less."

She growled at him, but nodded. She could feel her body remember what it learned during that stay at Xavier's and actually start to move in a more synchronized pattern.

o-0-o

Loki poured himself a goblet of mead and looked towards the arena. "Remind me that inviting humans is an amusing idea," he said, looking at Bragi. "They are so stubborn in their believes that it is funny."

"I will." Bragi nodded. "But they should learn in a couple of days what they need to do and how, pain is a good motivation."

"They will, the question is how many more will end up with broken or cracked bones." He sipped mead and looked at Dumbledore. "It seems that your precious students are not faring so well, certainly they are faring much worse than you had expected them to."

"We never taught close combat techniques at Hogwarts," Dumbledore said, stroking his beard. "But maybe there are some merits in teaching them self-defence techniques as the world is getting darker and darker."

"Finally you are seeing some reason." Loki nodded approvingly and looked towards the arena. "But they are far from reaching the same point of view as you have, don't you think?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Dumbledore said with a wince. "But I hope that they will change their point of view. Hopefully sooner than later."

"Well, hand to hand combat is usually trained for two hours per day," Bragi said. "So you need to be an idiot not to learn its basics. They will also learn runes very well."

"Because everything is written in them," Loki added with a smile. "As well as everybody is using them, so they need to learn them or they will be alienated."

"Some know their basics, but not all do."

"Did I mention that a lot of magical theorems that are the foundation of our magic do not make sense without the eighteen runic spells of my father? Spells learned by him when he was hanging from the branches of Yggdrasil, pierced by his own spear and without any food or drink."

" _Wounded I hung on wind-swept gallows,_

 _For nine long nights_

 _Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odin,_

 _Offered, myself to myself_

 _The wisest know not from whence spring_

 _The roots of that ancient rood._

 _They gave me no bread,_

 _They gave me no mead,_

 _I looked down;_

 _With a loud cry_

 _I took up runes;_

 _From that tree I fell._

 _Nine lays of power_

 _I learned from the famous Bolthor, Bestla' s father:_

 _He poured me a draught of precious mead,_

 _Mixed with magic Odrerir,_ " Dumbledore said, slowly pronouncing each word.

"Indeed," Bragi nodded with a smile. "Hamaval from the Elder Edda, one of the songs written by human skalds during the time we walked among humans. Some of them twisted the things we had told them, but Elder Edda is a good source if you want to learn about us."

"It seems that there is another thing they need to be taught first," Loki said and shook his head. "I knew that the state at Hogwarts was bad, but not that bad."

"I tried to fix the situation at Hogwarts, but the pure-blood families and the Ministry were blocking any of my attempts," Dumbledore quietly said. "So after the war I gave up on attempts to change it, there was no point as any mention of change was destroyed."

Loki looked at the arena where one of the Hogwarts students was turned into a cannonball and hurled at the wall. Then, his gaze switched to Dumbledore. "I have some reasons not to trust you, but how would you react to an offer. I help with changes at Hogwarts and we can work together against our common foes."

Dumbledore was silent for a moment. "I would need to speak to the other Professors to hear their opinion on the topic, but why not."

"Perfect," Loki smirked and looked towards the arena, allowing his thoughts to run on their own.

o-0-o

Carol Danvers sighed in boredom as she searched the net on her computer, her uncle was supposed to take her flying, but was forced to stay at work and she was forced to deal with her crazy father and brothers. As well as annoying fanboys that followed her with their gaze wherever and whenever they could.

She knew that she was beautiful, but for most of the time she hated nature and fate for giving her golden hair and the cleavage of someone a couple of years older than her humble fourteen suggested. There was this small fact that she was also an athlete and all of that training made her body look even better.

She opened YouTube and her eyes almost immediately narrowed as she saw a video about some attack against mutants. She was friendly with a few mutants and she knew that they weren't bad and were as normal as every other person was. She curiously clicked on the link and her heart almost stopped when she saw the amount of views, somehow it was already in dozens of millions and climbing.

She put it on full screen and watched the movie, it was black and white, but that was the least shocking thing. It showed the interior of the Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters and some armored and armed people storming it, in the middle of the night guessing by the small amount of light. She was from a military family and constantly heard tales about wars from the past, but she also had her brain and was able to see when something was a common assault.

" _This happened week ago, a group of armed and armored men stormed a building which is a boarding school, they did it just because of the fact that the children inside are mutants. It was a direct violation of the agreement reached with mutant activists over twenty years ago, the mutants would stop the campaign of terror if persecution against them stopped. A week ago a group of people under the command of Reverend Stryker and General Thaddeus Ross attacked the school and this is the footage from the attack. Will you let an attack on the innocents go unpunished?"_ Said the narrator, his voice devoid of any emotions.

The lack of sound or music accompanying the footage made it feel and look even more real and scary than if it was with audio. She watched with rapt attention as those men moved through the mansion, dragging sleeping forms of students from their rooms and not caring about their protests.

Her eyes darkened as she remembered why she knew the surname Ross, if she was correct he was one of her uncle's friends. She pulled out her phone and called her uncle.

"What is it, Carol? I'm in a bit of a hurry," he said

"Ross," she said and could hear him sharply inhale. "There is a video about him on YouTube and an attack on Xavier's."

"I know about it, I can't tell you more, but you will see it in the news in a few days."

"Sounds interesting," she said as she ended the call.

She started to look through the net and found exactly nothing more than that one video which she had seen, she frowned, it was strange.

o-0-o

Harry tried not to roll his eyes in amusement when he saw Warren's reaction.

"You have a palace for yourself? A whole palace?" Warren finally asked.

"Yes, it belonged to my great-uncle, but now it's mine and only mine." Harry smiled. "And since the Tournament isn't coming any time soon we might as well have some fun and you should like the place."

"Where is it?" Jean asked. "I don't really think it's in the city."

"No," Harry laughed. "In the wilderness, the more tameable part of it, on top of a cliff and somewhat close to Nordmark, realm of Ullr."

"So it's a summer palace?"

He looked at her and nodded. "You could say so and since it's mine I can invite whoever I want. And I want to invite you, a few other X-Men and some of my friends from here."

"Would anybody interrupt us?" Warren asked.

"You mean annoying courtiers and other students?"

"Yup, those people."

"The answer is no," Harry said and looked out of the window, towards the horizon. "I will speak with Ulf, Atalanta has already said yes, so we could go there tomorrow morning."

Warren smiled in reply.

"I will take that as a yes," Harry said and glanced at Jean. "Can you tell everybody that was at the Angel's Aerie and Rogue about it?"

"Sure." She smiled.

o-0-o

Tonks looked around one of the common areas at the Academy and saw that almost everybody was even more tired than she was. Some of them had bandages wrapped around their arms or legs, the sound of bones snapping was a common one during the training.

"It wasn't the worst self-defence or martial arts class that I survived," she cheerfully said.

"Than what was the hardest one?" Percy Weasley asked. "This was harsh. "

"One at the Institute," she said and looked at Oliver. "Whatever can be said about Bjarni he isn't as tough as Wolverine was."

"Maybe because we know something?" Cedric asked and shook his head. "If it keeps going this way most of us will have broken limbs by the end of it all."

"We'll see," she said and stood up. "I need rest, wake me up if someone needs something from me."

She saw them nod and walked out of the room, leaving them behind. She needed time to clear her mind and relax, the past few hours were _troubling_.

o-0-o

Wanda stepped out of the portal and looked around, it was supposed to be a place where one of horcruxes was hidden. Her eyes swept over the room and she immediately noticed a raised dais in the middle of the room and on top of it a small pedestal.

"It's too easy,"

Then she saw a lake around the dais, a lake that looked too circular to be true, plus she couldn't see its bottom. Her eyes glowed scarlet and when she once again looked at the lake she held her breath. There were hundreds of corpses at its bottom. Each and every one of them in too good of a shape to be just a normal body.

"Necromancy, the most vile and tainted branch of magic,"

Her voice rang across the cave. She clenched her fists as a rush of bad memories almost overwhelmed her mind, there was a reason why she hated necromancy even more fiercely than Asgard. She shook her head and started to summon magical power. A scarlet halo formed around her, crackling with power and danger for her enemies.

She pointed her hand towards the lake and said a single word. A word filled with power and magic.

"Begone!"

Magic rushed from her and opened a circular portal under the lake, that started to suck in everything in its range. From small pebbles and litres of water to corpses and their parts. Her face was cold as she looked at the vanishing bodies. When the last chunk of flesh disappeared the portal closed and left in its wake an empty lake and the pedestal in the middle of it still standing.

She walked towards it, her boots clicking on the stones. As she looked at the pedestal and at the bowl placed on top of it, she frowned. She could see a bowl filled with murky liquid and a locket at the its bottom.

She placed her hand above the water and tried to send a trickle of magic to part the water, it didn't move and stayed in place. There was something blocking her attempts to part the water and pull the thing out. She sighed and smirked as an idea came to her mind. She wrapped her magic around the pedestal and bowl on top of it and pulled it towards her. The stone protested for a moment, but then gave up and she was able to lift it off the ground.

Snapping her fingers she opened a portal that resembled a swirling vortex of scarlet, pink and violet energy and stepped through it. She was done here and she could open this thing in a safer place, in a ritual room of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy frowned as he looked at the sole sentence written on a piece of parchment so badly stained with blood that it was in the color of rust. It was delivered this morning and it seemed that the news were grave. There was a single sentence written on it.

 _We have failed, Stryker was captured._

He wanted to scream at those news, his schemes were turned to shreds because of those news, his sole way of influencing the situation in the USA was now gone. Or maybe it was not, he opened the top drawer of his desk, pulled out of it a thin paper envelope and broke the seal that was on it.

He pulled out a single sheet of paper and his eyes quickly scanned its contents, placing it besides the message from his spy he dipped his quill in the inkwell and started to write a letter.

o-0-o

Snape was reading a text about potions when he heard a fist barging at a door of the quarters he was given on Asgard. He marked the place where he finished reading, walked to the door and opened it. When his gaze landed on the person that was responsible for the noise he felt the blood flow away from his face.

She was a tall warrior with a mane of fiery red hair, violet eyes, fair skin and she was clad in an armor, one that was more of an artwork than simple gear. It was beautifully sculpted and gilded, every square inch of it was covered in masterfully sculpted patterns. Even in her shiny armor she looked dangerous, no, she looked lethal, yet beautiful. Behind her stood four warriors from the Royal Guard of Asgard. He recognized them as the same ones that accompanied Loki during the trip to Hogwarts.

"You are summoned before, His Majesty, the King," she said, her voice bare of any emotions.

"May I know why?"

"Because he simply wishes to."

"What if I say no?"

"Then we will drag you to face him. So choose."

He was silent for a moment as he looked at her and the guards standing behind her, he was pretty sure every single one of them would kill him with a flick of their wrist.

"I will come," he said and slipped his wand into the holster hidden underneath his robe.

"Wand!" she said, indicating his holster. "That will stay inside of your quarters."

"It is a sign of who am I."

"And it can also be considered a weapon."

He looked between her and the warriors behind, he nodded and left his wand in the room.

"We can go," she finally said and motioned for him to follow her.

The moment he fell into place behind her he felt two warriors move into positions directly behind him, hands on their weapons, ready to be drawn at a moment's notice. They walked quickly and he almost needed to run to keep up with them. As he looked around he could tell that they weren't in the Academy, but somewhere else.

"Where are we going?"

"To His Majesty's audience chamber," she said, not even looking in his direction.

They walked through a couple more corridors and finally came to a stop in front of massive wooden doors with triskelions carved on their surface and a pair of guards standing guard. They nodded to his guide and opened doors, revealing a large room. Snape almost gulped when he saw that Loki was one of the people inside, his past experiences with this god were bad. The rest of its occupants weren't personally known to him, but he easily recognized them from the myths. Odin, Frigga and Thor.

His guide walked forward and bowed in front of Odin. "Your Majesty, Severus Snape."

It was a moment before Odin acknowledged them. He spoke a few sentences in something that sounded to Snape like Old Norse, too fast for him to understand it, and she once again bowed and walked out of the room, the guards following her.

For a moment there was only uncomfortable silence, a silence that announced the storm that was about to come. Snape felt a bead of sweat flow down his forehead as he stood in front of the royal family of Asgard, beings that had more power than the whole magical population of the UK could dream. It was Thor who finally broke it. "Do you know who I am?"

"Thor, God of Thunder and Lightning."

"Indeed," Thor nodded. "Do you know who I was?"

Snape looked at the form of the Thunder God and had a feeling that he saw this mannerism and something else in a completely different person, one that was long dead. "No."

"I think this will help you remember who I was and still am."

Thor's whole form shimmered for a moment and then in his place was the body of a completely different person, one that should be dead. The body of James Potter. "You were him?"

"Yes," Thor said and smiled. "Father wanted to teach me some humility and common sense, I also found few more things."

"Including Lily." Snape spat.

"Be careful with your words, mortal," Odin cut in, speaking for the first time. "You are still alive only because you are still useful. If you were not, you would face our justice and when it comes to traitors there is just one punishment, execution."

Snape whipped his head towards Odin and growled, but stopped when he felt the power radiate from Odin, wild, primal and almost impossible to comprehend. "He was the one that stole her from me, I begged my lord not to kill her."

"Be silent," Loki said and waved his hand, throwing Snape against the wall. "You lie and badly, since someone thought that it would be wise for Harry to attend Hogwarts you will change your behavior or you will end up dead. No, actually that's too merciful, my daughter is getting bored and mentioned that she needs a new pet. So choose."

Snape gulped as he looked at Loki and later at Thor who was covered by a nimbus of lightning bolts and energy. "I'll change my behavior."

"Maybe you will change it or not, that is to be seen." Loki walked forward and wrapped his fingers around Snape's neck. "Now enough will be you swearing that you will be a fair teacher at Hogwarts."

Snape gulped and looked at the fingers wrapped around his neck, just waiting for the wrong answer to end his life. "I swear that I will be a fairer teacher."

"Good."

Loki stopped holding Snape by his neck, the magical bounds also went away and Snape crashed onto the floor, breathing heavily. He stood up and smoothed out his robe.

"Begone from my presence and hope that I won't be forced to summon you once again," Odin said, snapping his fingers and summoning the same person that was Snape's guide before. "The next time I will be less lenient and you will be treated as a petty criminal."

"I understand, Your Majesty." He hurried after his guide and out of the chamber.

o-0-o

 **A/N – Few things about Asgard:**

 **Pecking order – it is a society with string division into classes, moving from one into another is relatively easy, but when you are in a lower one, you need to show respect to a person from a higher one. With nobility it is even stricter, unless they are close friends they need to use honorifics when speaking to each other, only exception is when someone of higher station is talking with someone of lower, he can use his name at will.**

 **Nudity – in most of the ancient world(ancient being Rome or Greece) nudity when training was a common thing, I toned it down at the Academy as there are both genders and all of them are in their teenage years... But when with friends or with people of the same gender they don't care about having any clothes.**

 **Obedience – it is a society where almost everybody served in the army, is serving or will be and following orders is one of things expected from them. It is not a blind obedience, they can disagree, tell that they disagree with it and so on, but generally an order needs to be carried out. But there is also a second side to it, good leader or ruler won't make an order that will cause a lot of unhappiness unless forced to, so even with absolutistic tendencies of Odin, he knows where are his limits and how far he can push.**

 **Reviews:**

 _TimothyB_ – They need a wake up call, a bad one. And they can do exactly nothing against Harry, they can try, but the most they will meet will be blades of weapons pointing in their direction.

 _Otsutsuki no Yami_ – Dumbledore is a brilliant wizard and knows what he is doing, but he is also arrogant and is used to being one in charge. So it is a shock for him that there are beings willing to squish him like a bug with a stray thought(Odin can do that).

Cloak is in Harry's hands and he is not going to leave it alone, also cloaks from HP have one small issue, they hide you from only one sense. Motion detectors, thermal vision, wolves and so on will easily find it. True, it is a powerful tool, but not in a place designed to contain prisoners and prevent them from getting away.

Physically speaking, any Asgardian will beat a human in a hand to hand combat, with ranged weapons it would depend on who is able to see their target first and how good is a scope/eye. Magic, depends, not everybody on Asgard has a lot of power, but when they have they, they are dangerous. But for magic you need time to unleash it and while a sorcerer on Asgard will hide behind a wall of warriors whose sole purpose is to protect him and if need be die, wizards are used to duels and those fail badly when you meet a group of warriors trained to work as a unit. You might be brilliant, but the numbers will do the job.

 _Angel Winx_ – Loki has an eye on certain inhuman beauty, one that can freeze you with her breath and if angered there is a lot, I mean a lot of snow and ice.

 _randomplotbunny_ – Twins are on Asgard, but they aren't those devils we know and love, they are still *cough* innocent *cough* first year students, but Loki might spot their talents.


	27. The calm and holidays

**A/N – Mostly slow and laid back chapter, no much happens excluding some small moves and certain demons of the past. It is a small break to relax and prepared for the show to come.** **Read and review!**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta – eri1551**

o-0-o

Wolf Hall was a traditional residence of the Lords of the West March, one of the mightier and more respectable nobles of Asgard. Even if they were powerful lords the palace was a humble one, yet located in a picturesque location with majestic views.

Perched on top of a cliff, this complex of wooden and stone buildings overlooked vast forests and meadows. In the distance the peaks of one of many ranges that created the Nordmark Mountains -which were just a part of an even more massive range, the Nordheim Mountains- could be seen. Those peaks created a border between West March and Nordmark as well as caused the weather to be unpredictable and wild. Those buildings stood firmly, not budging to the attacks of wind and rain or the flow of the time.

The whole palace looked like a few dozens of buildings connected with various passages and built over time, in some cases they were stacked on top of each other. The various styles used in the architecture of Asgard could be seen, the transition from one into another fluid and hard to spot. Serving mainly as a summer palace it was not designed with administrative or military functions in mind, it was mostly designed with rest and entertainment in mind. Providing a safe haven for the royal family, away from the stormy waters of court politics and the constant schemes played between nobles. In the past it hosted almost every member of the royal family of Asgard and a lot of their most trusted advisors.

Wooden and stone buildings, airy, wide corridors and open spaces made the Wolf Hall look like a paradise come true. It didn't have the oppressive feeling of a more formal palace and it invited everybody to enjoy their time inside of those halls. Enjoy their time and forget about their worries.

Harry stepped out of a portal and smiled as his sight ran over the complex of buildings, his eyes slipping over wooden roofs and stone walls. Ivy that was climbing up their side and finally over the cloudless sky with the sun almost directly above their heads. He felt at home here and he preferred it over the Citadel that was the main seat of his family.

He could hear gasps of shock and surprise as his friends emerged from the portal. "I expected something smaller," Warren finally said.

Harry looked at his cousin and snorted. "It's Asgard, everything here is big and or grandiose,"

"I know, but this..."

"This is a royal residence, so it is supposed to be big and show the prestige of the family," Atalanta said. "Even if it is a summer palace, it needs to be of a proper size and scale."

"Are we going to stand here or are we going to see it?" Jean asked

Harry ignored them and their antics and walked into the palace. He loved the place with its wooden floors covered in furs, the hunting trophies hung on the walls and the sense of calmness and peace that he rarely felt at the Citadel. There were too many people at the Citadel, here there were a few dozens of them and he was able to fully relax, allowing the shields around his mind to drop.

He walked through the halls that were even older than the Citadel was and looked around, feeling just how ancient they were. The sculptures and other pieces of art decorating the halls were cruder and less intricate than the ones in the halls of his family seat. Also, the golden material that was so common at the Citadel here it was almost impossible to spot. Its place was taken by wood and stone, it made everything look and feel darker, but he didn't mind it. It even looked better in his opinion.

Stepping into the room he occupied here he looked around the familiar space and immediately walked onto a large balcony that was attached to it. Stepping outside he momentarily felt the cool breeze hit his face and ruffle his hair.

He breathed in the air that was carrying the smell of the forest, addictive and fresh, one that allowed him to forget about all the blood from that night. The night he was forced to kill, in defense, but it still felt bad.

o-0-o

Thunder rumbled above the Citadel, shaking everything and lightning lit up the sky, but Loki didn't even acknowledge it. He was focused on various pieces of paper and parchment as well as data displayed on a holographic display placed on his desk. Something was not adding up.

He poured himself a goblet of mead from a nearby jug and slowly sipped it, enjoying its taste as his, mind tried to piece those little bits of data together. _Fudge isn't stupid, so there must be a logic to this madness,_ he thought, _inviting him here won't be a bad idea as it might be an opportunity to drive our point home. He is scared by the events of the last few weeks, so maybe this will help us even more._

He placed the goblet back on the desk, watching not to spill its content onto his notes and reports from the various spies that he and SHIELD had. He looked over them, his eyes slipping over the hundreds of names and locations written on them, easily memorizing each and every one of them.

His eyes narrowed when he saw one name that drew his attention. He picked up the piece of paper and read her name on it. "Dolores Jane Umbridge. What a lovely toad and grey eminence that attempts to be the power behind the throne and seems to hate everything that isn't pure, even _better_."

He scribbled a quick note about Umbridge to mention her to Hrimhari, in case his furry grandson was running out of targets, and focused on Fudge. _Father might not be the happiest man alive after this thing, but it should work and help us a lot. Even if he doesn't agree to inviting Fudge, showing the wizards in a crude manner that we are around won't be bad_ , he shook his head, destroying those thoughts and focusing on the work ahead of him.

Even if the wizards' schemes were primitive and crude by the standard of interstellar politics, they were unpredictable and quickly changing. In the world of interstellar empires there were certain unspoken and unwritten rules that everybody accepted, the wizards didn't have any such rules.

Loki sighed and shook his head as his mind wanted to wander into the direction of the more predictable and slow by mortal standards games played by the great of the universe. Where the fates of the whole solar system, galaxies and even whole civilizations, were at stake.

o-0-o

"Finally we'll learn some magic." Oliver said as they followed one of the guides they were assigned to the lecture halls and classrooms.

Tonks tried not to laugh at his words. "Since when have we started with actual magic at Hogwarts? If my mind is working correctly we started with theory and thousands of warnings about magic."

"Since when are you all doom and gloom?" He asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I'm not," she said, shaking her head. "I'm more of a realist here, do you think they would allow us to use magic without theory behind it?"

He sighed and nodded in agreement as they entered a massive lecture hall with dozens of rows of seats facing the lectern. He blinked a couple of times to get used to the size of the room, compared to Hogwarts this was new and much bigger than anything they saw at Hogwarts.

There was some shuffling and commotion as they took seats and looked at the lecturer that stood in front of his lectern. She looked quite young, but they quickly learned that appearance was misleading when it came to Asgard and its inhabitants, some looked ancient and were young and vice versa.

"For this lecture you will need to forget everything that you learned about magic to date, this magic is different than one taught at Hogwarts and you will need to think differently than you normally do. There are two things on which our magic is based, runes and the understanding of how combining them can get you the desired effect, and eighteen spells created by our King Odin when he hung from the World Tree for nine nights.

"From what I remember about magic taught by Prince Loki to the human founders of Hogwarts he didn't show you those spells and only showed the runes that were supposed to be a compulsory course so I expect you to know the basic meaning of all sixteen runes for tomorrow, if not the consequences will be unpleasant."

Oliver shuddered at those words, the way she said 'unpleasant' suggested that they shouldn't even dream of not learning those sixteen signs.

"Magic done with runes can be more precise than even magic done with the best magical focus you can find. Not to mention it can lay dormant for ages before being awoken. The most famous examples of charms done with runic magic are ones connected to the weapons used by the royal family. Those that allow only the worthy one to wield the hammer Mjolnir, spear Gungnir and sword Tyrfing, they were placed by His Majesty. While those are the most famous ones, there are also more common ones and ones that you see around you and have an example of it at Hogwarts."

"Translucent ceiling," someone said, Oliver was unable to guess who it was.

"Indeed, it projects onto the ceiling the image from above, while retaining its strength and durability. Those are the most known examples, but not the only ones..."

o-0-o

Maria Hill looked at the map of Europe and smiled, it was starting to look good and the wizards were less and less of an issue. There were several red dots on the map of the UK with names stenciled under them, those were the latest victims of Loki's work. She sipped her coffee and focused on Eastern Europe, a place where law was a questionable thing and where criminals were mostly able to do as they pleased. Not to mention that a lot of black or dark wizards was harbored by various governments, hailing from there.

"It looks good, doesn't it."

She looked around, trying to find the source of the voice and her eyebrow arched when she saw Loki walk towards her.

"I thought that you were supposed to stay on Asgard."

Loki smiled and walked to the map, he studied it for a moment before he finally looked at her. "I'm a person that gets bored quickly and needs entertainment in his life. Thus I decided to drop by here and see how well the hunt goes."

"Now it's mostly halted, Widow is licking her wounds and her cover is mostly destroyed, while Hawkeye is in the US helping Fury."

"What about agent Psylocke and maybe Banshee?"

"Psylocke is good, but Banshee always was more of a cop and I need someone that doesn't have any qualms with murdering in cold blood if need be and can survive on the streets of Moscow."

Loki chuckled and she glowered at him. "Even Natasha didn't survive on the streets of Moscow," he said with a thin smile. "So I highly doubt that it will matter as she had failed."

She winced and looked at the map. "Psylocke's answering to Wisdom and he might need her, but if you can get Banshee to help me I won't mind."

"Now you are speaking the way I like." Loki looked at the digital clock placed in the corner of the display. "He should be here in few hours and with a small gift for you."

She arched an eyebrow. "Gift?"

"A group from our version of your special forces, they are trained to fight wizards and other users of magic as well as are quite proficient in the normal ways of fighting."

She smiled, her smile feral and dangerous. She looked at the map, thinking how to best use those gifts, she would need to see how good they were, but they should be sufficient.

o-0-o

Oliver looked around the hall and had a really bad feeling about the things that were about to come, he had spent half of the night memorizing those runes. He did it, but he had the help of his nifty little mutation that seemed to give him eidetic memory along with better sight. It made studying a lot easier, but as he looked around he could feel a lot of people shift uncomfortably in their seats.

His suspicions were confirmed the moment the Instructor entered the hall as she clapped her hands twice and in front of them appeared tests. He looked at his and wanted to groan as it seemed that someone was feeling nasty when creating them. They needed to explain each and every rune and how their meaning changed according to with what they were used.

o-0-o

Illyana walked through the corridors of the Academy, her mind wandering on its own as she tried not to think about an essay she was supposed to get done. As she walked around the corner and entered one of shadier corridors that were a nice shortcut leading to the library and several other areas. She quickly learned that there were hundreds of such passages and it was only a matter of time before discovering them.

She smiled as she entered the library and saw that most Hogwarts students pouring over books about runes and their meanings, she had done the same when she started studying here. She had this small advantage that she had some help, while Hogwarts students had none and if she was right they wouldn't get any. They were too arrogant and expected everything to be given to them.

She walked past them and between the rows of shelves, looking for books on Alfheim and the beings inhabiting that realm, she heard some things about it from Harry and the other students, but it was not a lot. Collecting a large stash of books she walked to one of the bigger tables and slammed them onto it she sat down. She pulled out her writing supplies and a lot of paper as it was supposed to be a longish essay.

Flipping pages and making notes she didn't hear it when someone sat down at the same table, she finally noticed the presence when it loudly cleared its throat. She looked up and smiled when she saw one of her friends, but also roommate Idunn Ragnardóttir.

"You're normally easier to distract," she said with a smile and looked at Illyana's notes. "Alfheim, what's so hard in annoying me with questions? After all I'm one of Alf and I know some things about it."

Illyana rolled her eyes and looked at Idunn. "Point taken, so that's how you did your essay about Vanaheim?"

"Annoy one of the Vanir with questions? Yes," Idunn said and picked up one of books. "Also some of those books tend to omit some of the nicer things about Alfheim, don't know why, since its ruler is the second cousin of His Majesty."

"Maybe they forgot to mention them."

"Maybe," Idunn said and glanced at the paper covered in Illyana's scribble. "Beings inhabiting it? Seriously?"

"What's wrong with it?"

"It's too easy, at least for me."

"It's your home," Illyana said with a roll of her eyes. "So the beings living there? Are you going to tell me about them?"

Idunn moved her hand through her black as night hair and looked at the table. "The list is long and some of those creatures are weird. Direwolves, unicorns, pegasi, hippocampi, storm eagles, small groups of Wolf People and us, Alfs."

"Storm eagle?"

"Overgrown version of a normal eagle that can summon winds and storms, usually stays away from the cities and hunts in the forests or plains, but it is one of the apex predators. Generally everything that I mentioned is big and dangerous."

"Not a nice place to be."

Idunn chuckled. "Depends where and for whom, generally around cities it is safe and nice, deeper into wilderness not really and even some of the more experienced hunters aren't eager to go hunting alone."

Illyana nodded and focused on her paper, trying to put those things into sentences that would make sense and wouldn't get her chewed out yet again for chaotic writing. Once was more than enough for her poor soul.

o-0-o

Harry walked onto the balcony and looked at the stars and moons that were slowly populating the night sky of Asgard. He could name all of them, he didn't even need to think too much to recognize most of them. But tonight he was unable to focus on them, the events of that night at the Institute were still haunting him.

At the Citadel he was able not to think about them, but here they rushed to the forefront of his mind, not letting him sleep. He heard the soft scraping sound of claws moving on the wooden floor and when he looked in its direction he saw Freki walking towards him.

"What am I supposed to do?" He asked, his hand moving through the fur of his pet.

Freki looked up, it's amber eyes looking at Harry, they were too keen and too intelligent to be the eyes of a normal wolf. Harry smiled and sighed as he looked at the sky, the cool air of the night keeping his mind clear.

"Come to terms with it."

He looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, it sounded familiar. His eyes widened when he saw that it was Jean. She walked through his room and joined him on the balcony. He looked at her and asked. "What do you mean?"

"I know that Atalanta talked with you," she said. "But did you really understand those words or did you agreed with her so that she wouldn't dig secrets out of your mind?"

His eyes widened and he looked at her. "I guess the latter is the truth, I know what she meant, but it is so hard to shrug it off. It is so easy to take a life away."

"Indeed," Jean said, her eyes flashing orange. "Phoenix is just that, a being that can take or give life when it so wishes or desires to. You're supposed to be a warrior, a prince of Asgard, one that will protect its people and fight its enemies."

He sadly nodded and looked at her. "So where are you going with it?"

"Killing is sad and unfortunate, yet unavoidable for you. You need to come to terms with it, the sooner you do, the better," she said and placed her hand on his shoulder. "I can tell that you were avoiding the subject as much as you could, but it needs to end or you will drive yourself mad with grief and tears."

He blinked and sighed. "So how am I supposed to deal with it? I hate killing, yet fighting in friendly spars is so enjoyable."

"Because killing isn't supposed to feel good or nice unless you're an insane person, a psychopath, or both. But I doubt you're one of those two, are you?"

"No, I'm not."

"So killing will always haunt you, question is only how badly," she said. "I'm forced to kill from time to time, but I came to terms with it and the feeling is still there, but less visible and not as painful as it's for you now."

He nodded at her words and looked at the landscape spreading around them. "I know what you are saying, yet it is hard to accept."

"It isn't easy, but otherwise you'll drive yourself insane. So focus on your mind and remember what I told you about meditation."

"Clear my mind," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "Easier said than done, especially now."

He closed his mind, focused on his breathing and heartbeat, trying to slow them down and even out into a slow, steady pace. Slowly breathing in and out he could feel it as his mind calmed down, the memories of the past being swept away along with his worries and issues.

He felt something sweep over his mind, he opened his eyes and looked at Jean. "What was that?"

"A little help." she smiled. "One of many tricks you can do when you're a powerful telepath and have physical contact with your target. You should be able to get some rest and you shouldn't wake up in the middle of the night and screaming, now."

He smiled weakly and nodded. When he stopped feeling the continuous dull ache in his mind he finally realized how tired he was, he yawned loudly and looked at her. "Goodnight, Jean and thanks for what you did."

"No problem, Eaglet," she said and left him alone.

He stood for a moment on the balcony, focusing on the sounds of the night, but after a moment he once again yawned and walked into the room. It was a far less grand than the one that he had at the Citadel, but calling it small was a huge understatement, it was anything but small.

The biggest difference between the room he had at the Citadel and the one here was that at the Citadel everything was gold and silver, which made being inside in the middle of sunny day a nightmare. This one was mostly furnished with wood, tapestries, furs and hunting trophies. While the head of a hunted direwolf placed above the bed looked weird, it certainly made the room look and feel unusual... But in a good way.

He stripped of his clothes and jumped into the bed and covered himself with one of many furs that were strewn across it. He closed his eyes and, for the first time in a long while, was able to sleep without any interruptions and didn't see flashbacks of the events of that night. Blades stained with blood and bodies ripped apart.

o-0-o

When Harry woke up he felt rays of sun move across his face, not letting him sleep for much longer. He opened his eyes and looked around, everything was covered in a honey-colored layer of sunlight that brought with it warmth and new hope. Hope of a better day and a better future.

He yawned loudly and crawled out of the bed, he opened the French doors leading onto the balcony and felt a gust of wind enter the room, ruffling his hair and his wing's feathers. He walked onto the balcony and he saw the sun slowly travel up the sky. His nostrils moved on their own as the smell of hot chocolate, coffee, honey and other things connected with breakfast drifted with the wind. He looked over the railing and smiled when he saw that his friends decided not to wait for him.

He stepped onto the railing and dropped onto the ground, a small cloud of dust rising into the air as his feet slammed into the ground.

"You could have been more subtle," Atalanta said when she noticed him. "Also there is something called stairs."

"And?"

"You could have used them," Warren said.

"I could have, but I didn't need to." Harry heard Warren sigh, but he ignored his cousin and instead focused on breakfast. "Almost a week of doing nothing and being away from the noise of the capital."

"Doing nothing?" Bobby asked.

"Lazing around and not caring about the world and its affairs. After all this is the reason why we are here, unless there is Ragnarok coming they won't bother us and Ragnarok is not going to happen, not anytime soon."

Harry almost winced when he felt the cold fingers of the wind touch his neck, as the cold went away he heard a voice that was carried by the wind. _Don't be so sure, Young Prince, we decide the fate, not you._

He shook his head and focused on eating, he hoped to completely forget about this feeling and the dream he got all those weeks ago.

o-0-o

Jean glanced at Harry and looked at Warren, they were sitting outside and she could tell that something was an issue for Harry. She finally sighed, closed her book and looked at Warren. "Come with me, we need to talk in a more private setting."

He looked at her, later at Harry who seemed to be focused on reading something and with a nod stood up. She walked through the palace and into the room they chose as their own. She let him inside and the with her mind she closed the door and windows. "What do you need to talk about with me?" he asked as he sat down on the bed.

"Harry. I talked with him yesterday and he seems to have issues with something," she said and looked at the ceiling. "What he did during that night finally caught up with him and probably woke up demons of his past. I'm not attempting to guess what they are and I'm not going to take a stroll across his mind, but someone needs to see what's going on with him."

"And you think that I'm the best one for this," Warren said and she nodded. "He is my cousin, but I can tell that he hides a lot of things from me and isn't willing to share them."

She nodded and wrapped a long lock of her fiery red hair around one of her fingers. "He is hiding this stuff, but between you and me, you are his cousin and sometimes we are more willing to open up to a family member."

"Or push me away and try to deal with it on his own," Warren said, his expression sombre.

"You need to try to reach out to him as we both know how destructive it can be to bottle up your emotions and feelings," she said and looked at him. "One fiery tornado was more than enough for me."

"Yes," Warren nodded and sighing stood up. "It won't get done by itself and you won't let me live if I don't get it done."

"Good boy," she smiled as he walked out of the room.

o-0-o

Harry stood on the balcony of his room and sighed as he looked at the sun slowly hiding beneath the horizon. It looked so peaceful and calm, a total opposite to what was happening inside his mind, where his emotions and feelings were battling each other.

"Stop beating yourself for what you have done," Warren said as he walked to Harry and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Killing is something we cannot avoid as sometimes it is a choice between our death and the death of our enemy, but you need to accept it and come to terms with it."

"How can you be so calm about it?" Harry asked, turning to look at his older cousin. "You can kill with ease and don't seem affected by it, at all."

"I'm affected," Warren said and winced. "I just learned how to cope with it and you need to find it for yourself, didn't Professor X speak with you about it?"

"He did," Harry said, his voice sullen and the exhaustion finally showing on his face. "But it didn't help a much."

"Nightmares?"

"How do you know?"

"Had them, survived them," Warren said. "They will be gone with time, but you will drive yourself mad if you don't find a reason for the what you did."

"I did it to protect others that couldn't do it on their own."

"A reason as good as any other, but do you believe in it?"

It struck him like a lightning bolt and he looked at Warren. "Y… No, I was always taught that the duty of a warrior and a Prince is to protect others, but belief is something entirely different."

"Indeed," Warren briefly smiled. "I don't know what you were taught, but I guess that you were taught about protecting others and why some things even if evil are sometimes necessary."

"Yes," Harry said and looked at the sky. "The values of life and that sometimes you need to choose between two evils, bigger and smaller."

"Start to believe in those values and the things you were taught and remember what the Professor told me, 'with great power comes great responsibility'."

"I will try, it's just so hard and killing feels so easy that it seems impossible."

"It isn't," Warren said and patted him reassuringly. "You just need to start."

"I will," Harry said. "Can you leave me alone?"

"Sure," Warren said and Harry waited for his cousin to leave the room before he stripped off his clothes and tucked himself into his bed. For the first time in a long time he was able to get some rest as nightmares seemed to vanish and let him live.

o-0-o

Strange walked around the pedestal brought by Wanda and frowned, it was familiar yet strange, he knew that he had seen those charms in some place, but he was unsure where exactly. But the more worrying thing was that he couldn't feel the soul shard inside of it. He turned around and looked at Wanda.

"Well, this thing you brought is a fake, maybe there was a horcrux placed inside of it, but it was a long time ago."

She growled and looked at the pillar, anger in her eyes. "So where is it now?"

"That's what I would like to know." He shook his head and sighed. "We know that one of them is in Scotland, right?"

She nodded to those words.

"We both know that it is at Hogwarts and we both know that Hogwarts is empty."

"I like this idea," she said and bared her teeth. "Nobody will interrupt us and we will be able to search for it without interruptions."

"Exactly." He snapped his fingers and opened a portal leading to Hogwarts. He allowed her to step through first and followed her. When they emerged out of it they were at Hogwarts, it felt strange without its usual noise and activity.

Normally there were hundreds of people inside of those corridors and rooms, filling them with happiness and energy. Now there were only some ghosts and that was it, the place felt deserted and empty. He looked around for a moment and walked in a direction only known to him.

o-0-o

Even if at the beginning a week felt like a lot of time to Harry, it passed too fast and after their enjoyable stay at the Wolf Hall they were forced to return to the Capitol for the opening ceremonies of the Tournament and the Tournament itself that would follow. While normally it was an event Harry looked forward to, now it felt bleak and boring.

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

 **Wolf Hall is let's say summer palace and hunter lodge that was originally Tyr's palace, but since he fell out of grace and his titles were removed it fell to Harry. So if he wants some time away from the noise of the court and annoying schemes of various nobles he goes there. It is not as new as the Citadel, but it is more comfortable and he can hang out with friends and away from almost all supervision.**

 **Loki and his comments about the speed at which events are happening, he is used to games with a much higher stake and one mistake during such game and you lose, so you are reluctant to make any move and consider it over and over again. While Umbridge is doing things that would normally take months in weeks. So he is unsure of how to treat her.**

 **Alfheim is my idea, in myths it is just mentioned by its name and there is not much else, excluding the fact that it's inhabitants are tall, graceful and powerful. Alfs will be physically almost as strong as an average Æsir, but they will not be hulking people, they will more resemble Loki and they will focus on magic instead of martial arts. Sure, they will rip apart a human in them, but it isn't a focus of their education.**

 **Hrimhari is a son of Fenrir/Fenris and thus Loki's grandson and Harry's cousin.**

 **Reviews:**

 _TimothyB_ – Snape was a huge problem and it needed to be dealt with or at least shown his place as he knows a lot and can be useful, but also is a terrible teacher and a bully. While his talents are needed, he needs to be tempered.

 _Otsutsuki no Yami_ – Pairings are let's say complicated and it will take time for them to reveal. Dumbledore knows that Harry is on Asgard which is one of the biggest haystacks in existence and he doesn't have a single lead where is Harry, how does he look and lacks data on how to track him down.

 _randomplotbunny_ – Power is a nice tool of intimidation and seriously, if you want to make someone afraid what's a better way than introduction to Odin.


	28. Bread and games!

**A/N - Beautiful bludgeoning tool of state propaganda makes a debut, simple approach, but an effective one that works on almost everybody and is a nice entertainment for the masses of citizens. Since I'm finally done with school for the next few months this chapter will be earlier than usually.** **Read and review!**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

 **o-0-o**

Harry braided his hair backwards, looked at his reflection in the full length mirror and tried not to smile. He looked good in his armor, his armor was a mix of plate armor with chainmail. The plates were covering his chest, shoulders, arms and legs, while the chainmail was beneath those plates and covered his whole body. Most of them were painted matte black with silver engraving, he liked this combination over the much more common, gold and silver armors that were so popular in Asgard.

He picked up the ceremonial scabbard of his sword and looked at it. It was a new part of his gear, previously he used a leather scabbard, this one was completely forged out of metal, covered in engravings showing scenes from the Asgardian history and richly decorated with gilding and gems. As he attached it to the belt he wondered who was accepted as a master jeweler and craftsman after finishing their work on it.

Picking up his silver and matte black horned helmet he walked out of his chambers, cape billowing in his wake. With a corner of his eye he glanced backwards and saw his guards silently fall into place behind him, they were mostly for ceremonial purposes, but he also understood why his grandfather decided that they should follow him for most of the time. As he got closer to the place from where his family would be watching the opening ceremony he could feel the roar of the crowds get louder and louder with each moment. Stepping onto the balcony he saw that every single balcony in the vicinity of the main alley of the city was filled with people and the street below was full of people who were standing along the walls of the buildings.

Harry nodded to his grandfather, who was standing at the railing in his golden armor and with the crown on his head, with the sign of his position, the spear Gungnir, in hand. Odin slammed it onto the ground three times silencing the crowds and giving Harry just enough time to slip into his spot to the right of his father.

"On this day we celebrate our victory in the War Against the Darkness of Svartalfheim, even if it happened five thousands years ago it is still an event that affects our lives and all of Asgard. It is a time for celebrations and joy for all of the inhabitants of the Nine Realms as our valiant warriors under the command of my father, King Bør, stopped the Dark Elves from destroying all of the universe. Now it is also a time when users of magic from the Academies located in our realm have time to showcase their abilities and the glory of the realm.

"The tournaments, which are the main focus of the celebrations, are supposed to show how good you have become in the magical arts and showcase friendly competition between the various users of magic, no matter their gender, no matter their culture or race. It is an opportunity to forge new friendships and see how good you are. I hereby declare Asgard's Magic Tournament open."

When Odin finished speaking, immediately, there was a sound of horns, dry, metallic and deep, rattling bones and unsettling almost everybody. Even those accustomed to the sound were shaken a bit by it. They were horns of war and the signal for the military parade to start.

The moment the horns stopped playing, other instruments started and the music settled into marching music, even and less unsettling than the horns that were able to rattle almost everybody.

o-0-o

It was an event for which hundreds, if not thousands of warriors and cadets practiced for the last few weeks. Perfecting even the smallest detail as everything was important and nothing could be ignored.

It was led by Hermóðr who was dressed in his golden plate armor with a long purple cloak and an elaborately decorated helmet with a massive plume on his head, he was riding a white winged horse. Completely at ease, moving in synchronization with the moves of his horse, his sword was resting against his shoulder, its blade gleaming in the morning light. He was followed by a rider in golden armor, but without the cape of a high-ranking commander. As well as a trio of riders, all of them on normal horses, the one in the middle was carrying a red banner with a golden triskelion in its middle. It was a color guard carrying the Royal Standard of Asgard.

Behind them the first true formation taking part in the parade could be seen, their march was slow and precise. It was a group of the oldest students of the Academy of Battle Magic and Sorcery, they were wearing their dress black robes with red coats over them, carried sorcerer's staffs in hand and were being led by Bragi in his black armor with a red coat over it, he was accompanied by the color guard of the school with its banner. Gold with a red triskelion with a staff and a sword crossed behind it.

Following them were groups from other schools of magic, the only distinction between them being the color of their robes and their banners. Each of them flying proudly ahead of the group sent by its school. The group from Vanaheim had a vibrant green banner with a silver triskelion surrounded by a chain of red balls and their robes were dark green. The group from Alfheim had a dark blue banner with a golden triskelion with runes stitched around it in a loose circle and their robes were silver.

They were followed by the even ranks of hundreds of cadets of the various military academies that were on Asgard, they were being led by the Commandants of those academies. Opposed to sorcerers they didn't wear robes, instead they wore black armors and fur cloaks.

o-0-o

Dumbledore looked at this crude display of power and frowned, he didn't approve of such things, his frown grew in size when he saw Harry standing at Thor's side, on the Citadel's balcony. Dumbledore wanted Harry to grow up in a loving environment, but not in one where being a warrior was expected from him.

"Impressive show, isn't it."

At those words he turned to his right where he saw Loki appear out of nowhere. "Your Highness, what do you mean?"

"I mean those warriors, or soldiers as you would call them, marching down the street," Loki smiled. "Those cadets as you would call them and the Royal Guard and other elite formations that will follow them."

"It reminds me of the imperialistic policy of the nineteenth and twentieth century on Earth, brute force and constant warfare."

Loki was silent for a moment as ranks upon ranks of warriors walked past their position. "The universe isn't a safe place, everything tries to survive in it and you need to have a bigger set of teeth than your neighbors to discourage them from attacking you, peace conferences and summits are nice, but as Stalin once said-" Dumbledore glared at Loki. "What? He wasn't a saint, but he knew what he was saying. Anyways, he said 'I _f any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a 'peace conference', you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes'._ We much more prefer to be ready at all times and avoid being caught unaware."

Dumbledore sighed, but nodded and looked towards Harry. "What about him and his training in the art of war?"

"What's wrong with it? That's the traditional way of upbringing the children of nobles."

"He is young-"

"And the universe isn't a safe place," Loki said, a dangerous twinkle to his eyes. "So he either is prepared for its horrors or he gets eaten by them, is it that hard to accept?"

Dumbledore didn't say a word and instead turned to watch the ranks of warriors move past them, the sound of their boots hitting the stone etched in his mind. Even if it didn't make any sense to him, he was forced to admit that there was something more to the coordination and perfection showed by those warriors and sorcerers.

o-0-o

Following the cadets from various military academies, were detachments from the Royal Guard in their gold and silver plate armors with open horned helmets and long cloaks falling down their backs.

As they marched around them an air of superiority and confidence could be felt that not many units possessed. Getting into the ranks of this unit was a dream many of the young Æsir had. Since it was usually a window to fame, wealth and glory as they had the hardest missions to achieve and were usually deployed alongside members of the royal family. They were also the most well-known unit as they fought in almost every conflict and opposed to the Rangers their achievements weren't shrouded with darkness and mystery, instead they shone with glory and fame. Two qualities that made everybody want to be a part of it and be allowed to bask in it.

As they walked, each of their steps purposeful and precise, the cheer of the crowds started to grow louder and louder with each passing moment. It was one of the most revered and respected formations of Asgard and now it was fully visible.

o-0-o

Warren stood with most of the X-Men and Ulf ,who somehow joined them on one of the balconies, and tried not to gape at those soldiers. "They look shiny and impressive."

"Because they are supposed to be," Ulf said with a smile. "Sif is their commander and you should know how good she is. She also said that if I really want to, I could join the ranks of the Royal Guard once I'm of age."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. She trains me and knows my level, so she can accept me into the ranks." Ulf said and laughed. "But I turned down her offer, maybe in a century of two, but not now."

"I thought that it was the best formation to serve in, at least you said so." Kitty said with frown. "And you just turn it down so easily."

"Because I would need to use 'His Highness' to refer to Harry and I don't plan on doing it any time soon. Someone needs to pull his head out of his ass."

Warren laughed at those words and threw his head backwards. "So you don't want to miss an opportunity to tell my dear cousin how stupid and foolish he is."

"Exactly," Ulf said and pointed towards the next formation that was marching right after the guard. "Watch them."

"Who are they?" Warren asked, squinting his eyes.

He was able to see a large group of soldiers that were different than every previous formation that took part in the parade, every single one of them had shiny armor and fancy cloaks. Their armor, was different. It was completely black with not a single spot of other color and their faces were hidden, while every other warrior had their faces visible. To make them even more mysterious and dangerous they had cloaks that seemed to melt with the surrounding landscape. However none of those things was as unusual as their weapons.

Those weren't normal spears or swords, so common on Asgard, those were weapons that Warren always connected with Earth. Rifles that seemed to be customized for each user and seemed alien to him, sleek, graceful and much less bulky than ones used on Earth. He also saw large knives in scabbards on their belts, but it was obvious that it was a secondary weapon.

"Rangers, my brother was one of them for a few dozens years. The Royal Guard looks fancy and takes part in battles, but as he said, these are responsible for the work behind the scenes and the assassination of various targets."

"Sounds charming," Warren said. "No wonder they look so dangerous and dark."

"Yes," Ulf nodded. "If they are here, the next formation will surprise you even more."

"Why?" Kitty asked. "What can be more shocking than this?"

"Valkyries," Illyana said as she joined them. "You will see why."

Warren was about to ask when he heard the clattering sound of hundreds, if not thousands of hooves. When he looked in its direction he saw riders on winged horses. Winged? Yes, those were winged horses. Even if the horses weren't enough to get all of his attention, the riders were more than capable of doing it. All of them were female, beautiful females at that. Dressed in shining, gold and silver armor that drew attention to itself.

"Focus," Jean said, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"Wh...What?"

"You almost jumped over the railing," she said. "They seem to have some sort of aura around themselves that does it."

Warren nodded and shook his head.

"And to think that those are not the most powerful ones," Ulf quietly said.

"What do you mean?" Kitty asked.

Ulf was silent for a moment. "At the end of King's Bør rule there was a rebellion, led by the Valkyries, thirteen of them took arms against him and they were the most powerful ones. They were banished out of the realm and cast into the void between dimensions, they are a common topic in a lot of tales and stories. But in short, they are the worst kind of traitors and nothing will change that."

Warren nodded and focused on the Valkyries and the other formations that followed, it seemed to not have an end.

o-0-o

Harry frowned as he watched the troops march down the alley, there was something amiss, then it hit him. Normally there weren't so many and the Rangers weren't present. "This parade is bigger than the last one," he finally said.

"Indeed," Odin said, " The Chitauri are rousing trouble. There is a need to reassure our allies that Asgard stands strong and is ready to commit its forces to war in their defense."

"And this gets the message across?"

Odin looked at Harry and Harry could see in the sole eye of his grandfather the intelligence burning brightly. "Aye, it shows how good our army is and how numerous, also the choice of who leads it says even more."

"Hermóðr," Harry finished.

"Yes, you know what his fame is and you should know how it will influence our allies and our enemies."

Harry nodded to those words and focused back on the warriors marching, their heavy boots striking the alley's stones in an even rhythm.

o-0-o

Carol Danvers was focused on fighting her Math homework when she heard some commotion outside of her room. She put away her pen and looked up, curious about who was the reason for it. When she saw her uncle appear in the doorway with her father behind him, and trying to say something, she smiled.

"How's my favorite niece doing?" Robbie asked

"Good," she smiled and chastely hugged him. "I thought that you promised to take me flying."

A frown passed over her uncle's face. "I did promise, but I didn't have much time, work keeps me busy. I should be free in a few days. Read this, please."

She looked at him and caught the newspaper thrown at her by her uncle, her eyebrows arched when she saw the headline.

 ** _Attack on a school by religious radicals?!_**

 _We all remember the video that was released on YouTube a few weeks ago showing armed men storm Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters, one of the best private schools on the East Coast, it seems that it was not fake and those events actually happened._

 _SHIELD released a brief statement about the attack. 'It did, indeed, happen and we are carrying out an investigation. Unfortunately due to security reasons we cannot tell you more than that behind the attack stood a group called Purists, led by Reverend William Stryker and supported by Lt General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross.'_

 _According to research done by me, the Purists are a group of mutant hunters that use religion as an excuse to murder whatever mutant they can find, no matter their age, gender, nationality or belief. The biggest question here, is why they were able to legally work for over twenty years and nobody dared to stop them or at least hinder their activities. Why was such an attack needed to get any sort of reaction?_

 _The second biggest question that we would like to know the answer to is why is Thaddeus Ross still a member of our country's military forces, even when he is suspected of helping in carrying out an attack on a school full of children. Why?! We demand those answers and nothing will stop us from getting them._

 _We will keep you appraised of the situation and inform you when new evidence appears._

Carol tried not to growl as she folded the newspaper and hurled it at the wall, she had seen a lot of things, but this was new. She shook her head and slowly breathed out, trying to control her temper and keeping it from exploding. She wondered when she would hear about it from Warren, probably the sole person that was able to not openly stare at her and was somewhat intelligent.

o-0-o

Maria Hill grinned as she watched those Hunters from Asgard demolish the training course and destroy with ease every single target that was to be destroyed. She knew they were supposed to be good, but this was something she hadn't expected to see.

"They are really good," she finally said and looked at Banshee. "How did you get convinced to help me with my hunt?"

"Loki. He said that I'll get bored on Asgard, while here..." He waved his hand around. "While here I'll have the opportunity to use my abilities, I also know a few things about wizards, not that I want to admit that."

"The ones that murdered your wife?"

Sean winced and looked at her. "Yes and when I saw the Hogwarts students on Asgard, it opened the old wound. You don't know how corrupt and how wrong their society is."

"Natasha mentioned it a couple of times." Maria shook her head. "But I never knew it was that bad."

Sean didn't say a word and turned to watch the Æsir that kept demolishing the course.

She let him brood for a moment before she finally broke the silence. "So could you capture one man for me?"

"Who?"

"Igor Karkaroff."

Sean slowly turned towards her and as she looked into his blue eyes, she saw grim determination. "I'll do it, though he might not be with all of his limbs attached. I met him in the past and we have a score to settle."

She sighed, but nodded. "Just get him alive and take as much time with him as you wish to. Natasha might have spooked him with her mission in Moscow."

"Durmstrang is a pain to track down," he said and briefly smiled. "But I think that our common friends will be able to do it, even if Karkaroff is going to hide."

"Yes," she smiled.

She heard him walk out of the room and focused on the Rangers below. She would do everything in her power to keep them as they could solve a lot of her issues. Issues that tended to fight back and didn't know reason.

o-0-o

Once the military parade ended everybody that was interested in watching the tournament live made their way into the Academy and onto the stands of the largest arena. It was able to house thousands of people and after the opening ceremony, smaller arenas would come to play, allowing even more people to watch sorcerers showcase their skills and abilities.

Harry smiled as he followed his family into the Royal Box from which most of the usual dignitaries were chased away and in their place the X-Men, Illyana and a few people from Hogwarts got places, however Illyana would join them later. The only dignitaries that managed to save their sits were Sif and Bragi.

When he entered the box he could see the whole arena below them, the first groups of sorcerers were already entering and forming even ranks on its surface.

"Where is Illyana?" Danielle asked as she joined him.

"On the arena or she will be there soon. She needs to make that oath, whether she plans to stay on Asgard after she is done training or not."

"So it's done 'just in case'?"

"Exactly." He smiled and looked at the arena.

Every sorcerer was on it, kneeling on one knee in front of the Royal Box and Odin walked to the railing. At the same time everybody in the arena fell silent and looked towards Odin.

"All of you are here to make an oath that you will not betray Asgard and will not taint those robes with any unhonorable deed. Are you willing to do it out of your own free will? If you have any objections you may withdraw now, after this very moment there won't be a single chance for you to withdraw."

Odin paused for a moment, allowing those that wished to withdraw to do so, but nobody did moved.

"Do you swear to obey and serve faithfully the Kingdom of Asgard and its King?"

"I do!"

"Do you swear to protect the Kingdom of Asgard from all of its enemies? Both internal and external ones?"

"I do!"

"Do you swear not to use magic to commit crimes?"

"I do!"

"Then, I, Odin Børson, the Allfather, King of Asgard, Shield of Asgard and Protector of the Nine Realms accept those oaths as valid in the light of law and tradition, you may rise, new sorcerers and sorceresses of Asgard and uphold those values."

"So that's why she needed to make this oath..." Warren said. "The part about committing crimes with magic."

"Exactly," Harry nodded. "Magic is sometimes annoying to track and you haven't seen how much mayhem our version of it can cause."

"I saw you summoning storms and other things when at the Institute, isn't it enough?"

Harry laughed at those words. "No, that's merely the beginning, here you will see what some of the best can do."

"If you say so, little cousin."

Harry knew that Warren wasn't convinced, but he leaned back and focused on the arena below.

o-0-o

"What?!" One of the Slytherin students asked. "Are they forced to make such oath?"

"Different world, different customs," Flitwick said with a shrug. "It's not like we wizards are the best at everything, other races and civilizations also can make something great or good."

Slytherin student wanted to say something, but fell silent and allowed Flitwick to look around.

While he was a Dueling Champion for a couple of seasons and he loved such entertainment, it seemed that not everybody was going to enjoy the show that was going to take place on the arena below them.

"It is mainly to send them a message and get it into their skull," said Bjarni as he passed by and stopped by Flitwick side. "Usually a show of power and might works nicely on everybody except idiots and those too narrow-minded to think clearly."

"Which unfortunately makes up the bulk of Hogwarts," Flitwick said. "While a lot of them is good when it comes to magic, they are a failure when it comes to anything connected with logic or academic subjects."

Bjarni's brows furrowed. "Don't you have any form of educational institution before Hogwarts? Here most children are either home-schooled or attend a school ran by the noble who governs the land."

"Most of them is sent to educational institutions ran by non-magical people, but I suspect that before Hogwarts they forget almost everything they had learned and the rest is schooled at home,the quality of which is a questionable thing."

"As well as strokes their egos to the size of a planet, turning them into arrogant brats that don't know the word obedience or discipline," Bjarni murmured. "Sometimes I want to grab one of them and throw out of the Academy into the water below, as a warning to the rest."

"Not only you, not only you," Flitwick said and looked towards the arena where the first pair of fighters was preparing to start to duel.

o-0-o

Percy Weasley tried not to gape as he watched the duel, the two fighters that were dueling each other were breaking almost every single law of magic that was taught at Hogwarts. He could see whole mountains being created and destroyed and the amount of power was unnerving to say the least.

"How are they doing it?" He finally asked loudly.

"They aren't human.," Katie Bell said. "They do things only they can do, things that are out of our reach and I have a feeling that those two are not the very best."

He dumbly nodded and his eyes widened when one of wizards on the arena summoned a thirty-meter tall pillar of fire that charged across the arena and slammed into his opponent. But that was not what shook him, it was what followed. The one hit by the fire spell shrugged it off as if it was nothing and with a furious expression walked forward, the ground cracking around him.

Chunks of rock and soil flew into the air and formed a cocoon around him, creating a protective shield for him. He pushed his hand forward and some of the debris charged towards his opponent, changing into spikes and shards while in the air.

Percy shook his head as he saw it and pinched his nose, trying to see if it was an illusion.

"It's real," Katie said. "They just did that."

He nodded and his eyes widened when those chunks of rock were melted by beams of fire that came almost out of nowhere, passed through them and charged at the opponent.

Looking at the duel Percy could tell that it was only the beginning and that the true fight was far from starting.

o-0-o

Loki could feel Dumbledore shift uneasily in his seat, apparently the old Headmaster was uncomfortable in such close proximity to so many powerful mages, mages that could easily squash him like a bug. Also, there was something more to the current state of the Headmaster, Loki's gaze flickered towards the arena and then it dawned on him.

He put on his usual mask and looked at Dumbledore. "Headmaster, what do you think about the festivities of the day?"

"They seem interesting, but is it really necessary to force upon ones so young such oaths?"

"If you want to keep them under control, then yes," Bragi grumbled. "I might force some of your students as well, as I have more than enough of them feeling adventurous and exploring at night when everybody is trying to sleep."

"They are young so they should be allowed to have some freedom."

"Freedom ends the moment you violate someone else's personal space" Loki said with a sly smile. "I was right about the fact that Hogwarts needs serious remodelling and its students need some lessons from reality, by the looks of it the staff too."

Dumbledore looked at Loki, some fear in his eyes. "It works well without any major changes, so I don't see the need to do anything more than add a few minor changes."

Loki smiled and looked at the sky visible through the glass dome. "Then how is it that nobody explained to your students that the Boy-Who-Lived is nothing but a myth, a bad one at that."

He could feel a couple more people pay some attention to their discussion, some of them X-Men, but more importantly the rest of his family was looking at Dumbledore. Looking in a manner that suggested calling guards and dragging the goal into the nearest dungeon.

"We needed hope after the times of Voldemort and it was one of the few sources we could get it from, it was also the one that shined the most, so we needed it badly."

Loki heard Thor growl, but he slowly shook his head indicating for his brother to calm down and looked towards Dumbledore. "Even if it was a source of hope, how hard would it have been to slowly start to explain that it is false, once you had gotten past those issues."

"And destroy the sole hero they have heard about?"

"If need be, yes, this will cause more bad than it did good," Loki said and sighed. "Now my nephew can't show himself close to wizards because of the fact that they worship him for something that he didn't even do."

Loki smiled when he saw Freyr narrow his eyes. "What do you mean, dear cousin?" Asked the Prince of Vanaheim.

"That thanks to Dumbledore, Harald is worshipped because a spell bounced off him and towards the one that casted it. True, it was the Killing Curse, as they call it, but it wasn't its true version."

Freyr growled and looked towards Dumbledore. "What do you have to say about it?"

"He is a hero and he deserves to be worshipped, he was the one that stopped Voldemort."

Loki sighed, rolled his eyes and looked at Dumbledore. "Can we cut to the chase? Changes will happen to Hogwarts, no matter what you do. So the best thing for you is to cooperate with me and convince me not to remove you from power." Loki saw Harry get up and walk out of the box, but he fully understood his action, and instead, focused on Dumbledore. "So what is your answer?"

"I dislike it, but I will accept."

"Perfect," Loki said with a smile and looked at Bragi. "Would you mind helping me with fixing Hogwarts? After all you have been running the Academy for a few hundred years now and it works well."

"It would be an honor, Your Highness."

Loki nodded ,content, and focused on the duels happening on the arena below.

o-0-o

Harry walked out of the Royal Box and stormed down the corridor running along the stands, he wanted to have an opportunity to think and clear his mind. He slowed down and leaned against one of columns supporting the ceiling.

He slowly breathed out and looked at a single spot on the ceiling as he attempted to push the thoughts out of his mind. He closed his eyes and was actually able to focus on something, not on the rage and anger that was flying around his mind. His uncle could have warned him that such talk could happen.

Clenching his fists he looked around and slowly started to walk down the corridor, a small smile appeared on his lips when he saw Ulf leaning against a pillar in his scale armor. His friend had some kind of weird smirk on his lips, a confident and mischievous one.

"What are you doing here and not with your family?" Harry asked as he came to a stop near Ulf.

"I could ask you the same question," Ulf said. " I'm mainly watching a group that seems amusing and a bit annoying."

Harry arched an eyebrow.

"The Wizards brought to Asgard by your uncle, Prince Loki, some seem like nice people, while the rest is too loud and obnoxious, even for my taste."

"I was like them when I got here."

"You were." Ulf shrugged and looked at Harry. "But we both were louder and more careless than now. They are worse than we were."

Harry sighed and nodded. "I like a few of them, but from what I saw when Bjarni was making them go through the paces, they are weak and slow."

"Than why did your uncle invite them to Asgard?"

"Don't know," Harry shrugged. "He doesn't divulge his plans to me, but he must have had a reason to do so. If I had to guess, he wants them brought to heel and Hogwarts was always connected with Asgard."

"Was?"

Harry sighed and looked at the sky. "Did you really pay any attention to what Sif was telling us about the Second War with the Frost Giants? Something like twelve centuries ago."

"That we had won it and that it was thanks to your grandfather?"

Harry yawned and looked at the sky. "Didn't she mention a few more things? One of them being the fact that my uncle decided that Midgard needs to start to train its own wizards, if they don't want to constantly be the damsel in distress?"

"She mentioned something about it," Ulf said and frowned. "And this Hogwarts is supposed to be a school of magic? Even I with my limited magic I can cause more havoc than they can."

"You have magic?" Harry asked, he hadn't expected that.

"According to my father I have, not the most powerful, but it should be more than sufficient."

"Not bad," he whistled quietly and looked at Ulf. "But I guess that it is not something you want to talk about."

"No," Ulf said as they started to slowly walk towards the boxes occupied by the more important nobles and their guests. "Are you planning to go back to Wolf's Hall after the Tournament is over?"

"Maybe," Harry said and shrugged. "I might actually try to watch the wizards more closely than I did before. Sometimes being a Prince isn't bad."

"Guards?"

"Yes," Harry nodded as they entered the box and not many looked at him returning. He sat down and focused on watching the duels. Duels that would last well into the night and finish in a week's time.

o-0-o

Oliver tried not to gape as he looked at the duels taking place on the main arena, he knew that the Æsir were powerful sorcerers, but this was new and even better. He already saw the whole arena flooded more than once. "I knew that Black Eagle is powerful, but this is something more," he finally said.

"We knew that he was starting to learn more serious magic," Tonks added. "So he is weak compared to them."

"Who are you talking about?" Percy Weasley asked.

Oliver sighed at those words and looked at the most annoying Weasley out of the whole family, he was a stickler to the rules and nothing was able to get into his mind. "A friend of ours that is half-Æsir, you don't need to know about him."

"Tell him, it'll be fun to watch," Tonks said. "It's not like everybody knows the son of Thor, the rather special son of Thor."

Oliver laughed when he saw how gobsmacked their peers became, it seemed impossible for him that one sentence was enough to cause such a reaction. He expected more than this.

"When did you meet him?"

"When we were at the Institute," Charlie said and shrugged. "I'm really surprised that you didn't notice them yet, they are quite visible."

"Yeah." Oliver looked towards the Royal Box and easily spotted several X-Men inside of it. "The only thing that is surprising is where they are."

Tonks chuckled and looked at him. "It's kind of obvious why they are there, they were invited and believe me everybody will be more than grateful for chasing away those annoying dignitaries."

Oliver nodded and focused on the arena, most of which was hidden behind a thick layer of smoke and dust that was thrown into the air by some kind of a spell.

o-0-o

The week of the Tournament passed with many sorcerers showing impressive abilities and more than a couple of times testing how badly the arena could be damaged in a duel with huge chunks of it flooded, melted or obliterated in other ways. Once the time of festivities had passed it was time to slowly return to normal or more usual life. Which for Harry meant studying, training and in his free time spending time with his friends and the X-Men, his grandfather decided that there was no bad time for training and that every opportunity should be used.

One of the things that was added to his training was mixing magic and normal fighting techniques into one fluid style that would combine the best aspects of both things and negate their most glaring shortcomings. Thus allowing him to be much better when in combat than he already was.

Harry focused magic in his palm and smiled when he saw Ulf charge straight at him. Harry pushed his hand forward and a beam of energy flew from it and slammed into Ulf, its force throwing him backwards.

Ulf rolled backwards and came to a stop on the sand of the arena, an annoyed expression on his face and his eyes narrowed, looking for any opportunity to strike. "How did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"This spell," Ulf clarified

"Luck," Harry shrugged.

Gripping the handle of his axe with both hands Ulf charged at Harry, forcing him to watch out and prepare to defend himself. Harry's blade made an arc and slammed into the shaft of the axe, pushing it backwards and making Ulf lose his balance for a part of a second.

It was a miniscule amount of time, but enough for Harry to jump away and get some room to breath, without any axes flying close to his head and attempting to chop it away. His eyes watched Ulf, trying to analyze his moves and find a pattern in them.

"Someone is getting slow?" Harry asked as he charged at Ulf.

"Maybe in your dreams," Ulf shouted back.

Harry only smirked and thrust his sword forward, counting on surprising Ulf with this move, however hoping as far as it went. Ulf moved out of the way of the strike and slammed the blunt side of his axe into Harry's head. It dazed Harry and threw him onto his knees, before he had a chance to get up he felt a blade pressed against his neck's soft skin.

"You won." He said as he saw Ulf's hand keep a knife at his throat.

"Finally," Ulf said and helped Harry to get up. "After something like ten losses to you I finally won."

"Even the best can lose," someone said, when they turned they saw Bjarni walking towards them. "I watched the fight and it was impressive for your age."

"Thank you," Harry bowed his head, picked up the sword and looked towards Bjarni. "You will be training the wizards?"

"Yes," Bjarni said and shook his head. "They are annoying and sometimes I wonder if they possess a brain, or at least one that works."

"They need to get used to the idea of using something else than magic," Harry said. "At the Institute they learned it, as they were the more intelligent ones."

"I noticed."

"I would wish you good luck with them, but I have a feeling that they will need it more." Bjarni sadly nodded in agreement.

Harry smiled, slid his sword into its scabbard and walked out of the arena, while passing through the gate, they were met by wizards. He was thankful for the fact that he hadn't taken off his helmet and it hid his scar. When he saw Tonks pass by him, he threw a small ball of folded paper at her. She looked at him and for a moment, distracted, but then nodded and smiled.

"What was that?" Ulf asked

"Message to friend," Harry smiled. "She should understand what I mean by it."

"What did you use this time?"

"Nothing," Harry said and rolled his eyes. "I was too tired to think about fitting quotes or passages from something she would recognize and knew how to read. Unless you think that quote from the Song of the Old One or from the Song of the Fiery One would be understood on Midgard."

"Point taken," Ulf nodded as they entered into the changing rooms to get out of the layers of armor that they were wearing to protect themselves from harm and get used to their weight. In a normal fight, speed was crucial and getting used to those several kilos of steel, mithril and other alloys was important.

"She is an intelligent one and I left her just enough hints to figure out what was going on and where to look," Harry said as he threw pieces of his plate armor onto the floor. "The problem might be for her getting there without any tails following her as many would love to meet me."

"Where do you want to meet her?"

"The terrace on top of the wing to the right of the entrance," Harry said.

He threw the last piece of his plate armor onto the floor and it was quickly joined by his chainmail, that loudly clattered on the floor. "What a mess," he murmured as he saw it, snapping his fingers he made it fly into one of the lockers and land in a somewhat organized pile.

"There is an advantage to scale armor," Ulf said with a thin smile. "It's easier to get in and get out of, as well as much more comfortable and easier to wear."

"But it is weaker," Harry said and saw Ulf mutter something.

They stripped out of their clothes and rushed into the bath, Harry almost hissed as the hot water touched his skin, but after a moment it was gone. All of his strained and sore muscles relaxing in the water. "As I was saying, she is intelligent and can actually think," he said as he looked at his friend.

He was kind of envious that Ulf was slightly bigger than he was, but then he didn't have wings. Wings which according to Eir's opinion would make Harry a little less bulky than an average Æsir and much less bulky than his father was. However the wings and his avian traits meant that he traded some of the physical bulkiness of an Æsir, for much better senses and that his body was able to survive higher speeds than the normal Æsir.

"Also not the worst looking one." Ulf added with a smile. "I can see why you like her."

Harry blushed slightly, but nodded. "So what do you think about the wizards?" He asked, trying to move to safer waters.

"Loud, obnoxious and not worth any attention."

Harry's lips curled up into a smile. "What did you say before wrestling Colossus?"

"He can at least think and knows how to behave," Ulf said. "Also I came to trust you and since you trust them, I'm not as suspicious."

"You know that I could order you to behave?"

"I know, but the question is if you would do it."

Harry frowned for a moment. "No, I don't think so."

"Good choice, Your Highness," Ulf said, making Harry roll his eyes and sigh.

"What did I tell you about honorifics?"

"Not to use them," Ulf said with a chuckle. "But you know that I should use them towards you and nothing will change that."

"I know," Harry said and sighed in relief as the water dealt with his aches and removed most of the grime that covered his body. "Sitting here is nice, but there are other things to do."

"Including you meeting that girl," Ulf sniggered as they got out of the pool.

Harry growled and shook his head, he fully opened his massive wings and in a couple of moves send most of the water that was in them towards Ulf. It slammed into him and covered him in a layer of water.

"That was nasty," Ulf growled and shook his head, trying to get water out of his eyes. "Not, that I expected something better from you."

"Someone needs to keep you awake," Harry grinned and was forced to jump out of the way of a punch flying towards his head.

He quickly dressed and walked towards the terrace where he was supposed to meet Tonks.

o-0-o

"This is an incredible place," Charlie said as he wrote runes on a piece of paper. "And I can fully understand why it is called a Realm of Gods."

"Why is that?" Asked a tall, lean Slytherin with nasty-looking blond hair and an even more unpleasant sneer on his face. "It just feels like a fancy illusion and nothing else than that."

"Maybe if you were able to pull your head out of your ass you'd be able to see what he means," said Tonks. "It is obvious that it's true and only a blind person would say something different."

"Keep your opinions to yourself, traitor," he sneered and stormed out of the room.

"What a jerk," Charlie muttered and looked at Tonks. "You okay?"

"Yes," she said and shook her head, focusing on the papers strewn in front of her. "I should have expected it from him. Flint was always lacking in intelligence."

Charlie winced and nodded.

o-0-o

Harry stood on the terrace and leaned over the railing with a faint smile on his lips, it was one of better sight-seeing spots on Asgard. The city was sprawled in front of it and if one looked further than the city, they could see the peaks of mountains in the distance. However none of it was drawing Harry's attention, he was looking at the city and trying to think about the past, the present and the future.

He heard footsteps behind and when he turned he saw Tonks walking towards him with Charlie Weasley following her. "I see that you figured out how to get here," he smiled briefly. "There are a few things that I would like to talk about with you."

"Oh?" Tonks asked as she and Charlie joined him at the railing.

"I know about my fame as Boy-Who-Lived among wizards and I don't really like it," he said and they looked at him. "The problem is that even if I dislike it, I need to start interacting with wizards in general, sooner or later."

"How can we help you with that?" Charlie asked.

"You know how they will react if I tell that I am Boy-Who-Lived."

"Not good," Tonks said with a wince. He looked at her and arched an eyebrow.

"She means that you might get trampled by them," Charlie said and paused. "Most wizards lack common sense and are as stupid as a rock, maybe even more. The moment they see you, they'll try to keep you with them and worship you."

"Worship? As in worship like a God?" Harry asked, trying not to chuckle.

"Yes, like a God." Charlie rolled his eyes. "I know that it sounds stupid and all, but that's their way of thinking and there are also riches that Potter family has gathered over the ages."

"And money always draws attention," Harry said and looked at them. "So could you subtly mention that the Boy-Who-Lived is here? So that they are more accustomed to the idea? I will reveal myself in few days once the hype is over. Are all wizards as lazy as the rest of Hogwarts is?"

Tonks sighed and winced. "I'll put it this way, some families are like that, some are better and there are some that actually know something more than magic. It's complicated and confusing for those that didn't grow up with us."

"That's a different story," Charlie said and Harry looked at the older boy. "We'll mention that you're here, just be careful when you're close to us as some might behave weirdly."

Harry smiled and snapped his fingers, making Freki and Geri appear at his side. "I think that these will keep most trouble away from me and there is my Wolf Guard and friends."

"Friends?" Tonks asked. "I don't remember you talking about them."

"Because you didn't ask about them," Harry said and looked at them. "The three people with whom I spend most of my time here, they also know how to keep things at bay."

"You'll need their help, you'll see why, but trust me on this one and keep them close," Charlie said.

"I will." Harry looked towards the walls of the tetrahedron that was rising from the middle of the structure. "What do you think about staying here?"

"It's certainly nice and interesting," Tonks said. "Also it reminds me in a way of the Institute."

"Though the wake up call is painful," Charlie said, subconsciously rubbing his ears. "I feel as if my head was placed inside of a bell."

"It happens." Harry said with a grin and looked at them. "It's still better than having an axe crash into a helmet on your head."

"Or have a meeting with a Bludger to the face," Charlie said and Harry arched an eyebrow. "You haven't heard about Quidditch, have you?"

"No, what is it?"

"A game played by wizards, a fun and dangerous game."

"Broken bones, twisted joints and a few other things," Tonks said cheerfully.

"Can you tell me about it?"

Charlie nodded and told Harry about it, at the end of the explanation Harry was rather interested in it as it seemed dangerous and exciting, the two things he loved, combined they were even better. It also made him look forward to his stay at Hogwarts, he was still suspicious about it, but much less than previously.

o-0-o

Loki smiled as he saw Dumbledore shift uncomfortably in his seat, apparently being in the presence of two extremely powerful sorcerers, whilst each of them is easily able of defeating him, was a bit too much for the old Headmaster.

And even if their presence wasn't enough to unsettle Dumbledore, their surrounding were more than capable of doing so as they were in the lavishly decorated office of the Lord Commandant of the Academy. Loki smoothed out his robe and looked at Dumbledore. "During our last talk we had agreed that Hogwarts needs to be changed and you were willing to cooperate."

"I said that I might be willing to make some changes to it, besides you didn't tell me what kinds of changes you were planning to make."

"I thought that I mentioned what kinds of changes I was planning to make," Loki said and looked at the sculpture showing Yggdrasil. "Anyways, in the past even if the houses competed with each other, there was some sort of friendship, now they seem to be fighting like a group of children. Can you explain to me how did that happen?"

"On its own and thanks to the fact that the majority of Death Eaters came from Slytherin."

"And you didn't see a reason to interfere and straighten things out?" Bragi asked. "After all the main task of any leader is to keep conflicts from escalating into all out wars, you saw that even if the Academy is competing with other schools, we are able to keep it civil."

Dumbledore shifted uncomfortably and for Loki it said more than anything else would.

"It seems that either the leader is bad, blind or he doesn't want his students to stop fighting each other," Loki said and smiled when he saw Dumbledore look at him. "If I'm honest, this is probably the easiest thing to change."

"Move living quarters into one place?" Bragi asked "So that they are forced to interact with each other, no matter how badly they hate each other?"

"Exactly," Loki said with a grin and saw Bragi nod in approval. "Either they will learn how to be civil on their own or they will be forced to do so, society dislikes people that insult everybody and it loves to teach them a harsh lesson to remember that." He saw Dumbledore open his mouth. "You might dislike it as much as you wish to, but it won't stop me from reaching my goals. And before you mention the fact that there is no place where they can fit. I will build one, it is a simple matter of remodeling the inside of Hogwarts and adding a few new things to it."

"There is also the matter of one of your teachers that seems to be favoring his house well beyond anything that could be accepted as normal," Bragi said. "He does everything to throw the blame at everybody else than his house. Even if he is shown with direct evidence he still is slimy."

"He should change," Loki smirked dangerously. "I spoke with him about my dear nephew and he understood the warning he was given, if not I can be more persuasive."

Dumbledore sighed. "I guess that I won't have a choice, but to accept those changes and try to negotiate with you."

"Finally you see reason," Loki briefly smiled. "I also plan to add runes that were a part of the curriculum when Hogwarts was first created, they disappeared over the ages, but it is high time that something was changed and fixed inside Hogwarts."

"Also, add academic subjects," Bragi grumbled. "Useful when you face wards or runes that create systems based on geometry or some pattern as well as in normal life and by the looks of it half of your students can't solve simple equations."

"And to think that they want to study Arithmacy," Loki said and rolled his eyes. "Probably a subject where there is more math than magic, math that is complicated and not easy to grasp. No wonders that the UK, in terms of magical inventions, is lightyears behind some countries, not many study runes or Arithmacy and the effects are visible."

"Not to mention, they need to be knocked down a peg or two, preferably a whole ladder. I understand being arrogant when you know something and have abilities to back your claims, if not then you better stay silent."

"Mentality will take longer than a single moment to change, but that's another thing that needs to be gone." Loki looked at Dumbledore. "You will stop the blatant favoritism of one group, unless you want me to play with you and Hogwarts and it will be nothing pleasant, I assure you."

"If I agree to those terms what will Hogwarts and I get in return?"

Loki frowned and looked at Bragi. "How badly would you mind some students, let's say twenty-eight, from Hogwarts for six months?"

"If they can behave, why not, after all it was a tradition in the past and it was a nice way to make students excel in their studies and compete with each other. And it works on almost everybody, so it is even better."

"I think I will accept." Dumbledore said. "However, could I have some impact on who is chosen to travel to Asgard."

"Why not," Loki said with a shrug. "It's not that we will keep those misbehaving or continuously testing everybody's patience. They will be sent back sooner than you think is possible. They will also get the same punishments as everybody else does and nothing will change my stance on that."

"I understand," Dumbledore said, though Loki could feel something more to the old Headmaster. "When will you do those changes to Hogwarts?"

"Probably during the summer as now it is the middle or so of the school year and it would be a bad idea to disrupt the way school works."

"I think it will be perfect, I will also have time to prepare the students and the staff for the changes that are to come." Dumbledore said and stood up. "I will leave you, since it seems we have discussed everything of importance."

"Indeed, we thank you for the opportunity to talk, it was a most enlightening discussion." Loki said and the moment Dumbledore was outside, he looked at Bragi. "I've seen politicians less scheming than him."

"He believes to be a messiah for his society," Bragi said and shrugged. "It will take time, but it should go away, sooner or later."

"I hope that it will be sooner," Loki said and looked out of the window, letting his mind wander over random topics. As well as what other changes would need to be applied to Hogwarts in the coming years.

o-0-o

Tonks looked at her paper and winced when she saw that she scored only ten points out of a hundred possible to get. She looked at Oliver and leaned over his shoulder and saw that he didn't fare much better than her. "Did they expect us to learn all of those things overnight?"

"I think that the answer is yes, I have eidetic memory, but it seems even it has some limits," he said and winced. "McGonagall and Flitwick will murder us for our results."

"Yes," she sadly agreed and looked around the hall and saw that most of people started to grumble unhappily. "They aren't too happy with their results."

"Who would be?"

"Point taken," she said and sighed. "It will be so, so troublesome."

Lecturer cleared her throat and they looked at her. "Since only a small amount of you managed to get an acceptable result from this test, it will be repeated once more in a week time and I hope that you see that you need to study and maybe ask fellow students for help. This is the place where your petty grudges and dislikes stay, maybe at Hogwarts you are allowed not to work that hard, but I expect you to at least try."

"There is this sliver of hope," Oliver said. "So it shouldn't be that bad."

"No, it should," she agreed and pulled out her parchment and started to make notes. "Take notes or I have a feeling we will get a nasty surprise once more."

"She wouldn't do it, would he?" Oliver asked as he started to write, his quill screeching on the parchment.

"She might," Tonks said and smiled, making him groan.

o-0-o

Tonks sighed as she entered the library and looked around until she found familiar form of Illyana hunched over some books and random notes. She walked to her and lightly tapped her on the shoulder, almost immediately getting her attention. "Hey Tonks, what do you want?"

"Help with runes as I feel we are going to be murdered," Tonks said sitting down in one of the free chairs. "And not only by your Instructors, but also by our own Professors."

"Why didn't you come when you were supposed to have the first test?"

"Because I thought that I would be fine and besides, nobody seemed eager to help us."

Illyana sighed and rolled her eyes. "Did you ask for help? Or did you assume someone will jump and help you?"

"I think that it was the second thing," Tonks admitted. "So could you be so kind and help me?"

"Why not," Illyana said as she looked at her notes. "This thing is almost done, so I don't have much else to do. She gave you those sixteen runes to learn?"

"Yes," Tonks said.

Illyana nodded and hummed quietly for a moment. "It will take time, but I think that I should be able to explain all of them to you."

"Thank you," Tonks said and pulled out her writing supplies, as she did it, it seemed that the ice was broken and other Hogwarts students took an example out of her.

o-0-o

Oliver gaped as he looked at the massive map of the local universe made in three dimensions with various realms marked in various colors, he was aware that Asgard was a huge empire, but now looking at a map that showed over a thousand galaxies and thousands of nebulae as well as uncountable other objects made him realize how massive it was. If he was right more than one fourth of the map was painted golden, a sign of it belonging to Asgard and even more was painted in a paler yellow, a sign of it being in Asgard's sphere of influence.

"This is the area of space where Asgard and Midgard are located," the lecturer said, drawing him out of his musings. "So that you can understand, Asgard is made out of over twenty galaxies and more are in our sphere of influence, your realm is a planet, just one planet."

"Some will have heart attacks," Tonks whispered and he looked around and saw a lot of pure-blood wizards gape and pale.

"Isn't it that they are supposed to be superior to everything and everybody?"

"Touche," she nodded with a smile. "They need to get used to a different scale and thinking, Xavier's did it for us, they are like children in a thick fog."

"Blind and too arrogant to realize how outclassed they are," he said and looked towards the lecturer.

"The only organization that we respect and recognize on Midgard is SHIELD as they helped us deal with a dangerous incursion of Chitauri and since then we have been helping them,the wizards of your planet aren't even marked on our maps, the only magical structures that we keep track of is Hogwarts, because it was created by Prince Loki, the White Council meeting place and Kamar-Taj, the rest is of no importance to us. We might change our view on them, but not in the immediate future as we do not see a point in doing so."

"Well, this will cause a lot of heart attacks," Charlie said and Oliver sadly nodded.

"Yes, especially the Slytherin students as they aren't the brightest, not that some of our house are any better,"

"No, they're not," Charlie agreed. "But the good thing is that those things seemed to shake them and they started to take more interest in the classes we have."

"Yes," Tonks said and added with a smile. "Some also managed to hide their pride and actually ask for help, which is rare."

"That's new," Oliver whistled. "This trip to Asgard seems like a very educational experience."

"Yes," Charlie agreed as they focused on the lecture.

o-0-o

Carol Danvers frowned as she looked at the CNN website, it seemed that someone decided to reveal what had truly happened at the Institute. She clicked the first link and a long article appeared in front of her eyes, way longer than most that were normally published.

 ** _Details of the attack on Xavier's revealed – SHIELD published whole report!_**

 _We all remember the events that happened those few weeks ago at the Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters and the fact that SHIELD confirmed that they were carrying out an investigation, but couldn't release more due to security reasons. However, now it seems they are willing to say more as yesterday a report was released, over four hundred pages long and naming those that took part in this attack. The names of the students and the X-Men, whose base was Xavier's, are partially censored, we fully understand that and we won't question the decision to keep them secret._

 _According to the report the attack began around midnight when almost everybody was asleep and thus vulnerable, it seems that those that carried it out don't have a sliver of honor as only thieves and murderers attack at night, not allowing their victims a chance to react. When the mutants inhabiting the Institute discovered the attack, a short and brutal fight started with a lot of the attackers being killed. Some of the students were killed in the attack, but according to the report most of them only received various injuries. The whole thing ended with the arrival of SHIELD teams that dealt with the rest of the attackers and helped the injured._

 _According to the report the Institute was defended by its inhabitants, some names you can recognize are Warren Worthington III, son of Warren Worthington II, owner and CEO of Worthington Industries and one of the richest men on the planet. James Howlett, war hero and one of the super-soldiers during World War Two and Emma Frost, one of the rising stars of business and owner of Frost International._

 _The attackers were mainly various kinds of troublemakers, criminals and xenophobes from the Purist movement led by Reverend William Stryker who was one of the loudest supporters of anti-mutant policy and persecution. Weapons and supplies were provided by Lieutenant General Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross, former officer of the Air Force, who is now stripped of his rank and all the honors he had attained over the years. 'He is not worthy of being a soldier of the United States Air Force, we never supported him and he was always a rogue agent,' said General Robert Jackson._

 _SHIELD also released information that all of those involved in those events would face legal charges. However due to the high profile of the case and the people involved in it, the exact date and place will be a secret until the time of the trial to avoid disruptions._

 _We hope that it will be the last act of such violence committed in the name of bigotry, prejudice and religious reasons in our country and that people will be able to see others as citizens, no matter their culture, race, belief or physical appearance._

As she read it Carol almost whistled loudly, she knew that Warren loved to end up in the media, but she never expected to find him in such a place. The fact that the words of her uncle were quotes didn't surprise her, he was one of the more commonly quoted soldiers.

She put her tablet away and sighing turned to look at the pile of homework that didn't seem to disappear on its own and needed to be done.

o-0-o

Fury looked at the thin sheet of paper that made its way onto his desk and narrowed his sole working eye as he studied it. The news brought by it were grim and potentially deadly, but they wouldn't explode right in his face now or in the next few years.

"So someone had a bright idea of attempting to clone Wolverine and a getting second mutant of the same kind." he said and shook his head. "Weapon X should know when it is time to retire and let others live."

He folded it and walked to the wall, he swiped his hand over the surface and saw the wall disappear under his touch. In its place a safe was revealed, he input the code, waited for it to open and when it opened he placed the document inside. It needed to stay hidden and out of sight. Being constantly paranoid was an important trait for a spy.

 **A/N:**

 **Military parades are simple and effective way of showing that my hammer is the biggest and that you should listen to me or it will pay you a visit. Also it gives an opportunity to entertain the masses and stroke your own ego and show how good your military is. The most well-known ones are probably Roman triumphs and Russian military parades to celebrate the end of the Great Patriotic War(their name for the world war two). A lot is being said by who leads it and who is receiving it as well as what units are in it, if you show elite units and famous commander is leading it, you try to send a signal that one wrong move and this hammer will slam into your face. For size, shown were twelve groups from academies, Royal Guard, Rangers, Valkyries each of them was a rectangle forty people wide and twenty-five deep. Military academies usually open the parade as they are the future of the nation and are treated as units of the military.**

 **Hogwarts, let's put it that way. Loki and Asgard need something that will allow them not to rush to the rescue of Midgard every time they get a minor problem with a wizard. SHIELD does a lot of work, but they can't be everywhere and Hogwarts just asks to spawn a trouble or two - no way for students to release their energy. When you have a group of teens and they are bored, it is just bad. Also he wants to undermine positions of everybody in the UK and with those actions he gets it.**

 **Size of Asgard - land means more people, more people means more taxes, more taxes means more income, more income means more funds and more funds means that you can conquer lands around you. Also if you are about to forge weapons inside of a star, you need a lot of them and finding one that is big and stable enough is like looking for a needle in a haystack. And in two twentish galaxies you have a lot of needles.**

 **Purists are an example of what propaganda can do, they are destroyed economically and socially as nobody will even admit that he thought well about them. Stigmatisation works wonderfully and used properly can destroy almost everything.**

 **Fury's musings are for you to discover.**

Reviews:

 _bearfan23_ \- no and maybe, after all she doesn't look bad

 _TimothyB_ \- he is different, taller, much more massive, with wings and has this aura of danger and confidence around himself. Not many will be willing to look into his eyes and onto his face, thus they won't spot his scar

 _Captain James H00K_ \- there will be something done about it, there are some reasons why the Dursley's got away with it, but it is a matter of time before Loki finds a good way to deal with them

 _TheFishKing_ \- Deadpool is a wetwork man for SHIELD, if they lack muscles or need to get their agent out of a trap, he is their choice. Umbridge won't die soon, even if she is on the list of targets to kill, that list has several hundreds if not thousands of people that need to be killed. Love interest, no comments. Snape didn't realize how bad his situation is. Malfoy may.

 _randomplotbunny_ \- Exactly, they are growing up to be warriors, but even them need time to relax.


	29. A surprise or two

**A/N - More of a comic relief/softer chapter that should amuse a lot of people, Harry gets a thing that every teen dreads about…. This part of a story, that is Xavier's have maybe ten more chapters and after that we jump to Hogwarts and its problems.** **Read and review!**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

A sword made a beautiful arc in the air and slammed into a shield raised by Ulf in just the nick of time. Harry was a bit surprised when his friend managed to do it, he hadn't expected this blow to have been stopped. Ulf pushed away the blade and sent his axe flying towards Harry's head.

Harry smiled and parried the axe with his sword, he was about to start an attack when he heard Sif. "That's enough for now, someone wants to talk with you both."

They looked at Sif and saw her walking towards them with Eir.

"It's time for it, isn't it?" Hrolf said from the side.

Harry looked at his older friend and had a feeling that he knew the purpose of Eir being there.

"Yes." Eir said and looked at Harry and Ulf. "You two will follow me, I need to speak with you about something."

They nodded, and leaving their gear behind, they followed her through the corridors of the Citadel, as they walked Harry had a weird feeling that it was not going to end too good for him. He glanced at Ulf and saw that his friend was as suspicious as he was. "Where are we going?" He finally asked.

"You will see," Eir said.

They passed through a few more corridors before she finally entered a small room located on top of one of hundreds spires rising from the Citadel. She looked around content and nodded. "This will do for the talk we need to have." She snapped her fingers and conjured three comfortable looking chairs. "It might take us some time, so you better get comfortable."

Harry looked at Ulf, who just shrugged and sat down. Harry looked at Eir who just looked at him, the mask on her face as impossible to read as usual. Knowing well that she wouldn't wait for him he sat down, just to satisfy her.

"What thing that I want to talk about with you is simple," she said and briefly smiled, as if trying to put them at ease. "Puberty and the physical maturity of your body. You are growing up and your body is changing."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked as he felt his cheeks getting warm.

"You start to get attracted towards the other sex or maybe people of your own sex," she said and ignored their attempts to protest. "Also you body develops the last, still, immature organs and glands. Glands responsible for several things." She looked at them and snapped her fingers. "This should help you see what I mean."

In the air in front of them diagrams appeared showing perfectly the body of an Æsir before puberty and after, easily showing the plenitude of the changes that happened during this period.

"I will start from the least unpleasant for you to the most unpleasant," she said and at the same time areas along the spine and close to the brain glowed on the diagram. "Generally until the beginning of puberty we are similar to humans in how the internal structure of our bodies looks, during this period changes appear in our bodies that make us different than them. The highlighted areas are responsible for our longevity, immunity to poison and, if need be, our ability to regrow limbs from scratch."

"So we get almost invincible?" Ulf asked.

"You still can get killed, it's just a much harder task to achieve than it is to kill you now," she said and snapped her fingers making another part of the diagram glow, this time around the brain. "Our brain, normally, is more developed than the brain of a human, but this is the time period it stops developing and reaches its peak performance. While you won't get smarter, your reaction time will drop even more and there are a few other things that you will discover on your own."

They nodded and Harry had a feeling that while this part of the talk was somewhat normal, the next one would make him really, really embarrassed and probably blush so badly that his cheeks would turn colour to a nice shade of beet red.

"Probably, the most important change to your physique during this time is here," she said as the crotch on both diagrams glowed. "Your reproductive organs and hormones connected with them."

Harry felt a blush creep up his cheeks as he looked at Eir and tried to laugh to hide how he felt. It failed miserably and the only thing that left his mouth was short chortle.

"What?" She asked, her keen eyes focusing on them. "Did I say something funny?"

"No," Harry said, shifting uncomfortably and trying not to look into her eyes.

"So I don't see a reason for your behavior," she said. "It's part of our development and you can't do anything about it, it just needs to happen."

Harry looked at the ceiling and sighed. "Why does Fate hate me so much? What did I do?"

"You did nothing." Eir smiler. "It's just the flow of time that happens and nothing will stop it."

"Time could wait," he muttered.

"Can you let her explain?" Ulf asked.

Harry looked at his friend and nodded. "I guess that you are right, she will do it whether we interrupt her or not."

"Indeed," she said and looked at them. "As I was saying, your body is maturing and one of the changes that happen during this time is the development of your reproductive organs as they prepare for fulfilling the task for which they were designed."

Harry looked at her and pinched himself, just to see if she was joking. He could feel his cheeks turn to an even darker shade of red.

She looked at him with some amusement in her eyes and completely ignored his antics. "I know that it is something that you don't really enjoy, but would you really prefer to get it from your fathers? I'm especially talking about His Highness as his father has a talent for having issues explaining even the simplest of things."

Harry blushed as he imagined his father trying to explain these, he felt queasy, as if he was about to throw up at any moment. He swallowed, pushed the thoughts of his father away from his mind and looked at Eir. "I don't like it, I don't want to be here, but I have a feeling you are the lesser evil out of the two."

"Good choice," she smiled and looked at them. "At least once I'm done with you, you will have the opportunity to avoid getting it once again from your parents as I will mention that I told you about these things."

"Thank you," Ulf said. "So can we get it over with? I have a feeling that His Highness might soon self-ignite and it would be interesting for us to watch, but bad for him."

"As if you are better," Harry said and looked at Ulf, he could tell that his friend was just as embarrassed as he was, but was hiding it much better.

Ulf tried to glare, but stopped when Eir looked at them. "Behave the way you are supposed to."

They nodded, sheepishly scratching backs of their heads. "Good," she said. "Can i get you to listen, or do I need to get much, much more painful."

"Yeah, you can" Harry nodded.

"As I was going to say before you interrupted me, puberty, besides starting the last changes that differentiate from humans, is mostly focused on the development of your sex organs and traits that set apart both genders. For males it is mostly the increase in muscle mass, growth, changes in your body shape like wider arms, narrower hips and the growth of hair all over your body."

Harry sighed and Eir looked at him, but completely ignored it.

"Also, your sexual organs will take their final shape and will be able to produce seed which can impregnate a woman during intercourse."

Harry nodded and focused on what she was saying, it seemed as if they were going to be so, so embarrassed by this talk.

Almost an hour later Harry looked at Ulf and could tell that his friend was as embarrassed as he was, though it was less visible with his brown hair and darker complexion. Harry darted a look towards the doors leading into the room and was about to walk towards them when Eir cleared her throat.

"One last thing," Eir said and they looked at her. "You are children of nobility and certain things are expected from you, you will either control yourself and don't have sex until your marriage, which is impossible to achieve, or you will take drugs that make you infertile as long as you take them and don't embarrass your family by having a bastard child."

"Do we need to?" Harry asked.

"If you want to see your father enter his homicidal rage, you might as well not take them," Ulf said and winced painfully. "My older brother brought with himself a bastard once and my father's fury was loud and seeing it from a safe distance was more than enough for me. I know that I won't stay away from the world's pleasures."

"Good words," Eir said approvingly. "Your Highness, I will ask one of the servants to get you a jar with this drug and Ulf I think that you know from where you can get it."

"Yes, my older brother has such a mess in his room that I can take it from him and he won't see it disappear," Ulf said with a shrug. "Or since you will give him, you can give it to me, too."

"I will get someone to send it to you," she said and smiled. "Now scram and get back to what you were doing."

o-0-o

Harry sighed as he looked at Atalanta who stood in front of him and Ulf, not allowing them to pass. "Where were you?" she finally asked.

Harry shuffled uncomfortably and looked at Ulf, a pleading look in his eyes.

"We might have had a talk with Eir," Ulf said. "Now let us pass."

"I can tell when you are lying and you did now," Atalanta said and looked at them, her golden eyes hardening. "I can pick apart your minds or you will tell this on your own."

"Talked with Eir about certain things," Harry finally sputtered.

"What things?"

Harry felt redness creep up his cheeks. "Puberty," he finally said and grabbing Ulf pushed past her. He completely ignored the look she was giving them or the questions that followed, he wanted to be gone out of her sight as soon as possible.

o-0-o

Strange sighed as he looked at the wall in front of him, he knew that there was something behind it, however getting inside was far more difficult than it seemed. The wall looked as if it was laughing at them and their attempts to get inside. He knew that Hogwarts was full of surprises and secret rooms, some of them not even known to the Headmaster, but this was something more.

He could feel that it was not a normal room, at least not in the usual meaning of the word, it seemed as if there were several rooms behind this wall, each one of them out of this world. He understood the concept and has used it at the Sanctum Sanctorum, but there he had a visible entrance. These were different, different in a way he couldn't understand.

"Pocket dimension?" Wanda suggested, pacing along the wall. He looked at her. "I mean that we can't access it the normal way, so there must be something more to it."

"More along the lines of a couple of dimensions." He pointed his hand towards the wall and a beam of light flew towards it. "Hard to access, but there is a hidden doorway in this wall, the only question is where."

She nodded and started to pace angrily along the wall, then it happened. In the previously blank wall a door frame with double doors appeared.

"This is... unexpected," he said as he walked forward and opened doors.

Behind them a massive chamber stretched, filled to brim with various things, starting from small boxes and books to whole drawers and wardrobes. Piles of things reached the ceiling and some looked as if they hadn't been used for a century, if not more.

"This is..."

"Huge," she finished and joined him in the room. "Cleaning the room and finding the horcrux will take us a lot of time."

"Yeah...," he said and looked around. "It will take time, we don't even know how it is supposed to look and where exactly it is. We just know it is a diadem."

"And this is one of the biggest haystacks in existence," she said dryly and made him chuckle lightly.

o-0-o

Hrimhari had a bad feeling about the whole thing as he followed Selwyn and Rowle through Diagon Alley, he casted, around himself, spells powerful enough to keep anybody from seeing him, but he felt that something was awry. He glanced at the roof of the shop to the right and spotted a few of his Rangers crouched there and ready to help him if need be.

Even if they looked the way they were supposed to look he had a feeling about them, Selwyn was tall and had the grace of a trained swordsman, as well as messy long hair that made him look like the worst criminal, while Rowle was short, stocky and as bland as possible.

Pulling out an elongated, wicked knife from a scabbard on his back Hrimhari quickened his pace, trying to join up with his targets. The moment they were in his reach he grabbed Rowle by the head and slit the throat open.

People started to scream as hot blood flowed out of the wound and covered the blade. Rowle let out a chortled sound and slumped in Hrimhari's grip. He released Rowle's body and slammed his knife into Selwyn's chest, only to be stopped by a sword.

"We knew you were hunting," Selwyn said, a grim fire visible in his eyes. "We just didn't know you would be so kind as to attack us with a couple dozens of aurors all around us."

"So?" Hrimhari asked, showing his fangs. "I also have support."

When he said those words the Rangers that were hiding jumped down onto the ground and joined him. They looked around, their faces impossible to read, hidden by their helmets.

"I have more," Selwyn said, trying to push Hrimhari back.

Hrimhari only smiled, easily stopped Selwyn's attack and with his own strike to the heart, ended the duel. His blade passed Selwyn's guard and slammed into his chest, piercing the heart and killing him instantly.

He looked around and saw dozens of wands pointed at him and his Rangers, he growled, fully showing his wolf-like canines and most of the wizards backed off. "They were criminals in the eyes of Asgard, we do not wish you harm, but they needed to die."

The wizards looked at each other and at the bodies on the ground, small pools of blood forming around them. Hrimhari could tell that they were considering what to do, to attack or let him safely get away.

"Will we have a guarantee that you won't kill us?" One of them asked.

"If you aren't a Death Eater or were one, you will live," Hrimhari said and looked at the sky. "Heimdall! Open the Bifrost!"

As the beam of ethereal, rainbow light descended from the heavens above and enveloped them, Hrimhari could see looks of shock and awe among the wizards.

o-0-o

Fury picked up a newspaper and smiled when his eye scanned the circled article, he didn't expect such a gift from Wisdom.

 ** _Ministry at odds with Asgard?! Is Asgard showing interest in the events happening on Midgard?_**

 _By Rita Skeeter_

 _The Ministry seems to be at odds with Asgard, as according to my sources in our community, Asgard and its representatives were making contact with various groups for the past thirteen years and they grew in intensity during the last five. However nobody from Asgard contacted the Ministry of Magic, whilst they still keep a good relation with Headmaster Dumbledore and even the Sorcerer Supreme._

 _Those things were highly worrying by themselves. We all remember the tales and stories about the Realm of Gods and the impact it had on us and our society. However recently things worsened for the Ministry as there are suspicious murders happening, which in my opinion are connected with the Ministry's policy. Why do I think so?_

 _So far only former Death Eaters were targeted by those attacks and killed, while everybody else was left alive. A strong suggestion of this is also a sign left on the victim's corpses, a burned out spiral called a triskelion, the sign of Asgard and Odin. Odin, is the King of Asgard and thus in my opinion that it is a good enough piece of evidence to suggest that it is Asgard who is behind these murders._

 _I hope that our esteemed government will do something about this situation before an all out war is declared by Asgard, as I'm sure that it will make You-Know-Who look like a child having a tantrum._

"I dislike her language, but she is right," Fury said and shook his head. "They don't know what will happen to the Ministry and they don't know how terrible the rage of Thor can get."

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy sat in his office and considered his options, the past few months were full of failures, but he also learned a few things, especially about the abilities of his potential allies and who was worthy enough to be considered one. Not to mention, that he discovered how much influence, power and wealth his enemies had, they had amounts that were highly troubling and dangerous to his plans.

He poured himself a goblet of wine, slowly sipped it and looked at the list of names, former Death Eaters that were killed, the amount of gold in their vaults was also listed, the single most important thing to him. He needed this money to keep fighting SHIELD and its allies, but now he needed to gather resources and assets.

He opened a book placed on the table to his right and looked at the artifact shown on the sole drawing placed there. It was a drawing of a book, the single most terrifying book in the universe and it's name was Darkhold.

"Darkhold, you may be my key to the position of power," he said softly and felt a cold wind pass through the room. It sent away most of the warmth that quickly returned. But the feeling of cold and power lingered deep in his bones.

o-0-o

Charlie looked at the wizards and wondered how to drop the bomb that Harry was here. He knew what his friend wanted to achieve and he agreed wholeheartedly with it, but starting was a completely different matter. "You know that Harry Potter is half-Æsir," he said as he looked up from the text he was reading.

The wizards' reaction was... _interesting_. Everybody started to shout and talk with each other so loud that his ears wanted to just turn off. It was a cacophony of noises without any logic or pattern to it and they sounded like the roaring of some large animal.

"Not the worst way to cause chaos," Tonks said as she joined him. "Though the amount of noise they make is huge and annoying."

"It's not like we reacted differently." Charlie said and shrugged. "They will get over it and it is a nice prank."

"I never thought that you liked such things."

"I don't really like breaking rules too badly, but this is fine with me," he said and looked at the room. "It won't get quiet any time soon, it will probably get even louder."

"And to think that we are supposed to represent the best of Hogwarts and wizards in general," she said and stood up. "We won't think clearly here so we might as well go somewhere else."

"I like your idea," he said and followed her out, letting the wizards show how immature they were.

o-0-o

Harry yawned loudly as he woke up, blinked a couple of times to get the sleep out of his eyes and looked around the room that was only a small part of his chambers at the Citadel. He could see Freki and Geri sleeping soundly on a large rug by the fireplace, which meant that it was still too early as they usually were fully awake long before he was.

He threw away the furs that covered him, got out of bed and made his way to a small table placed by the window. On the table he saw a letter written in the Latin alphabet and a note in runes scribbled on top of it.

He grabbed an apple from a bowl that was placed on the table and looked at the letter.

 _Your Highness,_

 _I was asked to pass this message to you by some wizards from Hogwarts, those you mentioned that you know._

 _Bragi, Lord Commandant of the Academy of Battle Magic and Sorcery, God of Poetry, God of Magic_

Harry rolled his eyes at the amount of titles, it looked funny considering the fact that the message was almost shorter than the list of titles was. He ignored it and focused on the letter below.

 _Harry,_

 _We started to spread the news about the fact that you are here and, as we told you, the reaction was loud, obnoxious and enthusiastic. If you want to tell them the truth I would wait a couple of days and let people cool down, they are not the most reasonable group._

 _Charlie_

He smiled at the second part of the letter and made a note in his mind to show up at the Academy in a couple of days or weeks. He placed it on a drawer and walked to the bathroom, stripped and slipped into the warm bath that was already waiting for him. He needed to calm his mind and try to forget about the talk he had gotten from Eir.

It was embarrassing, scary, annoying and a few other things, he understood that he would need to know, but he didn't like learning about them. More embarrassing was getting caught by Atalanta after. As he laid in the warm water he could feel his muscles relax and his worries escape of his mind. Laying in the water a thin smile appeared on his lips. "There are some advantages in being a Prince," he said as his body floated in the warm water. "There are definitely some advantages."

He sighed contently, laying in the water and doing nothing, but he also knew that he couldn't laze around for too long as Sif might storm in, drag him out of the bath and tell him to get dressed as training wouldn't get done on its own.

He quickly washed himself, climbed out of the bath and prepared for the day to come. He knew that he couldn't avoid it, but he wanted to stay out of sight after that talk, especially out of the sight of the fairer sex.

o-0-o

Umbridge was pale as she looked at the Minister, she had never expected things to be that bad, those fakes claiming to be of Asgard had the gall to murder two of the finest citizens in the middle of Diagon Alley and they weren't stopped or killed.

"I don't know how it happened." she said, swallowing her pride. "They entered unseen and nobody did anything about it."

"How? How did it happen?" Fudge asked

"I don't know how nobody was able to stop them, but I already ordered aurors to be deployed to the Alley and patrol."

"And what about Hogwarts?"

"We were unable to gain access to it, as if it was sealed by something or someone."

"Our aurors?"

"Were found in the middle of Hogsmeade, not remembering a thing and without any clothes on themselves."

Fudge nodded and she could see him get paler and paler by the second.

"I suggest that we tell everybody that Asgard wants a war with us and that nothing will stop it, so we need to be prepared," she said. "People are scared and since Dumbledore seems unwilling to do something, we need to."

"Indeed, indeed. What would you suggest?"

"That we prepare for war and start planning how to deal with MI-13 that might be the biggest problem short of Asgard. Also the one that we can take down more easily than anything else."

"Is it wise?"

She wanted to growl at him, but she controlled herself and only smiled. "We need to show our sovereignty to the other forces and the fact that we won't be pushed around, and this is the easiest way to do so."

"Of course, those are perfect suggestions."

"Thank you, Minister for your understanding of how important the security of our society is," she bowed her head and looked at Fudge. "If you allow me I will start drafting the plans to make these things work."

"Permission granted."

She beamed and walked out of the office, completely ignoring how rich the decor was. For her nothing, excluding power, mattered and she was going to get it and hold onto it.

o-0-o

Harry looked at the wizards and tried not to shake his head. "I never thought that you can love something so much, someone that you haven't even seen with your own eyes," he said looking at Charlie.

"Unfortunately that's how most wizards behave, you will have loads of fun at Hogwarts," he said and looked at Harry. "How do you keep them from not seeing your scar? I can see it just fine."

"A bit of magic." Harry smiled. "You know how I truly look, while they don't, so I covered myself in a veil that blocks them from seeing me."

"So who are you for them?"

"Another student of Hogwarts, as plain and boring as possible," Harry said and looked at the crowd of wizards that seemed to not shut up about him. "Will they stop chatting about me?"

"Probably no," Charlie said and shrugged. "They aren't the most reasonable people, I like being a wizard, but sometimes I feel as if it is a tainted group that lacks anything of use."

"So should I reveal myself?"

"If you wish to get trampled by them, why not," Charlie chuckled, making Harry look at him. "Yes, it will be that bad."

"Just wonderful." Harry rolled his eyes. "But I need to confront it sooner or later, so here it goes." He snapped his fingers and the veil he had weaved disappeared.

For a moment nothing happened, then one wizard looked in Harry's direction and it happened. The wizard's eyes widened when they landed on Harry's scar and then he pointed his finger towards Harry. "The Boy-Who-Lived is here!" he shouted and Harry felt that he was doomed.

"Good luck, but don't count on too much of my help," Charlie said.

"Thank you," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "I will remember to throw you into a dungeon."

He saw Charlie gulp in fear, but he was aware that first he needed to survive the wizards coming towards him. He let them show their excitement for a moment before he summoned thunder with a snap of his fingers. They looked between each other and then at his hard face. "How hard is it to understand that I did nothing on that night? Voldemort's spell bounced off me because of a ritual done by my mother, so end of topic."

"That's blasphemy!"

"Actually that's the truth and only the truth." Flitwick said as he walked into the room and looked at Harry, almost instantly the Hogwarts students calmed down. "There are some rituals that can be invoked only by the mother of a child in dire need and it was one of those situations. It is really complicated and dangerous magic, as well as passed on within families so few know about it."

"Thank you," Harry nodded towards Flitwick, he had heard enough about him to be careful around him.

"I must congratulate you on an excellent illusion casted on yourself," Flitwick chuckled lightly. "If it was at Hogwarts I would award you points for it, as it is almost impossible to detect and hard to break."

"Thank you, will you explain the rest to them?"

"Indeed, Your Highness," Flitwick said. "You can leave and I will ensure that they understand the whole situation."

Harry nodded and walked out of the room, he stopped at the doors and looked at the wizards. "If you want to earn my friendship when I will be at Hogwarts work hard and think more, not only about yourself." he said those words and walked out, leaving them to sort things out.

He would have stayed longer, but he wanted some rest and peace far away from the noise. He could feel his heart beat a lot faster than it used to and it calmed only when he was inside of his chambers deep within the Citadel. Thick walls and hundreds of guards between him and the Hogwarts group. He looked out of the window and saw that it was getting dark outside, it also made him realize how mentally and physically exhausted he was. He yawned loudly and looked at his bed that seemed to call to him.

He quickly undressed and climbed into the bed, the moment he dragged one of the furs over himself he fell asleep, but it was not a peaceful sleep. Far from it. His mind seemed to think that he should repeat every lesson he received at the Institute and for most of the night nightmares showed up.

o-0-o

Atalanta focused on the piece of rock laying in front of her, wrapped it in her thoughts and willed it to rise. She felt gravity fight her, but after a moment it moved up from the ground and started to ascend into the air.

"Keep your focus on it," Jean Grey said, her green eyes watching Atalanta. "You lose it and your control will slip."

"I know," she said, her gaze focused on the stone that she managed to push to her eye level and was slowly making its way higher and higher. It finally stopped above her head. "It's the same thing with spells, you get distracted and it stops."

She felt her control waive and was forced to jump down as the rock slipped out of her control and plummeted down, almost hitting her.

"Good job with the attempt to kill yourself," Jean said with a chuckle. "But I think that you know what you are doing wrong, don't you, Your Highness?"

"Yes," Atalanta said and once again focused on the piece of rock. "It will take me a lot of time, won't it."

"Yes," Jean smiled, making Atalanta groan. "I thought that you liked learning new things."

"I like, it's just that psychic powers are weird and even less logical than magic." Atalanta focused on the piece of rock and saw it fly into the air.

o-0-o

Kitty looked at the city spread all around the Citadel and the Academy floating above the ground in the distance, the sun was slowly hiding below the horizon as everybody prepared for the night. Golden street lights and braziers started to light up one by one, sending hundreds of reflections in every direction. She glanced at Harry who stood to her side watched the Academy. "Does Asgard always look so good?"

"Unless my dad gets angry, it does," he said. "We are in something that on Earth can be described as Mediterranean climate, plenty of sun, not much rain and nice temperature."

"I kind of miss Earth and the Institute, even if here it looks like a paradise."

"It feels too good to be true?" He asked and she looked at him. "I had this feeling when I got here."

"You did?"

"Who wouldn't if he was living in a boring neighborhood, here you have everything that you can dream of and even more."

"Point taken," she said and looked towards the training grounds where Danielle was training with Sif. "I didn't expect to see that."

"That she is willing to train a human in the arts of war?"

"Yes."

Harry chuckled lightly, making her arch an eyebrow and look at him. "You don't get trust from a group if you don't help them and she is used to training a lot of weird people, so she doesn't have a single issue with a human."

"I see," Kitty said and looked towards the horizon.

o-0-o

Bjarni smiled as he watched the wizards train much harder than they used to, it seemed that sending a few of them to the Healers did wonders on them and now they were actually working with some eagerness, eagerness he hadn't seen in them when they had first arrived. Now they were actually not treating it as something they had to do, but as something where they could learn.

"They seem to be more focused," Bragi said, appearing at his side. "I spoke with the other people that help train them and they are getting better. I wonder what did it."

Bjarni smiled and moved out of the body that was hurled through the air. "I think that His Highness might have something to do with it, remember that he is supposed to be attending their school of magic and he might have said few words to them, about that and him."

"I think he did," Bragi said and Bjarni looked at him. "They are more focused on actually pulling their heads out of their backsides, which I didn't expect to happen, yet it did."

"Small wonders can happen, or maybe the Norns did it."

"They only know." Bragi said as they resumed their walk, stopping from time to time to explain things and correct moves.

o-0-o

Xavier's Institute after the attack was heavily damaged, with its outer walls destroyed in some places and then heavily damaged in others, which made it unsuitable as a place to live in. However the damage done to its outer shell was far less dangerous than the one caused to its internal structure. Many of its parts suffered heavy damage during the fighting, mainly thanks to the mutants unleashing their powers in an attempt to defeat the attack force. Even more damage was done when search and rescue teams were digging out people from collapsed corridors and rooms as their priority was not preserving the structure, but getting people out of the rubble. People's life was, is and will be always more important than a structure that can be reconstructed.

However the Institute was not going to stay destroyed as Fury knew how important for him were happy mutants willing to work and as such the repairs were progressing almost at the same time as the investigation was. By late February it was rebuilt and ready to once again be inhabited. It also meant that the X-Men and the mutants' stay on Asgard was coming to an end.

 **o-0-o**

 **Small explanation of new things/terms:**

 **Darkhold** \- opposite of the Book of the Vishanti that Strange has, while Vishanti holds white magic spells, Darkhold holds the worst of the worst and is something more, but that is for you to find.

 **One small rant, this approach to contraception on Asgard is the most practical one you can get as it solves all problems and everybody is happy. Also it solves one of the biggest nightmares of almost every noble - bastards, children that usually were more of a problem than anything else. It depended on a realm and culture, but it usually was treated as a shame to have one.**

 **Reviews:**

 _Otsutsuki no Yami_ \- Simple show of power sometimes is the best and the cheapest solution you have, also it works on almost everybody while stroking your ego. It is both for internal observes and external ones, but here it was aimed at Dumbledore.

Harry in terms of power, he is somewhere in the lower level of Alpha class, he has plenty of power, but he doesn't know how to use more than twenty or so percents of it and how to do it so that the effect is the biggest. He has potential to be boxing in the same league as Thor or Hulk, but now he lacks control, puberty needs to fully hit him and he needs to get experience.

 _voice of the riders_ \- wizards need to get broken, or at least their pride as in some cases it is so huge that it could suffocate everybody around you, just saying.


	30. The Life goes on

**A/N - Chapter number thirty, the longest story on my account and the most popular one. Another laid back chapter, not much of action or kicking things, mostly talking and orchestrating things to happen. As always read and review.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Harry stepped out of the Bifrost and looked at the Institute, his gaze ran over its walls and he couldn't spot a single difference between the old one and the current one. However the change was huge between the one he remembered with parts of it collapsed and damaged, blood splattered over the walls and windows missing most of their glass.

Carrying their bags they walked into the Institute and as they looked around they saw that the decor was almost unchanged. It was still the same place they left, now it was just freshly painted and the spots that had suffered battle damage were repaired. He sniffed the air and thought that he could feel the faint coppery stench of blood in the air. One that didn't want to go away.

"Do you feel it?" He asked, looking at Rahne.

"Feel what?"

"Blood," he said and she looked weirdly at him.

"There is nothing in the air, you must be imagining things," she said and looked at him. "Don't think about it and it will go away."

He looked at her and nodded. He was about to say something when Sunspot dragged him by his arm. "Our stuff won't unpack by itself."

"You're right," Harry said and followed his friend to their room.

It hadn't changed, excluding the fact that the floor was different, but considering the fact that previously there was a lot of blood and body parts laying there, he didn't mind. They spent a few hours unpacking and making the room look like it was inhabited, books went onto shelves, posters onto the walls and their clothes into the drawers and wardrobes.

"It's good to be here," Bobby said once they finished unpacking. Harry arched an eyebrow and looked at his friend. "I mean, I like Asgard, but I much more prefer being here. It feels less obnoxiously rich and more down to earth."

"I know how you feel," Harry said as he plopped down onto his bed. "Here I can actually relax and rest, away from the nobles that want power or something else from me."

"What about the studying part of life here?"

"It's not that bad," he said and looked at the ceiling. "You saw how bad Sif can get and I'd rather be here and somewhat far away out of her reach."

"There's that approach," Bobby said and Harry nodded.

They spend next few hours chatting with each other and before they realized it, it was getting late and time to call it a day or risk getting onto Wolverine's bad side, which was a bad thing.

o-0-o

Warren was used to a lot of things, some of them creepy to the extreme, but one of them was definitely not an evening visit from Loki. "What do you want?" Warren asked as he turned around and looked at Loki.

"To help you with something and indirectly help Harry," Loki said with a shrug. "I would have done it myself, but I am tied by an agreement done by my father, while you have total freedom, not limited by a single agreement."

Warren frowned and looked at Loki, the younger Prince of Asgard was completely at ease, but Warren could tell that Loki was also serious. "And how can you tell me about it? I would have thought that an agreement wouldn't allow you to tell anyone about it."

Loki laughed, his laughter soft and melodic. "Normally that would be the case, but young Warren, I was the one that drafted the agreement and I made sure to leave myself some loopholes to use if need be. This is one of them, I can tell anybody that is connected to me by law, magic or blood and you are Harry's cousin."

"You just made me interested," Warren said and focused on Loki "How do you want to help my dear younger and really annoying cousin?"

"He needs to deal with his past and confront it," Loki said and shrugged. "He suppressed those memories and they need to go away or he will turn into something worse than Stryker."

"And how can I help?"

"Due to some agreements the most we could do to his relatives is to suppress their memories of him and create false memories to hide those we suppressed. However if there is a powerful enough psyker or sorcerer they are more than capable of digging those memories out and making them appear."

"So you want me to go with Jean to see them and unlock their memories so that they can tell everything they had done to my cousin, out of their free will, in front of, let's say my father."

"Indeed." Loki nodded and smirked. "Your father is more than capable of getting them a nice, long stay in prison for child abuse, probably some tinkering with his cousin's will and a few other things."

Warren was silent for a moment, then he finally nodded and looked at Loki. "I will speak with my father about this and he should like it, while we don't see eye to eye on a few things, our hatred for my dear cousin Petunia is a common trait."

"Good, tell Jean to tell you what she had seen in his mind. I know that she won't be willing to do it, but you should understand why I don't have a lot of love for them and if not for the agreements I need to follow, they would've been already dead." Loki's eyes glowed dangerously for a second. "When he was brought to Asgard he was starved, his development stunted and his bones were broken a couple of times."

"What?" Warren growled and walked towards Loki. "What did they do to him?"

"I would have to guess, but some sort of abuse, probably physical and mental. Mother was able to fix the physical aspect or at least as much of it that it wouldn't be an issue and he would be able to grow up as a normal Æsir would."

"How soon do you want them destroyed?" Warren asked, his voice cold and lacking any emotions. "I don't think my father or I will have a lot of patience for them."

"As soon as you want or can achieve it," Loki said with a shrug. "Just tell me when you are going to make your move."

"I will," Warren said and Loki nodded with a smirk.

"Then, I will leave you alone as I'm no longer needed, and trust that you will get it done." Warren nodded and Loki disappeared with a flourish out of the room, leaving Warren alone.

Warren walked to the bed, sat down and looked at the far wall. "What are you not telling me?" He asked nobody in particular, he slowly shook his head, sighed and stood up. He might as well get the data out of Jean, even if she was unwilling to tell him, she should.

o-0-o

"No!" Jean said looking at Warren. "You know what the rules are for a telepath, everything learned by me in Harry's mind on purpose or by accident is not something that I'm allowed to talk about with anybody else than him."

Warren winced at those words, he knew it would be hard, but not that hard. "He won't tell me about this out of his own free will. Loki said that he was abused and I want to know about it."

She looked at him, as if she wanted to incinerate him. "Loki wasn't wrong, but as I said, even if I trust you and I love you, I won't tell you about this."

"What about the other thing he said?"

"Unlock their memories?" She asked and he nodded. "I might as well do it, I know what Loki is trying to achieve and it should help Harry to at least an extent, how much, is to be seen, but I can tell that even if he seems fine on the surface, he is suppressing those memories."

"And you won't tell me about what you have seen?"

"No, I won't tell you, at least not details," she said and Warren could see an inner battle in her bright green eyes. "When would you like to go to the UK?"

"Tomorrow I will speak with my father and maybe on the day after, as I would like to speak with the Professor first."

"So that he doesn't think we ran away?"

"Exactly," Warren nodded and, with a yawn, looked at his watch. "Goodnight Jean,"

"Goodnight," she said as he slipped out of her room and walked to his own.

o-0-o

Strange smiled when he saw on a large, almost destroyed wardrobe a bust of a woman. It was the bust of one Rovena Ravenclaw and on it was placed a certain trinket, a beautiful diadem adorned with hundreds of small gems and pearls. As he looked at it he could sense something vile about it, vile and dangerous.

"It is a horcrux, isn't it?" Wanda said as she joined him.

"I'm almost certain of it." he said and reached towards it with his magic, he easily felt a soul shard hidden inside. When he felt it, his face twisted in disgust and barely hidden rage. "Yes, it is."

It flew off the bust and into his hand with ease and she looked at it. "How are we going to destroy it?"

"We will do it once we get all of them." he said and looked at the chamber behind them. "First we need to get out of this maze."

She nodded, but he could tell that she was unhappy about something.

"What's on your mind?"

She looked around and sighed. "Hogwarts is Dumbledore's stronghold and everybody knows it, how is it that this thing was hidden here."

He looked at her and nodded. "Good question, but I fear the answer is far simpler than you would like it to be. This room is hidden and we stumbled on it by an accident, Dumbledore knows a lot and has plenty of experience, but he doesn't know everything and Hogwarts is a maze."

"Then how did he hide it here? Shouldn't the castle disallow him to bring the horcux here?"

He looked at her and later at the diadem flying in front of him. "Honestly, I have a good theory, but not something that I would have used. The castle learns how each and every of its students feel and allows them inside without a single issue, the Headmaster can ban someone from entering the grounds, but I fear that Dumbledore was blind and didn't see who he was allowing through."

She growled and shook her head in an attempt to calm down. "How can you not see a dangerous psychopath that is bent on destroying you and everything you hold precious?"

"Pretty easily," he said with a sad smile. "Especially if you know this person for a long time and treat them as a protégé and that was the case with Riddle, or Voldemort, and Albus, he didn't see him change."

He saw her look weirdly at him, but then slowly nodded. "I guess you are right." Her gaze darted to the chamber's doors. "Let's get out of here."

He nodded and the moment they stepped out he summoned a portal for them that took them to the Sanctum Sanctorum.

o-0-o

Sean Cassidy crouched behind a fallen tree and scanned the large plain in front of him, his eyes swiping over each and every piece of terrain, trying to see anything out of place that could be a trap or sensor that would inform the Headmaster of Durmstrang about any guests about to pay him a visit.

"There are traps behind those trees in front of us," one of the Rangers whispered, if Sean remembered correctly his name was Vidar.

Sean squinted his eyes and looked through the binoculars nodded as he saw placements of rocks that looked too unnatural to be a creation of nature. "Trou de loup?" He asked.

"Most likely, crude and primitive, but it gets the job done and they want to slow down and raise the alarm, not kill us."

Sean nodded and started to slowly move towards the edge of the forest, keeping in mind the traps' position. He gripped the gun tightly in his hand as his eyes scanned the forest, looking for anything he might have not seen.

They crossed the line of trees with ease and in front of them was only a swathe of open ground with the invisible, mystical border of Durmstrang somewhere ahead of them. Sean could feel magic in the air, he wasn't a full wizard, but he was able to see and feel such things.

He looked at his temporary companions and they walked forward, when they broke the line, in front of them appeared the Durmstrang Institute of Magic. It was a huge castle with spires and towers rising from its main body. Its looks reminded him in a way of Russian architecture, but there was more flair to it and the buildings were stacked on top of each other.

"Our target is most likely in the top tower," Vidar said, indicating the tallest tower. "He is supposed to be careful and such a place is the best for any hideout. Gives plenty of time to escape and warns you long before the enemy is knocking on your door."

Sean nodded and looked towards the tower, it looked like it's walls were perfectly flat which made climbing it a nightmare. He sighed and looked towards the gate leading into the castle, their sole entry point that wouldn't end in their death. He looked at the Rangers and asked. "How are we going to enter?"

"Through the main gate," one of them grinned. "In nine out of ten cases it is less defended than other entrances."

He nodded, slipped his gun into its holster and checked that he had everything he might need. It was the point of no return and once they entered the castle they would be away from any outside help.

The Rangers looked at him and they confidently walked to the gate, as if the place belonged to them. He saw two of then place something on the gate and part of it disappeared, revealing a long and dark hallway.

"Our way of getting an entrance," Vidar explained as they stepped into the hall. "Silent and not many are keen enough to spot this kind of magic. Also, we don't make a mess, which is even better."

Sean nodded and looked around the hall, it felt dark and cold. Everything was in bleak and dark colors, which with the darkness of the night created a scary combination. But he also could tell that there was more to the place, much more to this place than just this. "Is it just me or this place feels cold?"

"No," Vidar slowly shook his head. "That's the stench of necromancy and the other banned types of magic, it won't go away even after a really long time."

Sean only nodded grimly as they ran into the castle and up the stairs that appeared in their view, they always chose left corridors in any crossroads they saw. Even if they met a couple of dead-ends it allowed them to easily return to their starting point. With each step he made Sean could feel something following or watching him, he glanced at Vidar and saw that Ranger was also tense.

"We have tails, question is who they are and how many."

"Karkaroff is devious and knows that wizards aren't the best defense in some cases," Sean said as he glanced backwards, trying to spot where their tails were. "So he most likely got some sort of mercenaries."

"Then an ambush will work," Vidar said and glanced at the other Rangers. "Einar, Hilde hide and wait for our tails, when they pass your position eliminate them."

Sean saw two Rangers leave their group and slip into the shadows along the walls, even if he knew where they were he had trouble spotting them. The last thing he saw were their fingers placed on their weapons' triggers.

"The tails will pass their position and once the trap snaps on them, we will join." Vidar said as he took the safety off and prepared for a fight.

Sean nodded and wrapped his fingers around the handle of his pistol. Preparing for the what would happen.

Even with his knowledge about it he was surprised when it actually did happen, he felt projectiles flying behind him, followed by flashes of light. When he turned around he saw two Rangers kneeling on the ground and firing their guns. He saw in the past, the effects projectiles from those weapons had on the human body, but seeing them at work was something else.

Projectiles fired by them cleaved through human bodies as if they were paper, that was something which he was accustomed to, but he always associated firing a weapon with a noise. Here there was almost no noise following the shots.

Before he had the chance to fire a single shot from his pistol it was over and the ones that were following them were dead and in pieces. He walked to them and looked at the corpses, they were dressed in typical military uniform and armed with Russian weapons. "As I said, mercenaries."

"Sloppy mercenaries," Vidar added. "This tactic usually draws only half of our tails, not all of them."

Sean smiled grimly and looked at Vidar. "This is Earth and you are used to Asgard and its rules. Here assassinations are rarer and the most he expected were magical assassins. Against them, this" He indicated at the corpses on the ground. "Is more than enough, also, he assumes that they will be caught by the school's wards."

Vidar nodded and waived at the Rangers who formed around them into loose formations, ready to unleash the fiery fury of their guns on anybody that could be a threat. However it seemed that the group they had slain was the only real opposition on their path.

The trip up to the tower proved to be far less exciting and dangerous than it was up to this point. They didn't meet a single point of resistance excluding a reinforced door at its top. Sean looked at them and could tell that their target was on the other side of them.

"Magical enhancements," Vidar whispered. "Our previous method of gaining entrance won't work and most likely will notify him of our presence."

"Blow up?" Sean asked as he pulled out a thick spool of a white, thin and long wire, Vidar looked at the spool and then his gaze swept to Sean. "Large enough to blow up a lock or the hinges, but small enough not to cause a lot of noise and smoke."

"Not bad."

Sean agreed with a smile, unrolled it and placed it along the door frame, making sure that it was as close to it as possible. When he was done, he cut it, attached the detonator and moved away. He glanced at the Rangers and saw that they were at a safe distance, he hid behind a pillar and activated the detonator.

The explosion that followed was a subdued one and almost immediately followed by a whirlwind of flying pieces of wood and metal that flew into the chamber behind. Before the dust settled he ran into the room, followed by the Rangers.

It was a large rectangular chamber with walls lined with shelves full of books and in the middle of it all, on a raised dais was placed a desk behind which sat their target – Igor Karkaroff. He was a thin, tall man with black hair slowly turning white and skin too pale to be healthy. Sean smiled when he saw a large shard of wood embedded in Karkaroff's shoulder, it was not a fatal wound, but enough to slow someone down.

"Cassidy, I should have known you would come," Karkaroff said, his voice strained with pain. "After all you still want to get me killed, you're vengeful and nothing will stop you from achieving your goals."

"I'm not here on personal business," Sean said as he walked to Karkaroff and grabbed him by the shoulder. "SHIELD would like to have words with you and I was chosen to get you delivered to them.

Karkaroff paled and Sean smiled as the wizard tried to struggle against the iron grip holding his shoulder. "What does Fury want from me?"

"You will see," Sean said as he lifted Karkaroff from his seat and quickly tied him. "Now be a good wizard and don't even attempt to do something stupid," Sean whispered as he placed his gun against Karkaroff neck.

Karkaroff gulped and nodded as he felt the cold barrel of a gun touch his skin. Sean looked at the Rangers who formed around them and they started to slowly walk out of the castle, gun still touching Karkaroff's neck. As they were leaving Sean felt the hairs at the back of his neck prickle, as if something or someone was watching them from the shadows.

o-0-o

Warren looked out of the window of Gulfstream that belonged to Worthington Industries as it flew above Greenland and sighed. He knew that it needed to be done, but he never expected it to be so tough.

"You don't like your cousin?" Jean asked from her place to his side.

He looked at her and was silent for a moment. "I will put it that way, we don't see eye to eye on many things and the last time I saw her was three years ago and it was more than enough for me. While my father is somewhat positively neutral towards mutants, she is a total opposite of it and much worse. Calling her a bigot would be an insult for them."

Jean whistled quietly. "Wonderful family, no wonders that Harry had a hellish life with them."

"Yes," Warren winced and flexed his hand. "Petunia also knows that Lily was a witch and that Harry is a wizard, while now he has a fine control over his powers, I remember him changing the colour of things at random or doing other such things."

"Seems a lot like Kitty when she started to learn how to control her powers."

"Even more unpredictable," Warren said and she looked at him. "She was losing her control when she lost her focus, from what I know about wizards it is completely unpredictable and goes away as they grow up, but can show up when a wizard is scared or afraid of something."

Jean's eyes widened as if she realized something. "Now it makes sense, previously I didn't have any idea of how to explain it."

"What?"

"Some of his memories that I had seen felt weird, as if I was missing a key piece of a puzzle, one that you just told me."

"And I guess that you won't tell me about those memories?"

"Details? No, but I will tell you enough for you to know about his past," she said and looked into his eyes. He shuddered as their gaze met. "He was abused, mentally and physically, badly at that. I think that nobody on Asgard noticed it and didn't know how to deal with it."

"Loki mentioned that child abuse is so foreign to them that they don't know how to approach and deal with it."

She shook her head and slowly breathed out. "It's good and bad, good because it shows that they can think, bad because they don't know how to deal with such cases. So Loki wants to make Harry confront his past?"

"Yes and make them feel the consequences of their actions," Warren poured himself some water, sipped it and looked at her. "He said that Asgard's hands are tied and they can't do anything about them, while we don't have those restrictions placed on us and we can safely deal with them. Also it is a good time for you to meet the rest of my _charming_ family, probably the best or the worst part of it."

"It should be a productive meeting," she said and yawned. "Wake me up when we land."

"Sure," he said and saw her curl in her seat.

He opened his laptop on his lap and started to read all files he had acquired about Grunnings and his family. Some of them were thanks to his father and the Worthington Industries, but most of them were from other sources.

o-0-o

Vernon Dursley looked at the newspaper he was holding and later at Petunia. "Did you hear that your cousin hangs out with freaks?"

"Which one?" she asked as her horse-like head turned towards him.

"Warren Worthington III, he was involved in some brawl in the USA where mutants were attacked."

"They deserved it, they only cause chaos and we, the ordinary and proper citizens need to pay for it," she said and sniffed. "I am the only normal out of the whole family, Lily met that freak and Warren has his freakish son."

"Good that Dudley is ordinary and growing up to be a proper citizen."

She nodded and went back to keeping the house clean, while he returned to his newspaper with a smile and thought about his work.

o-0-o

Warren looked around as he drove the car, he knew that his aunt was living somewhere here, but each house looked the same and it made finding his way in this maze a nightmare. As he was driving he noticed a lot of stares following the car.

"Did you need to choose the Rolls-Royce Wraith?" Jean asked, some amusement in her voice. "I can tell that everybody is looking at us."

"Exactly, my dear cousin dislikes attention and I want attention focused on her," Warren said with a smile. "Also I like this car, one of the better cars that father bought me as a birthday gift."

She slowly shook her head and looked around. "They want to be ordinary among ordinary people?"

"Yes," he said with a wince. "She is a housewife, while her husband is a middle level director in some drill producing company, from what father said about him, he is arrogant and stubborn, as well as has mind narrower than a nail."

"Unpleasant person," she said and he nodded.

They drove in silence for a moment. He didn't want to talk about his family and she didn't seem eager to ask about it.

"I want to get this done without violence," he finally said. "The last thing that I want is to have issues with law in the UK or in general."

"You know that it might be hard with them."

"I know, I don't like it, but I know." he said and kept looking for their target.

It took a moment, but he finally found Privet Drive and then it was a matter of finding the house occupied by the Dursley's. He pulled onto the driveway in front of the house and turned the engine off. "Let's go," he said stepping out of the car.

He corrected his coat and waited for Jean to join him before he walked to the doors. He looked around and saw that everything was as close to perfection as the Dursley's could get it. He saw Jean shake her head. "What's the problem?" He asked.

"Nothing," she said. "I just used my powers, and they are nasty people when you can take a look at them using telepathy."

"Let's get this done."

She nodded and both of them walked to the doors.

o-0-o

Petunia looked out of the window and tried not to blink when she saw a black Rolls-Royce stop in front of their house. She had trouble believing what she was seeing, but it was true and it stopped in front of her house, not anybody else's. She drew her attention away from the car and looked at Vernon. "Did you see what stopped in front of our house?"

"No," he said and she saw him drop the newspaper when he saw the car. "A real Rolls-Royce," he said with a smile. "It seems that the company got the attention of someone rich and he wants to negotiate with me."

"We will finally be rich!" she exclaimed and looked at him. "Dress into the best suit you have and Dudley and I will greet and entertain them."

He nodded and hurried upstairs into his bedroom to get dressed, while leaving her to greet the guests. She walked to the doors and when the bell rung she opened them. When her eyes landed on the people standing in front of her, they widened. There were two of them, one was a male with curly blond hair, striking blue eyes and dressed in the best suit she had ever seen. Over it he had a wide coat and as she looked at him she knew that she should have known him from somewhere.

As she looked at the woman that was with him, she felt a pang of jealously. Whoever she was, she was tall with wavy, fiery long hair, striking green eyes and her body looked perfect, too true to be a human. She wore an expensive looking dress and the single piece of jewellery she had was a necklace with a small, golden bird.

"Welcome," Petunia said as she put on her best smile. "How may I help you, Mr...?"

The man smiled and looked at her, after a moment he finally said. "Worthington."

Petunia's eyes widened in shock, she took a better look at the man and saw the familial traits of Worthington family. "What are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Visiting family that I haven't seen for ages," he said with a shrug.

Petunia forced a smile onto her face and allowed Warren inside.

o-0-o

Warren entered the house and mostly ignored Petunia, instead walking inside, he followed her and sat down on the couch in the living room. She brought a tray with coffee, tea and some cookies. He poured himself the coffee and sipped it, he winced when he felt its taste, it shouldn't be called coffee.

"I wonder why I came here," he sneered, his eyes sweeping over everything in the room. "It looks far worse than I expected it to look and the decor..."

He saw them flinch, but then Vernon put on a nice smile and looked at him, it seemed that Vernon looked the same way he looked in the past. There was also their son Dudley and Warren wondered how it was possible that Dudley was still not a pig, as he looked so much like one.

Warren felt telepathy touch his mind and he glanced at Jean. _"Occupy their time and let me dig through their minds, I know for what and where to look, but I need them distracted."_

He nodded and looked at the Dursley's that behaved as if they wanted to stay away from his line of sight. He smiled lightly and looked at them. "Don't you even wonder why I came here?"

It seemed to snap Vernon out of his stupor and he looked at Warren. "Could you enlighten us of what was that brought you here?"

Warren smiled and considered for a moment if he should take off the coat and reveal his wings, he decided not to and looked at Vernon, some amusement in his smile. "Unfinished family business, one that is long overdue. Normally it would be done by my father, but he is currently occupied and can't be here, so he sent me."

"What business?" Vernon asked as he leaned closer.

"Invitation to a small family meeting in the USA, in three weeks time in the family mansion in upstate New York." Warren controlled the urge to chuckle when he saw them open their mouths in shock. "I'm not joking about it, my father will be there as well as a couple of cousins and friends of the family, so it should be an enlightening experience."

"It will be an honor," Petunia said, she smiled, but Warren could tell it was a fake one. One forced by courtesy, not a genuine one.

"Here are tickets for you," he said and placed an envelope onto the table. "A driver will wait for you at the airport and will take you to the hotel and later to the mansion. My father wants to explain some things that should have been explained long ago, but due to a certain reason, they needed to be ignored."

Petunia snatched the envelope from the table, opened it to see the content and nodded. "We will be there," she glanced at Vernon. "Would it be possible for my husband's company to get some deals made?"

Warren tried not to look protectively and sipped his coffee, before looking at them. "Depends on who will be invited for this meeting, but there might be the possibility of some deals being made. Be aware that it is mostly a social, not a business, meeting, so don't expect a lot of people to be willing to make such deals."

Petunia nodded and then her eyes widened in shock and surprise. She slumped against the couch and the rest of her family did the same.

"It's done," Jean whispered as he placed her hand on his lap. He looked at her and saw her emerald eyes darken. "All of their memories are unlocked and now they need to get used to them. We better leave as they will be unhappy the moment they wake up and you don't want to be hit by it."

He nodded and they walked out of the room and quickly left the house, leaving the Dursley's alone to deal with their headaches and the influx of new memories.

o-0-o

Jane looked out of the window of her chambers on Asgard and towards the ocean that was visible in the distance. She was staring at it for a long time before her gaze moved away from it and switched to Loki. "What do you want from me?" she asked, her voice even and lacking emotions. "I like you, but you don't drop by unless you have a really good reason."

She saw him twirl the scepter and she understood he was gathering his thoughts. "Let's just say it's about Harry and his past, past as well as the future."

"What about his past?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes and started to call on her magic.

"Don't shoot me with magic and I will explain what I mean," Loki said, she looked at him and nodded. "Did you notice that Harry never mentioned the time he had spent with the Dursley's? And even if he mentioned it, he did so briefly and without details."

She looked at Loki and nodded, then she felt something cold twist her stomach. "You don't think it's that, do you?"

"Abuse?"

She nodded and Loki walked to her. She could tell that he was troubled by something.

"Yes,I am, while here it is something unheard of, on Earth it is a much common behavior and I'm almost certain that Harry was a victim of it. You should also remember how he first behaved when Sif raised her voice even a little."

Jane was silent for a moment, her eyes focused on Loki, trying to see if the God of Mischief and Lies was honest or not. "I also noticed it, at first I thought that he was simply afraid of her," she said and picked up a golden goblet filled with wine. She sipped it slowly, savoring the taste. "But as I look at it now, it was weird and he backed away from her. I'm not an expert on psychology, but children are usually more brash than he was."

"Not only that but he had several scars, broken bones and malnutrition, as well." Loki said and she growled. "Yes, when my mother healed him she was furious, true, most of our children would have the first two thanks to our way of life as we train as warriors from an early age, but the last one..."

"But the last one is because of lack of food," Jane finished. "And I think that we can guess what's the reason for this is."

"Yes," Loki said and winced. "If I could do it, they would be my daughter's new pets, but I can't do."

"What?!" she asked as she walked to him and pushed him, he flew backwards and slammed into the wall. "You are a Prince of Asgard and one of the most powerful sorcerers in existence! Why can you not punish two simple humans?"

Loki groaned as he got out of the hole in the wall. "Because of an agreement we were forced to make so that we avoided a war with almost everybody out there. But you can be sure that they won't have an easy life as Warren Worthington knows about those facts and knows how to get the evidence so that it can survive in your court."

She nodded and her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "But evidence might be not enough and a testimony from Harry wouldn't be bad, would it?"

"No," Loki said and sighed. "Even if he trusts a lot of people, he is reserved and timid when it comes to some things. You are probably one of the few people that can reach out to him and make him open up about his past. There is also the fact that he respects you and won't lash out at you."

Jane sipped some more wine, looked at the content of the goblet and then at Loki. "I will do it, but it won't be easy or pleasant as he is stubborn and lacks the ability to think at times."

"He will be here in a few days," Loki said as he walked to the doors. "Worthington is playing his cards carefully and he will make his move in three weeks time, but I would like to have mine done before him."

"So that Harry is at ease with his past?"

"There's that, we don't need a mad king or at least an emotionally unstable one that might lash out at a whim."

She nodded and holding her goblet she walked to the window and looked at the hundreds of spires rising into the sky. She heard Loki slip out of the room, but she didn't pay any attention to him and instead focused her gaze on the sight in front of her. She needed to think over the things he had told her.

o-0-o

Loki smiled as he saw how uncomfortable Dumbledore was with the events unfolding in front of them, they were walking around the city with a small group of Hogwarts students and a detachment of guards that was supposed to keep him safe. They entered one of the smaller plazas and it seemed as if it was a day when conscription was carried out, he could see a lot of young and arrogant Æsir surround a group of warriors.

The warriors were reading names from a list they had and the mentioned Æsirs stepped forward out of the crowd. When Dumbledore saw it, he hissed. "Why would you force ones so young to serve in the military?"

Loki smiled and looked around. "Because we are a race forged in the crucible of war and most of us train for war since we are a few years of age. Even if it isn't as demanding as the one that the children of nobility receive, it's there and as I said the universe is a dangerous place."

"Don't you have a standing army?"

Loki fought the urge to sigh and looked at the Hogwarts students. "This might be a good lesson for you about the differences between Asgard and your world. Amongst wizards there are only small groups of trained wizards tasked with protection of the country and keeping order?"

Wizards nodded and he smiled.

"Here, everybody when he becomes twenty years of age is required to serve for ten years in the military and longer if he wishes to, but he is not required to." There was a bout of cries of outrage, but he ignored them. "What you are seeing behind me is conscription in progress and if you were born on Asgard you wouldn't have a chance to avoid it and any attempt to do so would bring shame onto you and your family."

"Why do you need such a large army?" Someone asked and Loki smiled when he saw that it was Charlie Weasley, he was seriously considering teaching the oldest Weasley that was at Hogwarts some of the magic known to Asgard.

"Finally an intelligent question. The reason is simple, we are a big realm and we have many enemies that are only waiting for a moment of weakness to strike. Also when we are forced to defend, we have a large group of people that know how to fight and don't need a lot of training. It is also one of the reasons that so much attention is payed to physical fitness and weapons handling at the Academy." Loki's gaze focused on Dumbledore for a moment, before sweeping over the students. "Also it is an opportunity for most of the young, brash and arrogant Æsir to release their pent up energy and learn a thing of two."

He turned around and resumed their trip as there was no point in lingering at one point for more than it was needed.

o-0-o

Jane stepped out of the Bifrost in Professor's X office and looked for a moment around before her gaze landed on the telepath sitting behind the desk. "I came here to talk with Harry about a few things concerning his future and his past."

Professor X smiled and nodded. "He should be somewhere around, as long as you ensure that he returns to the Institute alive and in one piece, you can take him for as long as you wish to and wherever you wish to."

"Perfect." She smiled. "I will take him with me to Asgard as the news might unsettle him and if he needs to have a tantrum I prefer to deal with it away from other people with temper issues. Also some things aren't for everybody to hear."

"You can take him with you," Professor said and with a bow of her head she walked out of the office. She knew that finding Harry was a challenge when he wanted to hide, but for most of the time he was like an extremely bright beacon of power.

o-0-o

Harry felt something or someone powerful approach him and when he turned around his eyes widened, he didn't expect to see his stepmother here of all places. "Mother," he said with a bow of his head. "What are you doing here?"

He could hear his friends snicker, but he ignored them and looked at her.

"To talk with you about some things," she said. "I'm taking you to Asgard for the talk as it is the best place for it to happen."

He nodded as he knew that any attempt at disagreeing with her would be futile, as he felt Bifrost latch onto him, he hoped that it was not going to be as bad as the last time he got a talk. When they arrived on Asgard he arched an eyebrow as she led him not into the palace, but towards the massive gardens spread behind it.

She sat down on one of benches inside of them and motioned for him to join her. He obediently did so and looked at her. "Did you hear that Petunia and Vernon will be put on trial?"

He narrowed his eyes as a thunder shook the sky above. "Why does it matter?"

"Don't you care about them because they were your guardians before you were brought here?"

"Guardians?!" He asked as pitch black clouds gathered above them and droplets of rain started to fall. "You know nothing about my time with them, so don't even mention them!"

Jane looked at him and Harry's eyes widened when in her eyes he saw something he didn't expect to see, compassion. "I know that I know nothing about your past, but you can't keep it suppressed."

"Maybe I want to?" He snarled as a thunder rumbled overhead.

"And what are you going to do?" she asked. "Lash out at me?"

He looked at her and paused, she was usually calmer and it surprised him. "I don't know what to do," he slowly said and looked at the sky. "It hurts to think about it and those times that feel as if they were a bad nightmare."

"You know that telling those things can make it easier for you?" she asked softly and Harry almost flinched as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

Harry was silent for a long moment and finally looked at her. "I don't want to think about it, I want it to be gone."

"Than maybe speak about it and throw it out?"

He looked at her, into her brown warm eyes. "I don't know how to do it."

"Start from the beginning," she said. "I know that you don't like it, but you know that I won't judge you."

Harry closed his eyes and shook his head. "I will tell you about it, but please can you not mention it to anybody until I'm ready?"

"I will," she said, her voice soft and warm.

Harry nodded and started to talk about the past, at first slowly, but after a moment he picked up his pace, throwing those things out of his mind and body.

o-0-o

As Jane heard what Harry was saying she wanted to rip apart those humans, no, things, she corrected herself quickly. If they were humans, they would have even a slightest amount of humane instinct, but those seemed to lack it. Instead it was replaced by hatred and the desire to show Harry that he meant nothing.

She saw his eyes swell with tears as he finished telling her about everything they had done to him and she did the only human thing her mind suggested to her. She pulled and embraced him, letting him cry and deal with the emotions that were swarming in his heart.

o-0-o

Illyana groaned as she felt a dull blade slam into her abdomen, she looked at Idunn who did it and growling looked around the small sandy arena. One of the more secluded one used when someone wanted some resemblance of privacy and peace.

"How are you so good?" she asked, holding her own sabre in her right hand. "I thought that I deflected it."

"It was a feint," Idunn smirked. "We, that is the Alf, love deception and our style is based on such things. So don't expect what you see to be it, it will most likely be a distraction."

Illyana growled and swung her sabre at Idunn, who easily deflected the strike, as if she was swatting away an annoying fly. More of Illyana's strikes were deflected until Idunn found a way to knock her sabre out of her hand.

"Ouch!" Illyana yelped as she felt metal of Idunn's blade slam into her hand and force her to drop her sabre.

"Think more, attack less," Idunn said. "You started to make mistakes and during any serious duel they will be exploited without mercy. I offered to teach you some basics as I know you and I know that you don't have any experience when it comes to weapons handling. While here," She waved her hand around. "almost everybody knows how to use weapons."

"Oh," Illyana said as she picked up her sabre and fell into an opening stance.

"Remember what I told you."

Illyana nodded and gripped the sabre's handle, her knuckles turning white. "I know, it's just that I'm used to different things."

"You can learn." Idunn said. "It's a matter of practice and having a tiny sliver of a gift."

"Practice is something I won't enjoy," Illyana said as her sabre made an arc, starting yet another duel.

o-0-o

Jean slowly sipped her Coke for some time before she looked at Warren. "Do you think that they realized this invitation is a trap?"

"Honestly?" Warren asked and she nodded. "No, they were gullible ones and fell for even the easiest traps, so for them it is as if my father became generous."

"They do not look like the rest of your family," she said and looked at him. "When I looked into their minds, I felt as if I dived into a cesspool. While you or your father aren't saints, you at least have some code that you live by and have some achievements. Them? Abusing your cousin and other than that trying to be as normal as they can."

Warren sighed and slowly shook his head. "There always needs to be a black sheep in a family, but I have never thought that it can get as bad as it got with them."

She nodded and finishing her Coke she placed the empty glass on the table. "If I was being completely honest, I'm not really surprised into whom she has grown up."

"You're not?"

"No, I am not," she looked at him. "Your father had luck in his marriage and he is controlling Worthington International and Worthington Industries, her sister and Harry's mother also had luck in her marriage, she was a witch and Harry's dad is also well-off."

Warren's eyes widened and her words and she smiled lightly. "You mean that she felt jealous of their luck and because of it became who she is?"

"As much as it hurts me to tell you, yes, she became as such because of it. I don't think that she was that bad from the beginning of her life, but from what I have seen, she didn't have a lot of reasons to love your father or her own sister."

Warren growled, a short animalistic sound left his mouth. "I want to murder whoever was responsible for placing Harry with those things."

"Not only you," she said and placed her hand on his shoulder. "But leave it to your father, I have a pretty good idea that he knows exactly who was responsible for him landing there."

"Does he?"

She chuckled softly and made him look at her. "He is a member of the Hellfire Club and a powerful businessman with contacts in military circles, do you really think he doesn't have the means of getting such data?"

"No," he said and chuckled. "They don't have the slightest idea about what is going to hit them and how bad it will be."

"Yes," she said and looked out of the window, thinking about what she had learned from their minds and what she knew from Warren. She felt as if something was amiss.

o-0-o

"We need to talk after the classes are over," Warren said as Harry passed by.

"About what?" Harry asked, "You seem weirdly silent as of recent."

"Family business, meet me on the roof."

Harry nodded and as he sat in classes he couldn't stop thinking about what Warren wanted from him and the moment they ended he rushed to the roof. When Harry gracefully landed on the roof, he saw Warren waiting for him, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"I spoke with my father about certain things and you should also know about them," Warren said without any introductions. "I also spoke with your uncle and he said that due to certain things, Asgard can't punish the Dursley's, so we decided to take it into our hands and fix it."

"Guessing by what my mother wanted from me, you have a role planned for me?" Harry asked, his keen green eyes focused on Warren. "A role that might be crucial to the whole thing and you want me to play by the script."

Warren looked at him and nodded. "You could say so, in two weeks time there is a family meeting and they are invited there, as well as some family associates and friends. My father plans to speak with them after the party and he wouldn't mind your presence there and later during their trial."

"I understand," Harry said, his eyes getting a hard glean to them. "I want to be done with them, for good this time."

"You will be done, that's as much as I can promise you," Warren said and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "There is more to this thing than I or you know, if it was as simple as it looks to be, they would have been in prison long ago."

Harry nodded and opened his wings. "Can we fly for a bit? I want to forget about those things?"

"Sure," Warren said as his own metallic wings opened and he jumped into the air. Harry smiled and followed his cousin into the sky.

o-0-o

"Were you also invited to the party hosted by Warren II?" Fury asked as General Jackson joined him.

"Yes." Robby smiled. "I wonder what he wants from us."

"The usual, make some deals, show how powerful and influential he is," Fury said and paused. "But I think this time is something more, yes, there is. He is dealing with family business and needs certain people's confidence crushed."

"Who are they?"

"People that should be in jail," Fury said and shook his head. "I would have sent them there, but I couldn't do it. However, now all of the pieces are in their proper place and they will be doomed. Also Warren's cousin and the son of Thor will be there, one of few people that I'm watching for New Avengers Initiative."

"Along with my niece?"

"Indeed," Fury said and looked at Robby. "She is his granddaughter, even if her stupid father lacks the brains to admit it and we both know what is in her genes..."

"The super-soldier serum, one that should wake up in a few months or years," Robby finished and rubbed his forehead. "And I guess that you wouldn't mind the two of them meeting?"

"No," Fury said and smiled. "Warren II with his party just helped me with it, can you take her to that party? I didn't see a list of invited, but if I had to guess, there are going to be invited people she knows and she should be able to befriend Thorson."

Robby frowned and Fury could tell that his friend was deeply thinking. The silence lasted for a long moment, before Robby finally nodded. "Her family isn't the best and she wouldn't mind a party, so I will take her with me."

"Good," Fury said as the doors in front of them opened. "I will also be there and I will ensure that she meets Thorson."

"Do you need to manipulate everything?"

"That's my job," Fury said with a grim smile as he took one of the last two free seats. Even if the meeting was boring, he needed to be here, as it was the best place to learn what was going on in the world.

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

I think it is obvious to whom Fury and Jackson are making references.

 _Two rants ahead:_

 _Army of Asgard, you can base the core on volunteers, but it is only good when you have more volunteers than positions to fill, Asgard is an imperialistic realm and that means a constant or near constant warfare, which means that you need to have draft in place. Every skirmish causes dead and injured, their positions need to be filled by someone and with volunteers it would be hard to find enough people to keep it going. There are also two simpler reasons, every Æsir, no matter their social status receives basic of combat education alongside other subjects and all of them are full of energy and need to vent it off, so draft allows them to channel their destructive energy in safe and useful way. Maybe even more important reason is hard to spot, when someone's retires from the military he has all of the basic skills that make him a decent soldier, so when you need to make a full mobilization of the army you have trained troops that need only refreshing of their knowledge. Which means a lot as instead of training them for eight weeks, six or less weeks are enough and weeks during war mean a lot, a lot of wars was won by an ability to be somewhere faster than the enemy and two weeks for an influx of new soldiers is years in other departments._

 _With it is tied approach to orphans of those that died serving for the realm and don't have any close family, in any warrior focused state adopting one or more of such children would have been seen as a good deed and helping the society. Also nobles care for their image and such thing nicely strokes ego of them and make public look more favorably on them, not to mention that it doesn't cost them a lot as most of nobles have so much money and income that they can spend lavishly on such things._

 _Helicarriers of SHIELD, I should have done it sooner, but I remember about it now, in short, at the moment SHIELD has one operational and one that is being outfitted and two more in various stages of construction. I'm going with their movie look as it is an interesting one and allows for a lot of simple modifications that would increase its deadlines and usefulness. While I like the comics look of them, honestly speaking it is a bit impractical as there is a reason why carriers look the way they look. I forgot to get this rant out of the way earlier so here it is._

 _Reviews:_

 _Otsutsuki no Yami_ \- Information is an easy thing to get, however useful information is a much pricey thing that takes a lot of effort to gather and at the moment he has very basic informations about the book. He now needs to gather data that will allow him to get some information about the castle and how to storm it. As well as he needs to gather resource to attack.

Strange won't rush to see what tickled the line every time someone gets their hands on some data, data on its own is useless as you need to get resources and at the moment he doesn't have too many that will work and Hellfire Club is not going to help him, too openly at least. They are not insane and none of major players within it would love to see new one gaining power, so as much Emma Frost hates Harry and by extension Worthington's she will eagerly align herself with them the moment she thinks there is new player trying to gain something. Besides Lord Imperial has his own plans and has a very interesting ally that helps him if need be.

 _voice of the riders_ \- wizards will wake up, at least those that saw Asgard, the Ministry is a classic example of I think that I am the best and nothing can change it. At the moment nobody is really interested in paying them a visit, they are destroying themselves and do it quite well, so nobody will waste resources on it. For Asgard it is the least of their worries, while SHIELD and MI-13 have better things to do.

Asgard didn't lose more than a couple of skirmishes for centuries, true they have many wars at the same time, but none of them is truly dangerous for them and they are on the fringes of their sphere of influence. They are arrogant, but they are top dogs and are feared by many and loved by even more. So they don't see a reason to change and in a monarchy unless monarch or someone close to him initiate a change, it won't happen.

 _TimothyB_ \- it will move away and there is a really good reason for M rating of it, reason that is connected with the direction it will take. I wanted to make the Talk sound a bit funny, but I also wanted to explain things that would be hard to explain without it.

 _Jerm069_ \- who said that there will be one pairing, fidelity and Norse gods are as likely to combine as a cat is to befriend a dog. He will be more faithful than an average one, but he won't be a paragon of virtues.

 _WhiteEagle1985_ \- Norse monsters will show up, as well as Greek and several other kinds of them that will make people consider if they are sane and if they are in a good place.


	31. Family business and the end of the year

**A/N - the last chapter for the first year at the Institute and the year two should start soon, also it is one of few rather light chapters before the world plunges into darkness that will envelop everything and everybody. Also some of Harry's love interest appear in the chapter, more of passing ones, but still. As always, read and review.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Petunia smiled as their plane prepared for landing, she couldn't believe that her cousin finally decided to admit that she was a part of the family. She glanced to the side and she could see her husband and son in the best suits they had.

"What can you tell me about him?" Vernon asked "You have never mentioned him."

She looked out of the window and gathered her thoughts for a few, too short for her liking, moments. "Warren, he and I had a difficult relationship. He always liked Lily more and he avoided me wherever he could. From what I remember about him, he is and was a cold one. Only caring about himself."

"So what can we expect from him?"

"That he will be cold towards us and will care about himself or his company, nothing else will matter to him. Maybe his freakish son will, but not we."

Vernon nodded and hummed quietly. "So he does it out of the goodness of his heart?"

She laughed bitterly. "His heart is as cold as stone and he doesn't care about anything. He did it because he thinks that we are important and should be invited by him."

Vernon didn't say a word and in the silence they sat as the wheels of the plane slammed onto the runway. It meant that they were in the USA and only mere hours from meeting her dear cousin. It was a meeting she was dreading about, yet she also anticipated it.

o-0-o

Warren smiled as he felt the familiar roar of the engine of his silver Mercedes E63 AMG, he knew that it was a relatively cheap car, but he enjoyed it immensely. It was fast, quite big and didn't stand out like some of the more flamboyant cars he was given or bought on his own.

"He won't bite you," he said as he saw Harry shift uncomfortable in his seat. "My father is not like your uncle and aunt ever were, he will be mostly curious about you, your mother was his more favourite cousin. Not to mention that if he could, he would have claimed your guardianship, but someone was running interference and even Fury couldn't get the paperwork pushed through."

Harry whistled quietly. "That someone has or had a lot of influence and power, we both know that Fury can get whatever he wishes to."

"Exactly," Warren nodded and focused on the road ahead. "The party is tomorrow, so today you should be able to meet him and relax for a moment before the whole thing starts to spin. Even if you don't like parties, this one should be somewhat more enjoyable."

Harry only arched an eyebrow.

"A couple of people that you know and a couple of my friends will be attending" Warren said and smiled. "Most of them are mutants or at least don't have a lot of issues when being around us, so you should get along just fine."

"You won't tell me more about them, will ya?"

He looked at Harry and laughed. "No, surprises aren't always bad, this one should be at least somewhat good, maybe even really good."

Harry pushed his lower lip forward and pouted.

Warren chuckled lightly at Harry's antics. "Nice try, but it won't work on me, many tried and most of them failed."

"Annoying older cousin," Harry muttered under his breath, making Warren laugh even louder.

"Can you just accept the fact that nothing will change my mind?"

"No."

Warren didn't acknowledge those words, instead he focused on driving as he knew that the property was close and missing it would be somewhat embarrassing. As he drove he also thought about Harry, his younger cousin was an enigma and sometimes learning new things about him unraveled just another layer of mystery and shadows. He lightly shook his head and focused on the road ahead.

o-0-o

Maria Hill frowned as she looked at the transcripts from Igor Karkaroff's interrogation, something was unsettling her. For one last time she looked at them and then she diverted her gaze to Sean Cassidy. "How sure are you that this is true?"

"As sure as I can be," he said with a shrug. "He knows that I can tell when someone lies, so he wouldn't even try to do so. Everything he said is true, he might have not mentioned some things, but he didn't say a direct lie."

"So he probably omitted quite a lot of things about which he wasn't directly asked," she said and rubbed her forehead. "Did you see anything out of order inside of Durmstrang? Anything that you wouldn't find in a normal school of magic?"

He frowned and paced in front of her desk for a moment, she let him do it and patiently waited for an answer. He was her best asset and one that had yet to fail her, so there was no point in making him hurry. "There were a few things out of order, he had normal humans as guards, while the Rangers cut them down before any could injure us, I have a feeling they were more than just your usual mercenaries."

"Special forces?"

He nodded. "Most likely, either former members of our own or Russian Spetsnaz, they certainly knew how to follow someone and do so stealthy. If I had to guess, I would say current members of the Russian Spetsnaz."

She paled for a second before she composed herself and looked at him. "Don't mention it to anybody, even Director Fury, it needs to stay as a secret as there is something more at play. I have a feeling that some organization long gone is trying to claw their way back onto the surface."

"Weapon X and Red Room," he said after a moment. "Two projects that were created to design and create the best super-soldier they could, no matter the cost or ethics."

"Yes," she said, a hint of disgust in her voice. "If I'm right they will try to kidnap one of Xavier's students, so I want you to go to there and keep an eye out for trouble. There is too much at stake here to let them snatch any of those mutants. They are priceless for us and Fury is working on the Young Avengers Initiative."

"One based on those mutants," Sean said with a grimace. "Also Harry is a son of Thor and if he gets kidnapped it will be a disaster, Thor is a force of nature, a powerful one that cannot be stopped or controlled."

"Yes," she said and rubbed her forehead. "It will be a nightmare to contain and prevent it from turning into a worldwide crisis."

"Assuming it will end here," he said with a weird smirk. "From what I had learned from Black Eagle, Asgard is one of the universe's superpowers and viciously guards Its citizens."

"Just wonderful." she sighed, looked at the papers and later at him. "Go to Xavier's and let me deal with my mess of a paperwork."

She saw him nod and slip out of her office not making a single sound. It left her completely alone and on her own to deal with the pile of paperwork she had in front of herself. Pile of paperwork that was probably the most hated perk of being chosen as a base commander.

o-0-o

Harry had trouble believing that what he was seeing was true, he knew that the Worthington family was rich, but this was something else. This was huge, grand and imposing, telling everybody that the one owning it had power and influence he wouldn't hesitate to use. "Impressive," he said as he got out of Warren's car and grabbed his bag. "I mean, I know how my family house looks, but it's more graceful than this."

"Yes," Warren said and smiled. "But you also live there on daily basis, this is mostly for various parties or when there is a need for something grander than the other of our mansions."

"Our?"

"You are a part of the family," Warren said and ruffled Harry's hair. "So you can use it when you need to, it is also the reason we are here a day before the party."

"What do you mean?"

"Issues with who is your legal guardian according to law that is on Earth," Warren said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm surprised that you weren't told how much of a nightmare it is. Even if your father doesn't like law and long, boring meetings, your uncle should be well aware of this."

Harry looked at Warren, as if he was crazy.

"You will understand once you meet my father, as he will probably explain it to you much better than I can. Also your father should be here, so that everybody knows who is who and what is what."

"I guess that I don't have much of a choice here, do I?"

"No, you don't," Warren said and Harry followed him into the mansion.

The moment he stepped through the massive oak doors he felt an aura of power and influence, a subtle one too, one that didn't scream that I am dangerous and I should be listened to. It was softer, less visible, but still present and impossible to ignore. The decor only helped to show that. The floor was made out of various marble, the columns supporting the ceiling and art masterpieces, each one of them costing a small fortune told a lot about the owners of this place.

"Too stunned to say anything?" Warren asked

"No," Harry said, drawing his attention away from the decor. "It's just that I'm surprised and a bit overwhelmed by how tasteful it is."

Warren nodded and indicated a long corridor in front of them. "Follow me and you shouldn't get lost in this place."

Harry looked around and nodded, he knew that he could use his senses to move around, but he didn't trust them in a new place, a place where there were hundreds of new scents. Scents that could throw him off completely and lead him in the wrong direction.

"Tomorrow I should have time to show you where is what so that you know how to move around, today my father will probably occupy most of your time and also mine as he said that I should be aware of the things that were agreed upon."

"Boring meeting, joy." Harry said and rolled his eyes. "I had enough of them when I was on Asgard, small council meetings are a good way to fall asleep, but not much else."

Warren chuckled and Harry could feel that his older cousin agreed with his words. "Still, you need to suffer it and there are worse things than this, you just aren't aware of them."

Harry glowered and Warren ignored his gaze, as if it was nothing. _It seems that I still don't have the Look of my grandfather,_ Harry thought, _he is able to scare most of people into compliance, while this got me nothing._

"Here we are," Warren said, bringing him out of his musings.

Harry looked around and nodded as they found themselves facing a set of wooden doors leading into an office. Warren opened them and walked into the room, Harry followed his cousin and paused for a moment to look around the room.

It was a fairly big room with the opposite wall made wholly out of glass, allowing plenty of natural light into it. Facing the doors was a massive wooden desk and behind it sat Warren Worthington II, as Harry looked at Warren III and Warren II, he could see the family resemblance between them. Both of them had blond hair and blue eyes and both of them had an aura of power and respect around themselves, the one around Warren II was more developed, as well as subtler and much more dangerous.

However it wasn't Warren II who got Harry's attention, it was the fact that also his father, mother and uncle were in the room. He didn't expect to find them here, especially not all of them, yet here they were and seemed comfortable. "Father, Mother, uncle," he said and then his gaze flickered to Warren II. "Cousin, can any of you explain me why are all of you here?"

"Straight to the point like Lily was," Warren II said and Harry's gaze focused on him. "I'm Warren Worthington II, your older cousin and head of the Worthington family. The reason why all of us are here is simple. Issues with who is your legal guardian when you are on Earth."

Harry blinked a couple of times and looked at them. "What do you mean?"

Warren II glanced at Loki who nodded. "It will be better if you sit down, some of these things might unsettle you." Warren said and Harry sat down in one of the free chairs. "Legally speaking, you are still considered a responsibility of Petunia and Vernon Dursley."

Harry growled and bared his canines that flashed dangerously in the light of the room, but he stopped the moment he felt the gaze of his father on him. "You can show your anger at a later time, now let everybody explain things."

"Sorry," he mumbled and blushed lightly.

"No problem," Warren II said. "It happens to everybody and I know why you are so agitated about them and why you don't want to have anything in common with them." He tapped a pile of papers laying on the desk. "Those are all of the documents that will transfer all of their rights to me, normally it would have been done to your parents, but your father doesn't have any citizenship on Earth and James Potter is dead. While your stepmother getting your legal guardianship would sound and look strange to anybody that knows her or you, and has some bad intentions."

"And there is this nice addition that not many people are insane enough to attack the Worthington family," Loki added with a sly smile. "So the number of wannabe assassins and other shady people that is willing to kill or injure you will drop significantly."

"Indeed," Warren nodded and looked at Harry. "So what do you say?"

"I don't want to have anything in common with them," Harry spat viciously. "I want them gone, so I will gladly accept this."

"Perfect," Warren said and briefly smiled, his smile predatory and dangerous. "On the day after tomorrow I will deal with them and make sure that they stay away from you or the wealth that you have on Earth."

"What kind of wealth?" Harry asked and glanced at his father.

"The Potter family wealth, several dozen billion of dollars, at least that was when I was alive as James Potter, all too long ago," Thor said with a shrug and looked at Loki. "A trip to Gringotts wouldn't be amiss, would it?"

"It wouldn't, but I would suggest it is done once the dust settles and this meeting is over." Loki said and shrugged. "Now you have other issues and this one can wait."

"Of course, uncle," Harry said and looked at Warren II. "Do you have anything else to talk about?"

Warren was silent for a moment and then shook his head. "No, at least nothing official and lunch should be about to be served and I know that most of you are hungry." He stood up. "So if you would follow me."

Harry smiled at those words as he felt his stomach show how unhappy it was about the lack of food, there were times where he hated his Æsir physiology. On Asgard he didn't feel it as he was able to eat so much and so often that his stomach was able to stay silent, on Earth, not so much.

o-0-o

Fury frowned as he looked at the report from Maria Hill and the second smaller one from one of his most trusted spies, buried so deep that nobody knew about his existence. Looking at them he had a feeling of déjà vu build up inside of him, they were too similar to be fake and were consistent with the other reports he had gotten.

"People are predictable," Fury said as he looked at those reports. "Demon is always right and she knows her job too well to trust everything she is being told. So someone is really predictable and stupid."

He looked at them, trying to see if they were masterfully crafted fakes, but seeing that they were real he slid them into a folder and brought up a photo of a single person onto a display placed on his desk. It was a photo of a man, however more apt would be calling him a teen with a set of unusual red eyes. "It seems that you will have a new mission, one that should force them to reveal themselves and make mistakes."

He scribbled a short note, folded it and slipped into one of his coat's many pockets, standing up he grabbed reports the he had got and walked to the safe placed in the wall. Once they were inside he walked out of his office, locking doors behind.

He knew that there were spies inside of SHIELD, but he didn't have the slightest idea what their names were, he had a pretty good idea of where they were, but he didn't have an idea about their exact positions and names. It was starting to wear him down as he needed to be constantly focused and looking for even the slightest thing out of order.

o-0-o

Harry laid in his bed in the room he was given inside Worthington Manor and looked at the ceiling, thinking about the past, the present and the future. The fact that the Dursley's were unfortunate, but required, guests at the party brought to the front of his mind old memories, memories he wished weren't real and could simply be erased as if they weren't there. It also made him realize how badly he had changed during all of those years.

He remembered that when he first arrived on Asgard he was a scrawny, small kid and almost afraid of everything, as he remembered how afraid of Freki and Geri he had been, he now tried not to laugh. Through all of those years he had grew up a lot and now was over six feet tall, most of his body covered in thick, wiry muscles, he also had those wings on his back. However compared to how his mind changed, those things meant almost nothing. Then he was afraid of almost everything and now he was more than eager to charge into the biggest brawl or battle he could find. No matter if it was safe for him or not.

He tucked in and wrapping wings around himself he slowly drifted off to sleep as his mind finally decided to get some rest and not annoy him with gloomy thoughts.

o-0-o

Harry shifted uncomfortably in his suit, he knew that it fit him and he knew that it was of the best quality, but it still made him feel uncomfortable. He heard Warren's chuckle and glared at his older cousin. "What?"

"You look as if you are about to combust," Warren said, stifling his chuckle. "Anyways, some of the people that you should recognize are about to arrive."

Harry glared for a moment at Warren and then looked towards the entrance and nodded when he saw Roberto da Costa enter the room, but it wasn't him that drew Harry's attention, it was a man to the right of Bobby. He looked like an older, more experienced version of Roberto. "Who's that?"

"Emmanuel da Costa," Warren whispered. "Owner of da Costa International, a pretty rich person and member of the Hellfire Club. If you know Roberto, you should have a pretty good idea about his character."

Harry nodded and filed that piece of information away for later use, he had learned painfully that information was priceless and every single bit was important. He was about to ask Warren when a silver blur passed through the room, scaring and pushing apart almost everybody before finally coming to a stop in front of them.

"What the hell was that?" Harry asked as he looked around and then his eyes landed on the reason.

The reason of this blur was a tall, graceful and thin teenage male with hair black as night with a wide silver streak through the middle, blue eyes, elvish ears and a smirk adorning his lips. A smirk that was saying here comes the daredevil, here comes the rogue one. He is the one that all moms warned their girls about. "I'm a person, not a thing," teen said with a thick French accent. "The name is Jean-Paul Beaubier and I should be the one who's asking questions as you look amazing."

Harry looked at Jean, his gaze cool and calculating. "Me? Not in this suit, anything else, but not this. Also I'm Harry Potter and a younger cousin of Warren."

"You have an interesting cousin, _mon chéri_ ," Jean-Paul said looking at Warren.

Warren only chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Do you always think through the thing hanging between your legs? Or do you use your brain from time to time?"

"I always use my brain, it's just too brilliant for you to understand."

"If you say so," Warren snorted. "Then how is it that I can understand my brilliant cousin without a single problem and I struggle with you?"

"Maybe because you lack ability to understand French?" Harry added with a smirk. "Or your mind is a bit distracted by Jean."

"Me?" Jean asked. "But I'm a shining beacon that only draws towards itself."

"Oh, stuff it, Jean," someone said and when Harry looked at the person that said it he felt as if his eyes just wanted to flow out of his skull.

She was hot. Her being hot was not enough to describe her beauty, she looked like a young goddess that wanted to walk amongst mortals and tried to gather all the attention she could. She had long wavy golden hair, quite a sizeable cleavage and eyes as blue as water in the purest sea. She wore a quite modest dark blue dress, but even in it she looked stunning.

"I didn't even manage to learn a thing about Warren's cousin," Jean-Paul pouted and stopped when a vein appeared on her brow. "Of course, I understand, I stop or you murder me."

"Good boy," she smiled and chastely hugged Warren. "Maybe you will introduce me to your cousin before this shark gets to him?"

Warren chuckled and looked at Harry. "Harry, this is Carol Danvers, one of my few friends and Carol, this is Harry Potter, my cousin, a really annoying one."

"I'm not that bad," Harry said with a pout, making everybody laugh.

"It's only Warren that is annoyed," Jean-Paul said and looked at Harry. "You are aware of your good looks?"

"Maybe," Harry smiled. "But still I don't have the famous grace and beauty of my family, apparently I'm too young."

"Too young?" Jean-Paul asked, arching an eyebrow.

"I'm twelve years old, close to thirteen," Harry said, making Carol and Jean-Paul blink at him.

"How is it possible?" She asked. "You look somewhere like fifteen or sixteen, not twelve."

"I'm half-Æsir and half-human, that's how."

"Æsir as in one of those beings living on Asgard?" Jean-Paul asked. "Or is my memory wandering in the wrong direction?"

"Those ones." Harry smiled and glanced at Carol. "Even if I'm twelve I can appreciate good looks and you look stunning." Jean pouted at those words. "You also don't look bad, but she is much better."

Jean pouted again at those words, making them laugh.

"I know that you are French and that you are obliged to sulk, but can you just get over it and accept that someone isn't impressed by your charms?" Carol asked. "Oh and if your hair was less greasy, it wouldn't scare away so many people."

"Nice one," Warren said and looked at them. "You won't kill, mutilate or rape my dear cousin so can I leave you alone?"

"You can," Carol said as she grabbed Jean-Paul's ear and slowly twisted it. "I think that he will behave, won't you?" She gave him a pointed look, while twisting his ear even more. "What do you say?"

"I will behave," Jean-Paul said with a mischievous smirk, Harry could feel something in him, something that made him a bit wary about those words. "Now be kind and release me."

"Sure," she said as she released Jean-Paul's ear.

"As I said, don't murder, mutilate or rape him and you will be fine," Warren warned them with a smile and walked away.

"What a protective cousin you have," Carol said and Harry briefly smiled.

"He is the better out of the two, at least those living on Earth," Harry said and winced. "The other one is a highly _unpleasant_ person."

"What do you mean by that?" Jean asked. "Or more proper would be whom."

"You will see him when he arrives." Harry said as the pleasant smile went away from his face. "He looks like a pig in human body."

"Oh," Carol said and placed her hand on Harry's shoulder. "I know how you feel about family not liking you."

"You do?" He asked looking at her.

"I do," she said sadly and shook her head. "Most of my family can be described in the same manner, only my uncle and grandmother are decent people. But it's neither the time nor the opportunity to talk about it."

"Yes," Harry smiled as their talk started to move towards more enjoyable topics.

o-0-o

"It looks interesting," Warren said as he joined Rhodes. "I knew that the three of them would become fast friends, but this is something that I didn't expect."

Rhodes nodded and glanced at said group. "Your cousin, the niece of General Jackson and the French Ambassador's adopted son?"

"Yes," Warren said and smiled. "They are nice and will be good friends, also we both know about the project on which Fury works."

"The Young Avengers?"

"Yes," Warren said and looked at Rhodes. "I guess that you know about it since you are a member of the normal Avengers roster."

"Indeed" Rhodes said and sighed. "I know that they have more than enough power to be a powerful reinforcement and future replacements for the Avengers, but they are still so young."

"Tell that to one of Harry's Asgardian friends and they will prove how wrong you are and that underestimating them is the worst thing you can do as they will rip you apart."

Rhodes blinked a few times and Warren smirked when he paled. "How strong are they? I never saw Thor use all of his strength and I know that he is deadly."

"Able to punch me through three stone walls," Warren said and winced. "I felt as if it broke all of my bones and put them back together in a painful manner."

Rhodes loudly whistled. "Point taken about their lethality and dangerousness."

"Yes," Warren said and smiled when Jean joined him, she wore a long emerald green dress and to it she had the same necklace she had gotten on Asgard.

"Your father wants to talk with you, the _guests of honor_ are finally here and they need to be greeted... _appropriately_ ," she said as she left a peck on his cheek, her long fiery red hair touching his skin. "So I think that Colonel Rhodes will need to wait for a moment."

"If you will excuse me, Colonel, someone needs to be greeted." Warren muttered and glanced at Jean. "Can you be kind enough to hide my wings?"

"You don't want them running away in fear?"

"Yeah," Warren said as he easily moved through the crowd.

Finding the newly arrived wasn't a challenging task as they stood out among the gathered people, since they looked obviously uncomfortable about the gathered people and didn't know anybody. Warren smirked at their expressions and looked around, trying to see his father. He was walking in the same direction as he and Jean were.

"Is it me or do they look and behave like bullies?..." Jean said. "I mean, someone normal would at least try to talk with the other guests, but they are standing there and watching the crowd around like some scared people."

"Yeah," he nodded. "We both know about what they have done to my cousin and we both know how they have reacted to me being in their house."

She didn't say a thing as they walked through the crowd, and Warren nodded to his father when they joined him.

"They look like sheeps that found that they are in a lion's cave." Warren II said. "Can you two entertain their son, so that I can talk with them and reintroduce them to Director Fury?"

Warren smirked and nodded, it was going to be so much fun, the Dursley's might not enjoy it, but for him and Jean it was going to be an enjoyable time. He glanced in their direction and easily spotted Dudley who looked like a pig in a human body, if he just had a pigtail and a different nose, it would have been impossible to tell him apart from a pig.

"Please tell me that his mind looks better than his outer appearance," Warren said as he looked at Jean. "As otherwise someone might not survive the night."

"Come on, you are a big boy," she said. "You have done worse things than entertaining your dear badly obese cousin."

"I have." he said with a wince.

They followed his father and let him do the introductions, as Warren looked at the Dursley's he could see Dudley gape at Jean. _Point taken about your cousin,_ she said in his mind, _if he can say more than two words that are not about food, being a bully or sex then I will be surprised. Your cousin even if he sees me as attractive can control himself and behaves like a human being, the other mutants too, this thing on the other hand does not._

He controlled the urge to punch Dudley and instead intertwined his fingers with hers and looked at him. "Come on, dear cousin, I don't think that you want to be bored to death by your parents talking with my father."

"Yeah," Dudley said and followed them.

 _I wonder who will be the first one to punch him,_ Jean said, _Carol might lose her patience, Jean-Paul is angry when someone is behaving like a homophobe or one of his friends is threatened and Harry is as hot-blooded as his father._

Warren nodded and looked at Dudley, he expected the kid to be more sure of himself, but it seemed that he was a machine that dumbly followed his parents, not an actual human being that was able of thinking on his own.

o-0-o

Warren II tried not to smirk as he looked at the Dursley's, playing them as he wished to was going to be so, so simple and easy. They didn't know a thing about the real world and making them do what he wanted them to, was going to be a trivial task.

"So, Petunia, how was the travel here?"

"Pleasant enough," she said, her horse-like face looking around. "Why did you wanted to meet us here and now?"

"Because this is an annual party that I host for my allies, friends and family. During the past years you weren't invited because it slipped my mind, but from now on you will be invited too. Especially considering the fact that I started to make small investments in the UK."

"How small?" Vernon asked, sudden interest visible in his voice.

"Only a three hundred million dollar deal to buy Domani Architecture, I would have invested more, but unfortunately the UK isn't the most important market for Worthington International and as such needs to wait."

Warren smirked when Vernon slumped, playing Vernon was so simple that it was not even amusing. He reached out and picked up a glass of wine from a nearby table and looked at Vernon. "Grunnings is such an insignificant company that my staff was unable to find it on the map of the UK and they needed to spend hours to find it, only to discover how badly it is looking."

"Badly looking?! Badly looking?! I will tell you what I think about your ideas of a badly looking company!" Vernon bellowed and everybody looked in their direction.

"Watch your tongue," Warren said cooly and smiled. "If it was such a good company how is it that in the last few years its income is dropping, even if your revenue multiplied by a couple orders of magnitude."

"Because of the bad situation on the market," Vernon said. "Prices increased and we needed to compensate for it."

"Or maybe because someone needed to increase his pay by quite a lot," said someone and Warren nodded when he saw Fury join them. "Petunia, you should know how much SHIELD knows and how much it can learn, including the fact that you had slept with Severus Snape before his first year at Hogwarts."

The strike was successful as their faces turned to an unhealthy shade of red and if Warren was going to bet, he would say that they were going to have a heart attack.

"You!" Petunia finally said, pointing her bony finger at Fury. "You destroyed Lily and made her meet with those freaks!"

"She chose it on her own and we both know that you could also follow her," Fury said and glanced at Warren. "Do you plan to do as we had agreed?"

"Yes," he said and sipped the wine. "It will be tiresome and, unpleasant, but it needs to be done and in a more peaceful location than this. Here they will cause a scene and my lawyers are still drafting the papers necessary to buy out Grunnings."

"I will be here in the morning," Fury said and glanced at his watch. "I would have stayed for longer, but duty calls and I need to be in Washington in an hour."

"I will make sure that they won't get out of the trap," Warren said and looked at his least desired guests, ones that needed to be entertained and made to stay at the mansion.

o-0-o

Harry felt at ease as he stood with Jean-Paul and Carol, they seemed like a nice enough group of people and didn't have any issues with him being a mutant and a Prince of Asgard.

He was about to say something when he spotted someone walk towards them, lightly nudged by Jean and Warren. He growled at the sight, as it was Dudley and he didn't change a lot since the last time they met, only grew up a bit and got more fat.

"What's the problem, mon chéri?" Jean-Paul asked

"He is the problem," Harry said with a move of his head towards Dudley. "My dear cousin, the one that I had mentioned to you."

"He looks like a pig, not a human," Jean-Paul pointed out, making them laugh. "And probably has the same amount of intelligence in his brain."

"If not less," Carol added with a grimace. "Most of the boys at my school behave that way when they look at me."

"It's still better than my luck," Jean-Paul said. "At least someone pays some attention to you, nobody pays me any."

"Can you not sulk?" Harry asked. "It is amusing but tiring, also my dear cousin might have issues with who you are or who I am for that matter."

"Who are you?" Carol asked

"A half-Æsir, I thought that I mentioned it earlier," Harry said with a smile. "Anyways most of us are bisexual, so my dear cousin will have a heart attack."

"Yeah, that wouldn't be desirable," Jean-Paul said with a smile. "Not that I would really cry if he was to drop dead."

"Me neither," Harry said and nodded to Warren as he approached them with Dudley. "Hello dear cousin."

Dudley blinked at those words, then looked at the scar on Harry's forehead and then at Warren. "What are you doing here, freak?"

Harry looked at Carol who almost growled at Dudley, but managed to control her instincts. "Enjoying the party and some people's company."

"You don't deserve to be here," Dudley spat, but the moment he looked at Carol, his eyes glazed over and he looked like a believer that saw his god. "Hello beautiful."

"Stay away from me," Carol hissed, a dangerous edge to her voice. "Or I won't be responsible for my actions."

"What are you going to do?" Dudley asked as he walked to her.

Harry had a hunch that this was Dudley's doom and he was right. The next thing he saw was Carol's heel slamming into Dudley's crotch. The force behind the strike was enough to push him backwards. Harry, at the same time, moved himself into Dudley's path and waited for the next move of his stupid cousin. If Dudley wanted to have a fight, he was all for it. "Nice strike," he said with a glance at Carol.

"Thanks," she smiled.

"How dare you?" Dudley asked as she started to walk towards them.

"Calm down or the next strike will knock you out," Harry growled as he crackled his knuckles and looked at Dudley. "So choose well as it might hurt."

Dudley roared and tried to charge, but the charge stopped well before it started. Harry's hand shot forward and with an open palm it slammed into Dudley's breastbone pushing him backwards as the air left his lungs. Finally he landed on the floor with a dull thud.

Harry stood over his cousin's body and felt a weird sense of satisfaction as he looked at the bane of his childhood. So weak and vulnerable right now, just asking for the strike of mercy to kill it. He considered it for a moment, but then shook his head and looked at Carol. "Are you alright?"

"Yes," she said and smiled. "Thank you for your help."

"No problem," Harry said and looked at Warren. "What are we going to do with his body?"

"You don't need to care," Warren smirked and summoned a waiter to whom he indicated Dudley body. The waiter nodded and disappeared. "They will move him to the bedroom he was supposed to get."

"How can you all be from the same family?" Carol asked. "You two and your father, Warren seem like nice people, but he is completely different."

"I wish I knew, but I guess that each family needs a black sheep so that there is balance," Warren said and shrugged. "Don't care about him and enjoy yourself."

"We will," Jean-Paul said and Harry nodded with a smile.

Enjoy it they did and for Harry the whole party almost passed in a blur and before he knew it was the end and Jean-Paul and Carol were about to return to their homes. Harry looked at the night's sky as he stood outside with Jean-Paul and watched as a trail of vehicles was leaving the mansion and heading towards the city.

"I will miss you," Jean said. "You seem like a nice person and a good-looking one."

"Was it a compliment?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Indeed, mon chéri," Jean said and Harry could feel something more underneath it. "I hope that we will meet more often than this party."

"We should," Harry said and looked towards Carol. "She probably wouldn't mind any such opportunities."

"As you wouldn't." Jean pulled Harry's head towards himself and kissed him.

"What was that?" Harry asked with an arched eyebrow.

"For goodbye," Jean said, smiled and disappeared in a blur.

"You like them," Warren asked as he dropped onto the ground.

Harry looked at his cousin and later at Carol and nodded. "Yes, I guess it is why you wanted me to meet them?"

"Indeed, baby cousin and it seems that Jean was lucky enough to steal your first kiss," Warren said chuckling merrily. "I was betting with Roberto that it was going to be Carol and it seems that I will need to pay him."

"You were betting on who would kiss me?"

"It was a nice and fun idea." Warren said in protest.

"Fine," Harry said as he walked back into the building. "But don't expect to get an invitation to Asgard for the foreseeable future."

"Bastard," Warren muttered and Harry only laughed.

"I was joking," he said and glanced at Warren. "Goodnight, cousin dear."

"Goodnight."

Harry quickly walked to his room and got out of the suit as quickly as he could, even if he looked good in it, it was uncomfortable as hell. He breathed in relief when he felt the soft quilt against his skin as he tucked in and moved around in the bed, trying to find a comfortable spot. After a moment he finally found one and was soon deep asleep.

o-0-o

As Harry was sleeping he was completely unaware of a meeting that was happening on Asgard, a meeting that would decide the future to come. A meeting between Hermóðr, Loki and Odin in the War Room of the Citadel. A place from where one could command the whole might of Asgard, plan wars to come and design plans for the future.

It was a hexagonal room with walls inscribed in hundreds of runes and with displays hovering just above their surface and showing the data necessary for any commander to keep things running smoothly. In the middle of it all was a small round table around which Odin, Loki and Hermóðr were sitting.

"War is sure, Sire, the only question is when it will happen and who will launch the first strike." Hermóðr said and Odin nodded. "I spoke with the majority of my highest commanders and we have agreed that the most likely targets are Midgard or something in its galaxy. The Chitauri are a prideful and arrogant race that doesn't accept defeat."

"And on Midgard they were beaten quite badly and now they want to have a revenge," Loki finished. "While the last time they sent only a small task force, now they might deploy majority of their forces to show how powerful they are."

"Indeed," Hermóðr nodded. "The plan that we had come up with is a simple one that should work, most of our troops and ships are now being moved to take part in the war games across the realm and we thought that with your agreement, Sire, we could organize one of them close to the border and launch a series of preemptive strikes to weaken the Chitauri."

"But not destroy them," Odin said. "And we all know that weakening them will mean that they will try to rise and strike us again the moment they see an opportunity."

"Yes," Hermóðr winced. "So the second plan is a simple one, let them attack Midgard and then strike them with all of our might and ferocity, so that they don't have a chance to react and are trying to maneuver in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Allowing us to decimate them before they have a chance to strike back."

"It can work," Loki said and smirked. "But I think that slowing them down first wouldn't be bad, we need time to prepare and get our pieces onto the chessboard's proper tiles, so some small sabotage wouldn't be unadvisable."

"What would you suggest, Your Highness?"

"Unleash the Rangers and some Valkyries onto them and wreak havoc. Blow up supply depots, storage areas, arsenals, forward bases and so on."

"It would slow them down by a lot, maybe even a few years," Hermóðr said and looked at Odin, so far silent. "What is your decision, Your Majesty?"

"You have my blessing to carry out the plan and slow them down," Odin said, his voice grave and full of power. "They need to be tempered and if they are too dumb to listen to the warnings, then they will listen to this."

With those words Odin stood up and walked out of the room, the room's massive armored doors, more actually like the doors to a vault, closing behind him. Leaving the two of them to hammer out the subtle and minor details of the plan so that it could work.

o-0-o

Warren II smirked as in the morning the Dursley's walked into his office, the moment they were inside their eyes narrowed in on Fury who was standing to the side with his trademark duster and poker expression on his face. Harry and his own son didn't get that much of their attention, even with their wings being out in the open.

"Sit down," he coldly said and indicated to the three seats waiting for them. "There are things to be discussed and without your cooperation they can be quite unpleasant for you. For the record, all of this is recorded and might be used against you."

Petunia looked as if a truck hit her, shock and surprise visible on her face, while Vernon and Dudley dumbly stared at him, unsure of the meaning of those words, or not understanding them. Which wouldn't be a huge surprise for him as he never had a very high estimation about their intelligence.

"How dare you?" Petunia finally asked, her voice a dangerous hiss. "You promised us a normal family meeting, not this."

"I didn't," he said with a smirk. "You just believed it to be a normal meeting, but it isn't or wasn't even planned to be that in the first place."

"We are leaving," Petunia said and stood up.

"You can try," he said with an amused expression on his face and glanced at Fury. "How soon do you think they would be caught? An hour?"

"Less than an hour," Fury said with a smirk. "Arrest warrants would be issued and you would be trapped. So sit down and listen to him."

Petunia looked at Fury and nodded, Warren looked at the Director of SHIELD and nodded in thanks.

"As I was about to say, I would have dealt with you far earlier than this, but there were reasons that I couldn't have done it, so it needed to wait for a moment. But now we can talk," he said and smiled dangerously. "About my cousin and your nephew, one that you should have treated properly, yet you treated him badly."

"He deserved that kind of treatment," she screeched. "He was nothing but a problem for us and he is a freak that shouldn't even live."

Harry growled, but the moment Warren glanced at him, he calmed.

"Be happy that I am dealing with you, not his father or his uncle as they would have killed you for those words. So do you admit that you abused him?"

Petunia's head whipped towards him and she narrowed her eyes. "No, we treated him the way he deserved to be treated."

"I have had enough of this," Warren said and looked at Fury. "Do you have enough reasons to get them arrested and accused of those things?"

"I have reasons, but the question is if there will be evidence to survive in court," Fury said and indicated Harry. "Will you be willing to testify against them?"

"I will be," Harry said, his voice strained and lacking any emotions.

"Good," Fury smirked, pulled out his phone and whispered few things into it. Putting it away he looked at Warren. "My agents will be here in a moment to get those three out of your house."

"Thank you," Warren smiled and looked at the Dursley's. "Do you still believe that you are above the law and that nothing will touch you?"

"You have no right to do such things," Vernon thundered. "We are proper citizens and people such as you are a reason for our issues!"

"Maybe we are not, but we certainly know how to behave," Warren said and glanced at Fury. "Could you be nice enough to find anything that can be added onto the pile of charges against them?"

"Yes," Fury said. "A lot of crimes might be found, the question is how deep you want to look, but I guess you want me to dig deep and greedily."

Warren nodded and looked at the Dursley's, who seemed to realize what was going on and that they were trapped. He was about to speak when the doors to the office open and four SHIELD agents entered the room and looked at Fury who only indicated the Dursley's. Before they had a chance to react they were wearing handcuffs and were being led out of the room.

o-0-o

It was a perfect spring day in Washington DC when a portal rippled in the air and from it Harry stepped out, followed by Loki. They exited it in front of a classical looking building with a white front and a colonnade. The pair of doors leading inside seemed to be made out of gold and was inscribed with runes, to their sides stood a pair of guards.

"The American Branch of Gringotts Bank," Loki said indicating at the building. "We could get it done in any of branch, but this is the closest one and while the British one would be better, this is far safer, as Britain isn't that safe."

"As if here it is safer." Harry said and rolled his eyes.

"Nephew, there are worse places to be than here," Loki smiled and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "So you have nothing to worry about."

Harry nodded and as they walked forward he spotted a brass plaque on the wall. It was inscribed with runes that changed into words when they walked closer to it and the words connected to form sentences.

 _Enter, stranger, but take heed  
Of what awaits the sin of greed  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
Of finding more than treasure there._

"A warning or a threat?" He asked, his gaze focused on them and a pair of guards.

"A warning," Loki said with a smile and waved his hand, opening the doors in front of them. "Nobody likes to have their gold stolen and this is a warning for thieves. However if you behave, you get what you want. Also do not speak, unless directly addressed and let me handle them, I want you to learn how to speak in a way that will convince people to do your bidding."

Harry nodded and followed his uncle who walked across a large marble chamber to a line of goblins sitting behind a counter. They were weighing gems, issuing keys and doing hundreds of other things. He used this moment to look around and saw that most of wizards that was in the room only acknowledged their presence, instead of trying to bow to him like those from Hogwarts did. It was a much desired and appreciated change as he felt more at ease, however his musings were cut short by the goblin in front of them.

"How can I and Gringotts help you on this fine day?" It asked.

"Master Goblin, I and my nephew have an interest with your bank, would it be possible for us to meet the account manager for the Potter family and to see its ledgers?" Loki asked in his smoothest voice, dripping with sweetness and warmth.

Goblin looked at them and watched them for a moment that felt like an eternity for Harry, its keen eyes trying to see into their souls, to see who they were. "It can be arranged t, I need to ask you to prove that you are a member of the Potter family as unfortunately due to your popularity in the UK many people tried to use your name to get gold."

"Of course," Loki smiled. "The usual test with blood magic?"

Goblin nodded, clearly impressed by Loki's knowledge. "Yes," it said and handed them a small knife and a sheet of parchment. "Cut your finger open and let some of your blood drip onto the parchment."

Harry nodded and made a shallow cut with the knife and watched as the droplets of blood splashed onto the sheet of parchment, when the first one touched it the blood flashed gold and started to paint lines and names on the parchment. Creating his family tree which spanned a couple of generations into the past.

Goblin looked at the parchment and his eyes widened in shock. "You are the person you claim to be, but you are also a son of Thor." It's eyes flashed to Loki. "You are the Trickster," it stated flatly. "God of Mischief and Magic."

"Among a couple of other titles," Loki nodded with a smile. "My brother would have been here in my stead, but there are matters requiring his personal attention, and besides, I'm more refined than him and able to patiently negotiate a good deal."

"Indeed, indeed," The goblin nodded, picked up a small, silver bell and rung it thrice. The sound that left it was soft and melodic. "I summoned a messenger who will take you to the Potter family account manager and if need to the vaults."

They nodded and were met by a small goblin who bowed to them and looked at them in a manner that told them to follow him. They were led through the maze of corridors behind the official part of Gringotts. They were decorated with the same expensive materials as the lobby was, but it was done more with taste and practicality in mind. After a moment they stopped in front of a pair of wooden doors and the goblin that led them knocked twice and opened them ushering them inside. "Prince Loki, Prince Harald, Account Manager Sharclaw will meet you."

"Thank you," Loki nodded. "We won't require your service any more."

The goblin nodded and with disappeared a bow, leaving them alone with the account manager. As Harry looked at him, he had a feeling that making him angry would be a stupid idea. He was a huge goblin and looked as if he could rip apart a piece of rock with his bare hands. On a desk in front of him piles of papers and books arranged in neat and even groups were laying . He smiled and looked at them. "Prince Loki, Prince Harald, may I know what do you need from me?"

Loki smiled and took a seat in one of the chairs placed in front of the desk. "The reason why we are here is frankly speaking a simple one, my nephew would like to see the state of his account and vault. Normally I wouldn't be in my brother's stead, but he has a matter of urgent business to attend to and asked me to be here in his place."

Sharclaw nodded and paused, considering those words. "Do you have anything to prove that you are here with your brother's blessing."

Loki pulled out a thin scroll and handed it to Sharclaw.

Sharclaw broke the seal and opened the letter, his eyes running over the lines of text. "It seems to be in order, so you will be given access."

"Thank you," Loki nodded with a smile. "Could I also ask you for a favor?"

"Depends on what kind of favor." Sharclaw asked. "Also how convincing you would be."

"I suggest that we talk about the price once you hear me out," Loki said and smoothed out his robe. "My nephew's godfather and a friend of my brother were unjustly imprisoned for things they didn't do, because of that they have issues with accessing their vault. Would it be possible for you to help them in this matter and allow to use their vault from another branch other than the British one?"

Sharclaw looked at Loki and with each moment his eyes were getting narrower and narrower. "Are you suggesting that his godfather has issues with accessing his vault?" Sharclaw asked indicating Harry. "As it shouldn't happen, we do not care if someone committed a crime or not, as long as he has a legitimate proof that he is the owner of a vault, he can access the vault, so I don't see what's the reason for his inability to access his vault."

"That would be in a normal situation," Loki agreed with a nod. "But let's just say that the current Ministry of Magic isn't the epitome of reason or logic and they have weird ideas. One of them is chasing the person we are speaking about, so would it be possible for him to get access through this branch?"

Sharclaw frowned and looked at Loki. "Normally, no, but due to your position and importance as well as previous favors owed to you, I think it will be a possibility."

Loki smiled at those words. "Perfect, it will make matters far simpler for us, but now let us speak about what my nephew should inherit or have inherited when James Potter died."

"Indeed, indeed," Sharclaw said and pulled out several sheets of parchment. He placed them on the table and looked at Harry. "As you are aware of or not, your family belongs to one of the richest ones in the world and is an old one, I started to work for it as an account manager for your grandfather Charlus Potter and from there I served it faithfully multiplying its riches and attempting to gain as much profit as possible." He tapped papers placed on the desk. "Here I prepared the most basic and simplest information about your family wealth and its structure."

Harry picked up the papers and his eyes widened.

 _Potter family account audit:_

 _Money placed in the vaults - $1,195,179,563_

 _Precious metals:_

 _-Vibranium - 250 kg - estimated market value, $11,000 for 1 g, worth of 250 kg is estimated to be at 2,750,000,000_

 _-Gold, silver and platinum - estimated value at $543,896,074_

 _Business investments:_

 _-Draken International - 35% of shares, 60% of votes, worth $25,927,563,896, total company value is $74,078,753,989_

 _-Worthington International - 5% of shares, 5% of votes, worth $6,456,952,741, total company value is $129,139,054,820_

 _Miscellaneous investments - $9,824,736,103_

 _Other assets (properties, cars, planes, etc) - $4,698,745,123_

 _Total value - $51,397,073,500_

Harry placed the piece of paper back on the desk and whistled quietly. "I knew that my family was rich, but being that rich is another thing."

Sharclaw laughed, his laughter loud and rumbling. "I assure you it is true, I personally suggested a lot of those investments to your grandfather and father. If you accept the offer I will be managing your accounts for as long as you will desire, Gringotts normally takes 5% of income from an account in interest, but due to your long family history and the state of the account we take only 3% in interest."

Harry glanced at Loki who nodded with a smile. "Take it, it's a generous offer, not many are willing to make such."

"I will accept it," Harry said and he saw Sharclaw smile.

"Once you become an adult on Asgard I would like to meet with you so that we can finish all of the formalities regarding your family account and properties." Sharclaw said and placed a small golden key on the desk. "Take it and guard it viciously, it can be used by you to access any of your accounts wherever you are."

"I will," Harry said and slipped it into one of pockets, the heavy metal weighing it down.

"That would be everything, thank you for your services, Account Manager Sharclaw," Loki said and motioned for Harry to follow him, when they were outside of the office he looked at Harry. "Not the worst performance from you, now let's get you to the Institute."

A portal opened in front of them and they stepped into it, disappearing from Gringotts.

o-0-o

Harry stood on the terrace of the Xavier's Institute For Gifted Youngsters and smiled as it was almost the beginning of May and the end of the term was soon approaching. Even if it was approaching, it was covered by the wonderful weather that had arrived – plenty of sun and almost no clouds. Even if the weather was beautiful, it was unable to put to rest the typhoon swirling inside of him, even if the Dursley's trial went swiftly and they were in prison, while Dudley landed in a youth detention center, it woke up a lot of bad memories in him.

"When will you be returning to Asgard?" Rahne asked. "You are weirdly silent recently and you are ignoring us."

"Sorry about that," he said and smiled briefly, but it was a tired and weak smile. "But the last few weeks hit me hard and to answer your questions, when the term ends, but I will be back here around the second week of August. Warren mentioned something about a certain place and two weeks away from the world and chaos of it with me, you, him, Danielle, Bobby, Jean-Paul, Jean, Carol, Illyana, Piotr and Kitty."

"Sounds nice and I think that I know what it is," she said and smiled. "You should enjoy it, quite a lot."

"Thanks," he said and sighed. "I need rest as those months opened a lot of my wounds."

"The trial?" she asked softly.

"The trial," he nodded. "I feel somewhat at ease knowing that they are finally in jail, but it unsettled me and now I have flashbacks of memories from those years. Which are nothing pleasant, sure there are a few nice ones, but the rest is ugly and I want to forget about them as soon as possible."

"You know that you should focus on the future and let the past settle on it's own and that brooding over it won't give you much of anything?"

"I know," he said and looked at her. "It's just hard not to think."

"What if you didn't have an opportunity to think?"

"Have fun as a wolf?"

"Yes," she smiled and changed into a wolf that looked at him, expectation in it's eyes.

"I guess that I need to do it," he said and changed into his own wolf and chased her into the woods. Being in animal form usually allowed him to ignore some of the more advanced thoughts and could focus only on what he liked and enjoyed.

o-0-o

"How soon will you be coming back?" Warren asked as he looked around Harry's and Bobby's room, most of the things were already packed and only some clothes and books still laid around.

"As I told you, after the second week of August," Harry said as he threw his last few things into the bag. "I wouldn't mind sooner, but I need to keep up with my studies on Asgard and there is also my birthday coming, which means a party or two and spending time with friends."

"So you won't have a break from studying, will you?" Warren asked, some slight amusement in his voice.

"Yes and no," Harry said and sighed. "Maybe a week or two after my arrival and some more around my birthday, but other than that no."

"Poor you," Warren chuckled. "I envy the amount of power and influence you have, but not the amount of things you need to learn."

"It's not that bad," Harry smiled weakly. "Just really tiring and exhausting, so that's why I was so happy about your suggestion."

"So that you can relax and recharge for a bit?"

"Yes and do it in a more peaceful environment," Harry said and sat down on his bed. "Maybe Ulf, Hrolf and Atalanta will be able to come with me."

"It wouldn't be bad," Warren said and fished out a small necklace with a silver X inside of a golden circle. "Banshee was supposed to give it to you, but he couldn't so he asked me to do it."

"What's that?" Harry asked as he caught and looked at it. "It looks almost the same as our normal necklace."

"It's an X-Men version of it, it means that you are treated like one of us," Warren smiled. "Congratulations dear cousin, you earned it."

"Thanks," Harry said as he put it on. "So where do we meet?"

"Here. It will be easier than somewhere else," Warren said and looked at him. "You are leaving soon?"

"Yes," Harry said and glanced at the ceiling. "Heimdall, if you could open the Bifrost."

"Don't get killed," Warren said as he chastely embraced Harry, who was almost immediately enveloped by the Bifrost and whisked away to Asgard.

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

Dudley's behavior - Vernon is uncouth to say the least and monkey see, monkey do, so he will be similar to his father and Carol Danvers can make people with a far bigger degree of self-control drool at her sight.

Harry's sexuality - you may burn me once you read it - in Norse myths gods change shape as they wish to and gender too, Greek gods too and there is a problem of their longevity, if you live for thousands of years boredom might appear. Also in Greek myths gods flirted with both genders - Ganymede, Hyacinth and few others.

Worth of Harry's vault - his family is supposed to be a member of the Hellfire Club, the single organization that gathers the richest, the most powerful and the most influential. How this corporation grew up, I will say simply wars and conflicts for last century or so. Vibranium is a thing for you to wonder about.

Reviews:

 _Kitsune Tora_ \- she was human, but Odin can make anybody an Æsir, it costs him a lot of power and forces him to sleep, but he can do it and she is supposed to be wife of Thor, so it would be rather natural that he gave her a body of an Æsir and magic comes with it.

 _TimothyB_ \- he will, but there is a bigger catastrophe coming towards him, one which was suggested by Fury and few other people.


	32. Calm I

**A/N - Holidays are here, aren't they? Harry has some adventures ahead of them and an opportunity to get his hands dirty and ends up rattling a lot of things. Read and Review.**

 **Shout-out to darkoraclegirl for allowing me to use Jarl from Loki's Family.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Harry smiled as he stepped out of the Bifrost and arrived on Asgard, it felt good to be home and since his arrival all those years ago he considered Asgard as his home, not Earth. "Welcome home, Your Highness," Heimdall said in his deep rumbling voice.

"Thank you," Harry said with a bow of his head.

He quickly walked across the Bifrost and towards the city and the Citadel. Even after all of those years spent here he was still struck by the beauty of Asgard and how pristine it was, there was no pollution here, no waste and it was like a life in a paradise. He smiled as he saw a couple of seagulls pass above his head and dive towards the water in an attempt to catch their meal. As he approached the city he could hear its usual noise and bustle, people hurried to and from their homes, to buy some kind of ware or another or to meet their friends or acquaintances.

When he passed through the mithril gates of the city he looked towards the horizon and the massive structure of the Citadel, visible in the distance. A building that was the home of his family and the beacon of power inside the Nine Realms. He strolled through the city and saw a lot of people bow their heads as he passed, but he didn't pay any attention to it. He wanted to have some rest and maybe hang out with his friends in the evening.

o-0-o

Harry heard his chamber's doors open as he finished unpacking the bags he had brought with himself from Earth, he looked up and saw Jane walk towards him. "Mother," he said, some respect in his voice.

"Harry," she said with a nod and sat down on his bed. "We need to talk about a few things that you should know."

He looked at her and saw that she seemed happier about something and as he felt her magic it was a bit unstable. _No, not unstable,_ he thought, _erratic and chaotic would be more fitting._ "About what?" He asked as he sat down on the bed, watching carefully not to do so her dress.

"Things that your father already knows about and you should also know," she said. "I am pregnant."

Harry looked at her and blinked a couple of times, pregnancy was a rare thing among Æsir and it usually happened once per few dozens of years. "You are joking, aren't you?"

"No, I am not," she said. "We had decided that some siblings for you wouldn't be bad and I also wanted to have some children of my own. I love you like my own, but you are still not my son by blood."

"I guess that congratulations are in order," Harry said and smiled. "You know that you were a better mother figure for me than Petunia ever was?"

"Yes," she said and smiled. "I know that, and I will always treat as if you were my son." Her gaze flickered to his halfway unpacked bags. "I will let you unpack those things, but first I will tell you something your father asked me to tell you. You have this week to get used to being here and after that you are expected to resume your training."

"No rest for my poor body?" Harry asked, chuckling a bit.

"You know how important those studies are for you and you know that you can't skip them."

"Yeah," Harry said with a roll of his eyes.

"Good boy," Jean said and smoothing her dress stood up. "I will leave you to unpack and get things organized, but you know where to find me if you need to."

"Not that I will," Harry said as he watched her leave the room.

When she left him alone he went back to unpacking his bags, he knew he could call the servants to get it done, but he was always taught to know how to pack and unpack quickly so that he wouldn't have issues with travelling fast with only a small amount of luggage. It that was usually required during solo hunts or in small groups where speed was crucial and the rest didn't matter too much. Asgard wasn't a realm where there was a large number of personal servants that was so common on Olympus or in other realms, no, here servants were in a limited number. He quickly finished putting things where they should be, grabbed a fresh set of clothes and walked into his bathroom to change. After he dressed into warm brown breeches with embroidery along the hem, a short-sleeved red shirt with golden embroidery and tied his hair into a ponytail, he walked onto the terrace.

Looking around he saw the realm of Asgard in all of its beauty and glory, the graceful buildings, the lush green gardens. the parks and the blue sky that made it look like a paradise and earned one of it's uncountable names - the Realm of Gods. He smiled when he looked at the Academy, it's massive form floating above the ocean, a silent reminder of how dangerous Asgard could be. It also made him think about Illyana who was inside it and reminded him that it wouldn't be a bad idea to meet her and talk for a while.

Stepping onto the railing of his balcony he opened his wings and jumped. His wings almost immediately caught lift and propelled him through the air, each move moving him closer and closer to the Academy. He smiled when he saw Illyana walk mindlessly along the edge of one of the many terraces placed on top of the arms of the Academy.

o-0-o

Illyana almost jumped up when she heard something fly closely behind her, when she turned around she saw Harry standing there with a smile on his face. "How did you get here?" She asked as balls of energy appeared in her hands .

"Flew," he said with a mischievous smirk. "I can fly and you should know it. Also aren't you happy to finally see me."

"I am," she said and launched herself at him. "I missed you."

"Not only you," he said as he felt her squeeze his ribs. "I have ribs and they would enjoy being in one piece."

"Sorry," she said and released him. "It's just that I missed you and it's getting hectic now at the Academy."

"Exams and trials?"

"Yes," she said and sighed. "Trials are easy as it is just usage of magic, but exams..."

"But exams are mainly about theory and it can be hard," Harry finished for her.

"How?"

"You can thank my uncle for that, he decided that even if I won't be attending the Academy, I should face the same kinds of tests and exams you are facing. Just more creative and focused only on the fields I was taught."

"How much more creative?"

"You don't want to know," he said and smiled. "At least I can do this." Above his palm appeared a small flicker of fire.

"Did you just..."

"Summon flame from nothing?"

"Yeah," she said, some awe in her voice. "I can do it, but it takes me a lot of time."

"As it takes everybody that has just started to learn magic." Harry smiled reassuringly. "Give yourself a few more months and you should be able to do it as easily as I can."

"Aren't you supposed to be summoning lightning and thunder?" she asked and looked at the clear sky, with not a single spec of cloud.

"I know that I can," he said and added with a grin. "Energy blasts or runes are nicer than lightning bolts or thunders, also Mjolnir strengthens my father's magic and control over weather."

"Even if magic and all of this is enjoyable, I highly doubt that you are here because of that," she finally said and saw him nod.

"Did you have an opportunity to see thee more enjoyable parts of the city?"

"When was I supposed to do that with all of the studying thrown at us?" she frowned. "I mean I wake up, listen to those lectures, spar for a few hours, study for a few more, spend an hour or two in the library, drag myself back to the dorm and fall asleep completely exhausted and that's most of my time."

"But today you have some free time and tomorrow as well, right?"

"Yeah..."

"So what would you say about having some fun? I'm paying as you aren't going to be the only invited person."

She looked at him for a moment considering if he was joking and after that if it was worth to accept his offer, it was a tempting one. A really tempting one. After a moment a wide smile appeared on her lips and she nodded. "You convinced me, but who else is coming?"

"Ulf, Atalanta and Hrolf," Harry said and looked towards the Citadel. "Do you know how to get to the entrance of the Citadel?"

"Your uncle taught me well before I was taught any actual magic here," she smiled and showed him a pendant with a couple of runes inscribed on it. "So the answer is, yes, I know how to get there."

"So we will meet there an hour before sunset, early enough to avoid the biggest crowd and find a decent place without paying more than the price of a small palace" he said and grinned. "Until then, have fun studying."

She growled and wanted to punch him, only to find him flying away, she was able to see his black wings beating in the air as he flew from the Academy and towards the Citadel. With each passing moment becoming smaller and smaller.

o-0-o

Harry almost winced when he felt Ulf's bear-like hug whatever air remained went out of his lungs, he knew that his friend was always overly enthusiastic, but this was too much even for him. "Air," he wheezed. "I need air."

"Are you getting soft?" Ulf asked as he released Harry from the hug.

"No," Harry said as he slowly breathed and checked if all of his ribs were in the proper place. "It's just that you surprised me and I didn't expect you to break all of my ribs."

Ulf looked at him and his lips curved up into a smile. "You have something planned for today, don't you?"

"Go to a tavern or two and have some fun," Harry said and looked at Ulf. "Are you coming?"

"I would need to be insane to turn down this offer," Ulf chuckled. "So, yes, I am coming with you."

"Good," Harry smiled. "It would be boring without you, Hrolf, Atalanta and Illyana are also coming and I want to relax."

"Meat and ale?"

"Yes, did you expect something else?"

"No, not from you as you always think about eating or drinking."

"I'm not that bad," Harry laughed and threw back his head. "You are the one that eats almost constantly."

"I'm still growing," Ulf said and looked at Harry. "Also you seem to be taller an inch or something."

"Someone needs to," Harry laughed as he playfully punched Ulf in the shoulder. "Are you coming or do you expect the wind to carry you through the city?"

"I'm coming," the older boy said as he picked up his saxe knife and slid it into its scabbard.

Harry let Ulf join him before he walked onto the street and from there they walked to the entrance of the Citadel where they were supposed to meet. When they got there, it took him a moment to recognize Hrolf who grew up a couple of inches and was towering over them as he was standing almost at seven feet, also a short, uneven beard was covering his face and there were several new tattoos adorning his arms.

"Is it Hrolf?" Harry asked as he looked at his friend and son of Volstagg.

"It is me," Hrolf said and Harry steeled himself for another bear hug that could squeeze his ribs and break a couple of them. "You seem to be a lot smaller than you used to be."

"Or someone grew up," Harry said as Hrolf hugged him and squeezed almost all of the air from his lungs. "Do you need to always attempt to break my poor ribs?"

"Didn't you get used to our traditional greetings?"

"My body didn't, I did," Harry said with a smile. "Good to see you, I kind of missed you."

"Only kind of?" Hrolf growled.

Harry was about to say something when he heard Atalanta approach them with Illyana following her, both of them were dressed in clothes similar to him and the rest of his friends. Comfortable breeches in dark color and a shirt in some brighter color, Atalanta had a similar saxe knife on her belt, while Illyana settled for a more graceful dagger. As he looked at them, he saw that they had changed. Illyana was a couple of inches taller and her hair were now braided into quite a short ponytail, while Atalanta was more confident than she used to be, her pitch black hair were braided into a simple braid that fell to around middle of her back. She had threads of gold and silver woven into her hair, which made them shine whenever she moved. "Boys, you can kill yourself when you are in the wrestling ring or at a later date. Now we wouldn't mind some enjoyment and spending time in a more peaceful atmosphere."

"Of course," Harry said as he saw her eyes darken, as if in a warning to behave. "So shall we go?"

"We shall," she said and kissed him on the cheek. "I missed you, Harald James," she whispered.

Harry felt warmth spread across his cheeks and was very, very grateful for the fact that his face was hidden in a shadow cast by the building. "Ladies first, " he said with a bow in her direction.

She smiled and walked past him, he let her get a bit ahead of him and he joined her. They walked through the streets of the city, heading into a part he rarely visited, at least in the past as he was too young to be let on his own into it. But now he was mature enough to survive there and enjoy himself, so he was going to spend a lot more time there.

Looking around he quickly saw that decor was different than it was in the rest of the city and it was less grand, but far more inviting to stay here. Buildings were mostly built out of wood and stone, with a few small exceptions where golden metal was used, so common anywhere else on Asgard. The way they were built made everybody feel more at ease as there was no feeling that everything around them was imposing and large, trying to show that it was the best.

He blushed lightly when he saw a pair of girls that were more naked than dressed smile at them and giggle when they noticed his stare. Even if he wasn't paying them any attention, they looked good with their hair with threads of gold and silver weaved into them and toned bodies. He shook his head and focused on the road ahead.

"Any suggestion of a good place to choose?" Harry asked as he looked at Hrolf. "After all you probably spend a lot of time here."

Hrolf looked around for a moment and pointed at a large tavern built mostly out of wood and stone with the famous golden material, the trademark sign of Asgard, being only in its foundations. "If I had to pick, that is probably the best place if you don't want to deal with unwanted guests, though brawls are common."

"Where aren't they?" Harry asked as he entered the building and looked around.

The floor was made out of roughly hewn wood and was covered in furs of various large animals, notably bears and wolves. From it rose stone pillars that supported the ceiling and they were covered in various scenes from the history of Asgard. Tables were placed in small groups or alone and as Harry's gaze ran over the room it settled on one of them by one of the large windows and a fireplace to the side.

The moment they took their seats they were approached by one of serving maids, who looked at them and her eyes widened when she recognized who was in the group. "How may I help you, Your Highness?" She asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Hrolf?" Harry glanced at his friend. "What would you suggest?"

"The usual," Hrolf said. "Ale for them, mead for me and plenty of meat and bread."

"Of course," she said and with a bow left to get things that were ordered.

"I can see why you like this place," Ulf said, looking at Hrolf. "She isn't the worst girl I have seen."

"No, she's not," Hrolf nodded with a smile. "Also this tavern is generally out of the way and you can have some peace."

"Which is good," Harry said and looked outside when someone's body was slammed into the window, crashed through it, and landed on their table. "The hell was that?"

"Probably a brawl," Hrolf said with a shrug as he lifted the body and hurled it through the remains of the window. "They happen here all the time and this one is probably a bit more vicious."

"We might as well as join," Ulf said and stood up. Harry looked at him, but then nodded and joined him. Hrolf looked at them and also stood up.

"I don't want you to get killed and someone needs to keep you out of trouble," he grumbled.

"We don't need a babysitter," Harry growled as he walked out and was forced to dodge a knife that flew past him. It also gave him a couple of precious seconds to see what was happening on the street.

In the middle of it was standing a boy or teen with long dirty blond hair and growled at the small group of teens and boys that tried to attack him. Harry's eyes widened when he lashed out with his fists and knocked out one of those that attacked him.

"He is good," Harry said and saw Hrolf nod.

"Lacks proper training, but has right instincts and knows how to use any advantage presented to him."

"Shall we help him?" Ulf asked as he twirled a saxe knife.

"Yes, but just fists," Harry said. "Most of them will run away when they notice our presence."

Harry looked around and noticed that most of people that were walking through the street tried to stay as close to the walls of the buildings on the other side as possible. Also excluding the occasional curse or cry of pain it was completely silent. The sole teen was keeping at bay his opponents, but it was obvious that he would lose, there were too many of them.

Harry glanced at Hrolf and after a nod from him joined the fight, he slammed into the nearest one and with a powerful kick sent him crashing against the wall of the tavern. The body slammed into the stone and slid onto the street. It was a moment when everybody that took part in the brawl realized that they weren't alone and there was a new group coming.

"So who is going to be the next one that ends up on a wall?" Ulf asked with a smirk as he crackled his knuckles. "You interrupted our meal and now we are unhappy. Good kick, Harry."

"I wasn't even aiming that well," Harry said as he sheepishly smiled and looked at the group that attacked the lone teen. "How fair is it to fight, what was it, twelve to one or eleven to one? Maybe we should even out the odds a bit?" He asked with a glance at Hrolf.

"With pleasure," Hrolf grinned and walked forward. "As our friend said, you interrupted our meal and we don't like it, so someone is going to get beaten. No, not you," he added when he saw lone teen flinch and move away. "We might as well as help you, we are bored and need some entertainment. Also you fight good and it impressed my friend, so lean back and enjoy the show."

"Who are you?" He warily asked.

"Who we are is less important than teaching those idiots about starting a fight in the middle of the street," Hrolf said.

He slammed his fist into the stomach of one of the younger boys and the moment the boy bent over from the force of the strike Hrolf grabbed him and lifted into the air before throwing into the rest of his group, too shocked to react to the new turn of events. They expected a lone person, not a group, especially a group that knew how to fight. They looked between each other and later at him and Harry and Ulf standing behind and decided to turn around and ran.

"Who are you?" Hrolf asked as he placed his hand on the loner's shoulder. "I won't do any harm to you and my friends also won't."

"Jarl, Jarl Brantson," he said. "Thank you for your help."

"No problem," Hrolf said. "Want to join us in that tavern?"

Jarl was silent for a moment, but then nodded. "I guess that I don't really have a choice, after all you just helped me deal with them," he indicated two unmoving bodies that laid on the street. "I would have probably dealt with them on my own..."

"But we have helped you," Hrolf said. "So what do you say?"

"I will come with you."

"Good," Harry said, joining them. "As I won't mind some more company that I actually can enjoy."

"Who are you?" Jarl asked and then his eyes widened when he saw massive wings sprouting from Harry's back. "You are a son of Thor."

"Yes," Harry said and shrugged. "But I usually don't care about that, so don't even think about bowing to me or anything like that."

"Good job," Hrolf whispered into Harry's ear. "You just put him at ease, he is an orphan if I remember correctly, his father was one of my father's vassals before he killed another and was executed for it and his son was left alone. Dad mentioned to me that there was something fishy about the whole thing, so talk gently about it."

Harry nodded and looked at Hrolf. "I know how he feels, you know about my past and how bad it was. So I know how to talk without opening too many wounds."

"Good," Hrolf said as they entered into the tavern and took their places. He snapped his fingers and the maid ran towards them. "For one more person, the usual."

"Of course, sir, it will be done," she said before disappearing.

Harry looked around the table and smiled when tankards full of ale appeared, he sipped some and nodded approvingly, it was rich and bitter, the way he liked it. "If the ale is anything to go by, you chose a good place."

"It is as good as ale gets, maybe even slightly better," Hrolf said. "There is an advantage of having older brothers that know the city well."

"And all of the good spots," Ulf added with a smile. "It reminded me to annoy mine about their knowledge of the city and good spots to have fun."

Harry muted out conversations of his friends and focused on Jarl, he was almost sure that he had heard from his father or grandfather something about Jarl, he just wasn't sure what it was. He tapped Hrolf's shoulder to get his attention. "I will go and talk with Jarl outside, I have a rough idea what is going on with him, but I need something more to fix some things."

"It won't hurt him and if his father gets exonerated, he will get his estates," Hrolf said and smiled. "I don't know why I trust you."

"My charms?" Harry joked, stood up and looked at Jarl. "Can we talk outside?"

"Of course, Your Highness," Jarl said, making Harry sigh.

"What did I say about using honorifics?"

"It's a habit," Jarl said as they walked outside. He faced Harry and Harry could see it in his eyes that something reminded him about his past. "So what do you want to talk about?"

"Your past," Harry said and shrugged. "I know that there was something more to that murder, I know that from many sources but not enough to be sure that there is something going on. If you don't want to tell me, don't, but it will make things easier for you."

"What do you mean easier, Your Highness?"

"Hrolf is Volstagg's son and according to him, your father's title and estate are held in trust, so the moment he is exonerated, well, it is yours. Also not many know it, but well, I'm half-blood Æsir and my childhood was probably as bad as yours or even worse."

Harry briefly smiled when be saw Jarl focus his eyes on him, as well as some of the ice behind them melt.

"So believe me, I'm doing it out of goodness of my heart and you know how to fight and it would be a shame if your talent went to waste," Harry said and shrugged. "I won't force you, but I can help you and I'm not my uncle to leave traps for you and it would mean that you would have a warm bed, a nice house and everything you would need and you wouldn't need to deal with this group." He indicated at group of petty thugs that was lurking around.

"What's the catch?" Jarl asked. "As I know that you have a reason behind it."

"I don't have any reason behind it," Harry said and smiled. "I'm doing it because I can and I want. You don't need to give me an answer now or even today."

"I will accept your offer, Your Highness," Jarl said. "I have a debt towards you and your friends for helping me and I need to repay it."

"Perfect." Harry smiled as he looked at the tavern. "I think that the meal is about to arrive and we can talk as we eat."

"I like this idea," Jarl said and followed Harry back into the tavern.

" _What were you talking about?"_ Atalanta asked in Ancient Greek as he sat down to her side. _"He seems more happy about something and you know that I'm good at reading people."_

" _His past and a few more things, I will tell you later,"_ Harry said and looked at her. "Now I want to eat something good and talk about less disturbing things."

"Such as?" She asked and corrected her braid. "You usually are far less subtle."

"Enjoy the time and have fun," Harry said and saw some amusement in her eyes. "What? The fact that I'm usually less carefree doesn't mean that I don't know how to have fun."

She smiled and chuckled a bit, making him arch an eyebrow. "I wouldn't call you carefree, stupid yes, but not carefree."

"Maybe if you say so," Harry said and smiled when he saw some of the food arrive.

Maids came with giant steaming pieces of meat and piles of other things accompanying them. It made him realize how hungry he was and reached out for it. He hissed as he touched it, it was hot, but he ignored the sensation and bit his teeth into it. He thought that he was used to good food, but this here was even better than the one served in the Citadel, or maybe it was simply different. "It's good," he said between one bite and another.

"That's why I chose it," Hrolf said. "Also the lack of suspicious customers is nice."

"So what are your plans for these few months?" Atalanta asked.

"Have fun and relax," Harry said and shrugged. "Not much else at least for now."

"Have fun and relax," Illyana said with a faraway voice. "Say that at the Academy and you will get thrown out of the window, head first."

"I thought that you were hardworking," Atalanta chuckled and the threads of gold in her hair flickered in the light, making Harry look at her.

"She is supposed to be," Harry said with a smile. "So I don't know what's her problem."

"Maybe because you are a lazy slowpoke that doesn't know how to work hard?" Illyana asked. "So maybe you should stay silent."

Harry was about to say something, when he heard, no, felt a low growl to his right. He looked there and saw Ulf look at them. "Can we not murder each other?" he asked. "I want to enjoy my meal and you can murder each other at a later date."

"Sorry," Harry said and hid his face behind a tankard.

"So did you find or meet any pretty girl on Midgard?" Hrolf asked and Harry could feel everybody's gaze focus on him.

"One or two that I train with from time to time," he said and shrugged. "Not that we lack in this department here."

"Wise words," Atalanta said as she looked at him. "I wouldn't like to injure you too much, but now you don't deserve it, then you did, but not now."

"Thank you, Your Highness," he said with a mocking bow of his head.

He spent a few more hours with his friends eating, drinking and talking about last year and the things he had missed. As he walked back into the Citadel he felt tired, yet happy and really sated. He looked at Jarl who was also walking by his side and a faint smile appeared on his lips, even if Jarl was rough on the outside, he opened up after some time and now was far less afraid of being alone with Harry.

"In the morning I will try to see what I can learn about that trial and investigation," Harry said as they entered into his family wing of the Citadel, he saw Jarl flinch and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Relax, you are with me and you can stay here as long as you wish or want to."

Jarl looked at him and nodded after a moment. Harry walked through a long corridor and into his enormous set of chambers. "The guest bedroom is there," he said, indicating to one of the doors to the right. "Catch some sleep as tomorrow won't start late," he said as his lips curled up into a smile.

"I wouldn't mind some rest," Jarl said and bowed his head. "Thank you, Your Highness."

"Geez," Harry sighed. "You will keep using it towards me?"

"Someone needs to," Jarl said and laughed. "Good night, Your Highness."

"Good night," Harry said and retreated into his own bedroom to get some precious sleep. Tomorrow would require a lot of energy from him and now he was lacking a lot of it.

o-0-o

On the next day it took Harry a really long time to fully wake up and get up, he did it when the sun sun came through the window of his room and forced him to get up as the light didn't let him sleep. He quickly washed himself, dressed in more presentable clothes and with _Tyrfing_ on his belt he walked out of the room.

Freki and Geri fell into place at his sides, their amber eyes focused on Jarl when he emerged from his room. "Easy," Harry whispered as he placed his hands on their heads. "He is a friend."

"Who are they?" Jarl asked, instinctively reaching for a knife he had on his belt. "They are too big to be normal wolves."

"Freki and Geri," Harry said and Jarl's eyes widened. "Yes, they were grandfather's, now they are mine."

"Cool," he said. "So where are we going?"

"The Archives, if any full records are at the Citadel they will be there," Harry said and shrugged. "My grandfather stores a lot of things, some have use and some not, but there is everything."

"Sounds boring," Jarl said, making Harry laugh. "What? Did I say something funny?"

"No," Harry said and looked at Jarl. "It's just that you are similar to Ulf, he also doesn't want to spend time among dusty books."

"I didn't have much time to spend between them," Jarl quietly said and Harry looked at him. "Mother died when I was two years old and father was executed when I was seven and after that I landed in an orphanage and you should know that murderers or their families aren't liked."

"No, they are not," Harry agreed with a wince. "Can you tell me how it happened?"

Jarl was silent for a moment. "I'm not sure yet, I'm not sure if I trust you enough. I know that you want to help me, but first I need to trust you more to speak about it, those are painful memories."

Harry stopped walking and looked at Jarl. "You don't need to tell me about painful memories, I have more than a couple of them on my own and I would happily erase them if I could."

"You have?" Jarl asked.

"Yes, I have," Harry said quietly and looked at Jarl, his green eyes meeting Jarl's blue eyes. "My guardians abused me and didn't treat well and I spent seven years in their care, seven bloody years that I should have spent with my family."

Jarl looked at him and Harry wondered if his new friend was going to believe him. Finally Jarl nodded. "I can tell that you are speaking the truth, but it is hard to believe."

"Yes, so will you be willing to tell me about that day? As there is something fishy about the whole thing and even if I look at the reports I won't be able to guess what the missing piece is."

"Fine," Jarl said and Harry looked at him. "I saw the whole thing, yet my testimony was ignored, because they claimed that I was a child."

Harry blinked few times and looked at Jarl. "That makes matters a lot easier," he said with a wide grin. "Since there is evidence ready as they needed to write down what you had said, it means that it is in the Archives and easy to find."

"So what does it mean for me?"

"That it will be done in a couple of hours or days, not weeks," Harry said as he resumed his quick walk, this time with more purpose to it.

The Royal Archives of Asgard were a massive complex of chambers filling a couple of the lower levels of the Citadel, inside of them a copy of every document issued by the Royal Chancery and all of the testimonies and sentences from trials that took place in the realm of Asgard was stored. Harry took a deep breath as he stopped in front of it's massive doors and placed his hand on their surface. For a moment nothing happened, but then they started to slowly open and reveal the massive chambers hidden behind them. He walked inside and stopped in front of one of the consoles with a holographic display hanging above it. He typed a few things on the console and with a frown looked at the results. "What's your father surname?" He asked with a glance at Jarl. "Somehow the name Brandt is a rather popular one, even if it is rather peculiar."

"Gunnarson."

Harry nodded and typed a couple more things and smiled. "Here it is," he said and looked at Jarl. "I know where it is and I was right with it being fishy."

"Huh?"

"What do you know about Rangers?" Harry asked and Jarl looked at him.

"Black cloaks?"

"Same one," Harry said with a grimace as he walked between the shelves, looking for the thing he needed to find. "Also known as Reapers and a few other names, the point is that I think your father might have been one and whoever was murdered by him wanted something regarding his past."

"So why did they ignore my testimony?" Jarl asked and Harry looked at him. "I mean, it doesn't make much sense."

"I don't know," Harry said and stopped in front of one of hundreds of shelves and pulled out a thick folder. He looked at it and nodded. "Since it's done, the next thing," he said and looked around and tried to spot distortions in the air. "Muminn, be a good and helpful Raven and show yourself."

Jarl looked at him as if he was crazy, but Harry ignored it and focused completely on the distortion he was feeling. His feelings were right as it shimmered and out of it appeared Muminn. "What do you want?" Muminn asked as he landed on Harry's shoulder and bit his claw into the fabric making Harry wince. "Go to your grandfather?"

"That could work," Harry said and paused for a moment. "Or what would you suggest, you know the law far better than I do."

"I would suggest the same thing," Muminn said. "As it is a slick thing and probably that judge will lose his head for being a stupid person that doesn't know the law. Thus while you have the power to give those orders, it would be easier if your grandfather did it as he is the king and nobody can attempt to undermine his orders, I mean they can try, but we both know how it will work out."

"Yeah," Harry said with a smirk. "So can you be a good bird and use your magic to move us across the Citadel?"

Muminn gave Harry a look, but Harry ignored it and glared back. After a moment the raven croaked and nodded. Harry felt something prickle his hair on the back of his neck and the next moment they were in the corridor outside of Odin's study.

"How did he do it?" Jarl asked as he looked with wide eyes at Muminn.

"Magic," Harry said and shrugged. "If I was alone I would do it, but I didn't learn how to carry a second person with me."

"One more person isn't hard," Muminn said and Harry glared at the raven. "The fact that I live for five thousand years means something, kid, so don't glare at me and show me some respect. Also I know magic as good as your uncle does or maybe even better, so you can listen to someone that knows the subject."

"Sorry," Harry said and looked at the doors leading into his grandfather's study. He opened them and walked through, Jarl half a step behind. "Grandfather, we need to talk," Harry said when Odin looked at him.

"About what?" Odin asked, his sole eye focusing on Harry who didn't even flinch and then moved to Jarl. "I see that you have brought someone with you, someone I don't recognize."

"His name is Jarl Brantson," Harry said and dropped onto the desk the folder he had retrieved. "His father murdered someone and was sentenced to death, while his testimony was mysteriously ignored."

"Which shouldn't even be considered as a thing to be done," Odin growled and opened the folder. His sole eye quickly moving over the neat lines of runes. He looked up and Harry could see a cold fury burn in the eye of his grandfather. "Guards!"

Two warriors rushed into the room, swords half drawn from their scabbards. "Sire, did you summon us?"

"Yes," Odin said, wrote a thing on a piece of paper and handed it to one of them. "Find him and bring him here, use violence if need be." Guards left the room as if they were ghosts, not making a single sound. "Sit down," he commanded and looked at Harry and Jarl. "It will be fixed as someone was bribed and it was done badly."

"Bribed?" Harry arched an eyebrow. "By whom?"

"If I'm right it is my foolish half-brother and he didn't even do it right. I always knew he was a foolhardy one, but this...," Odin said and shook his head. "But that is for your uncle and cousin to find out. Jarl, I can't return your father to the land of the living, but weregild will be paid to you once you reach the age of majority and until now you will be my ward."

Jarl was silent for a moment, but then he slowly nodded. "I understand, Your Majesty and I accept, Your Majesty."

Odin nodded and looked at Harry. "Show him where his room is going to be and after that introduce him to Sif as she is overseeing the ward's as well as yours."

"Of course," Harry nodded, stood up and looked at Jarl in a manner that told to follow him out of the room. "Whoever your father was, he was someone more important than it seemed," he whispered to Jarl as they walked out. "And that judge will have an interesting future."

"Why do you think so?"

"Oh, you will learn in due time," Harry said and patted Jarl on the shoulder. "Now since you are my grandfather's ward you will have a lot more reasons to spend time with me and learn a couple of things."

"Are you sure?" Jarl asked and made Harry chuckle.

"I know when someone is good when I see it and you impressed Hrolf during that brawl which is more than enough for me," Harry said. "Now let's get you settled in and then you can start polishing your abilities."

Jarl smiled and Harry spent the next couple of hours showing him around and after that spared with him, focusing on wrestling and martial arts which ended with both of them sporting more than a dozen of bruises from getting beaten, kicked, thrown and slammed into the walls of the room.

o-0-o

Jarl entered his rooms after the training session and looked around, he never expected to see such things again, for the last few years he was happy to have a night of sleep without any interruptions or no issues with petty thugs and bullies. Now he was a ward of His Majesty, which meant being given the same education as any of his family members and access to the very best the Kingdom had to offer as well as an opportunity to get high positions at court or among the ranks of military.

He entered his bedroom and stripped out of his clothes, throwing the leather protections to the side and then removing all of his clothes that were soaked with his sweat. He was too tired to put them orderly, so he simply left them strewn across the floor. He breathed out in relief when he didn't feel sweaty fabric touch his body and walked into the bathroom where he eagerly slipped into the warm bath that was awaiting him. He hissed when he felt the water touch his skin. "Life can be good, life can be really good," he said to himself as he laid there.

o-0-o

Harry smiled as he and his friends sat around one of the tables inside the same tavern where they first met Jarl, who during those two weeks changed and his dirty blonde hair got less dirty and more golden, his clothes showed that he was getting over his past as well. While they weren't as richly covered in embroidery as Harry's were, in quality there was no difference between them.

"So you are returning to Midgard for the last two weeks of Midgardian August and you can take some friends with you," Atalanta slowly said and looked at him. "Are you going to divulge who they are going to be?"

"Maybe." he smiled mysteriously and sipped his ale. "I can tell you that they will come from the people seated at this table, but I might not be sure."

"Wiseass," she muttered and sipped some wine from her mug. She blew a strand of hair out of her eyes and looked at him. Threads of gold and silver in her hair shining lightly. "So could you be more precise as otherwise I might ask Hrolf to bash your head against the wall and keep you still while I probe your mind?"

"You wouldn't do it, would you?" Harry asked and paled a bit as he realized that she was serious.

"You are a deceitful one," Hrolf said and Harry looked at him. "I mean, you started to play this game, not I, so the blame is on you, not on me or Atalanta."

"Fair point," Harry said and sighed. "I might as well tell you as it is my birthday and you would keep all of those gifts away from me, wouldn't you?"

"Maybe, it all depends on how open you are going to be."

Harry rolled his eyes at those words and looked at them. "Hrolf, you are the only one that is here and isn't invited as we both know that your father needs you more and he would be unhappy if I decided to steal you."

"That's unfair," Hrolf pouted and pushed a goblet with something towards Harry. "Try it."

Harry looked at the goblet and picked it up, when he looked at it, he saw a golden liquid that smelled of honey and something exotic. He sniffed the air and it took a moment for him to recognize those smells as spices. He slowly sipped it and the moment he swallowed some he felt as if he was on fire. "What was that?" He asked with a glare at Hrolf who was chuckling.

"How does it taste?"

"Not the worst thing, but it burns," Harry said and paused. "It tastes somewhat sweet and of honey."

"That was mead," Hrolf explained with a smile. "I expected you to throw up, yet you didn't."

"That was mead?" Harry asked as he looked at the content of the goblet. He drunk more and nodded. "Not the worst thing and I kind of like its taste."

"Don't get drunk or we might be in trouble," Atalanta said as she looked at him.

"So what?" Harry asked as he ignored her disapproving look and emptied the goblet. "It's not like we didn't do more stupid things in the past, did we?"

"Well, she has a point," Jarl said. "It is technically illegal."

"Are you all chickens and babies that don't know when breaking the rules is a good thing?" Hrolf asked. "I mean you are almost adults and there is a certain thing around your fourteenth birthday when you are allowed to indulge in mead as much as you want... So what's wrong with trying it now?"

"I guess that you are right," Ulf said and Harry looked at his friend who grabbed a goblet from Hrolf and emptied it in one go. "It doesn't taste that bad and it is certainly better than ale."

"And much stronger," Hrolf said with a smile. "So if you don't want to get totally drunk be careful."

Harry nodded and looked at Hrolf who willingly poured him another goblet. "So what is this thing around our fourteenth birthday?"

"You will see, I know what it is, but you will learn at the proper time."

"Pretty please?" Harry pouted.

"No," Hrolf said and shook his head. "It is tradition that you learn about it a couple of weeks before it, not a whole year ahead, so be patient. I can just tell you that you will enjoy it, a lot, so what do you say about more mead?"

"I guess that we can try," Atalanta said and Hrolf smiled. "But if we get caught, it will be you who will get murdered."

"Pleasure is worth a lot," Hrolf said and laughed. "So getting injured doesn't really matter and you know that my father's is eager to forget a lot."

"True," Harry said as he emptied his second goblet.

o-0-o

Harry walked onto the training grounds and tried to stay straight as he looked at Sif, his head was throbbing and he narrowed his eyes to shield them from light which irritated them. "Is the whole world spinning?" He asked as he looked at Jarl, Ulf and Atalanta who stumbled onto it.

"Yeah," Ulf said and winced. "And there is this small dwarf jumping up and down inside my head."

Harry was about to say something when he felt a looming presence enter the training grounds and stop behind them. He slowly turned around, trying to keep his balance and came face to face with Sif. "Good morning, Lady Sif."

"Depends for whom," she said and her eyes narrowed as they swept over their faces. "How much mead did you drink last evening?"

"We didn't drink any," Harry said and looked at Ulf. "We just had some fun."

She snorted loudly and Harry looked at her. "I saw far better lies and far more convincing ones and I know when someone was drunk." She proceeded to berate them and by the end of it Harry looked as if he wanted to hide.

"Since you think that breaking the rules is fine you won't even touch your weapons for the next few days," she growled and they looked at the ground. "Now, let's go for a pleasant jog, thirty miles or so should be more than enough."

"What?" Harry asked, his temper flaring up. "We do our normal exercises, so what's the point of it."

"Punishment," she flatly said. "And you need to burn alcohol out of your body, so let's go. If your speed won't satisfy me, we will be running back and forth until you are able to think."

Harry was about to say something when he saw Atalanta look at him. "We asked for it, so don't protest as she will add more."

He nodded sadly and started to run after Sif, trying to catch up to her, which proved to be a hard task as she set a tempo that could only be described as murderous and harsh. It seemed as if his good luck run out for this break and it could get only worse as his so far carefree holidays were gone. He sighed and braiding his hair backwards looked at Ulf and Jarl who seemed not to care about the whole thing and tried to run as evenly as they could, while Atalanta was glaring daggers at him and if looks could kill, hers would most likely achieve it.

Several hours later Harry managed to enter his room and almost immediately needed to support himself as Sif was brutal with their punishment. She had kept them running until they started vomiting from exhaustion, she let them catch some breath and did it over and over again.

He managed to get into his bedroom and throwing his dirty clothes somewhere to the side he crawled into the bed and didn't care about the fact that he smelled of several things. He simply wanted some rest and an opportunity to forget about this day.

o-0-o

Fury smiled as he entered one of hundreds of offices located within the Pentagon, even if it wasn't SHIELD territory he felt at ease here, spending more than a couple of days a month at various meetings and briefings about the events around the world or asking for some help from armed forces. However on this trip he had a different target in mind.

"Nick," General Robby Jackson warmly greeted him. "What brings you to my humble office?"

"More pleasant business than normally," Fury said and sat down in one of comfortable looking chairs. "Your niece and a certain friend of hers." He frowned and looked at Robby. "Better would be two friends that have certain gifts."

"Beaubier and Thorson?" Robby asked with arched eyebrow. "Or is my memory not working and I can't keep track of such visible people."

"Those two," Fury said, his lips curling up into a weak smile. "They are part of the group that I want to assemble, your niece is also there and it would be good for them to spend some time together. Preferably at Xavier's as it is one of few places which are heavily defended and allow mutants to develop their powers in peace."

Robby looked at him and nodded. "And my dear brother-in-law lacks any kind of brain to think that his daughter can be better than his precious sons." He sighed and slowly shook his head. "I don't know how it is possible for us to be related by blood and not kill each other, I know that Carol won't mind the change, but he will oppose."

Fury chuckled and looked at the photo of F-15SE on the wall. "Should I get him an one way trip to the wilderness somewhere in Africa? As I can easily get him sent there or anywhere else out of the way."

"No," Robby winced, "He is still a part of my family and I haven't fallen so low as to kill those I dislike. I will talk with my mother and she should be able to convince him to change his mind."

Fury shuddered and took a moment to compose himself. "If she is as formidable as she was when she was a Director I fear for him."

"She is that good," Robby said with a nod. "She doesn't care about how loud she is and when she is unhappy it can be seen and heard. So she should be able to convince him and he will beg Carol in his knees to move to Xavier's."

Fury chuckled softly as he tried to imagine that scene. "So can you get her to attend Xavier's?"

"Yes," Robby said and looked at Fury. "Do you want anything else from me or is this everything?"

"Everything," Fury said. "I'm not a bloodthirsty mosquito that sucks as much blood as it can get, I'm more of a patient predator."

"As if it mattered," Robby said. "So get out of my office, knowing my luck there is a long line of people that want something from me and my time's too precious to waste on small talk."

"As you wish," Fury said with a bow of his head. "I will be gone before you see me leave."

o-0-o

Peter Wisdom looked at the piece of parchment he was holding and laughed, laughed loudly as those news were of the most amusing in his long and bloody career. His laughter echoed loudly in the confines of his office and made the only other person in it look at him. It took him a moment before he finally composed himself and looked at Amelia Bones. "How sure are you that this is not a fake?"

"As sure as I can be," she said and shrugged. "Fudge needs support and Umbridge probably came up with this idea, reasonable and her doesn't work. She is too stupid to think clearly and if she thinks she can pull it off, the next thing she does might be completely insane."

"As if declaring a war on Asgard didn't fall into the category of suicide," he said grimly. "We both know what Thor or Loki can do on their own, but we also know that no great power will tolerate some minor state declare a war on them and we might see a furious Odin paying us a visit."

"Which honestly speaking might not be a bad thing," she said and he arched an eyebrow. "My cousin is attending Hogwarts and he said that during last term they had gotten a trip to Asgard thanks to Loki. And I think that you can guess what kind of a game Loki is playing."

"Yes," he said and winced. "It works, but it needs few years to bring the first big fruits, until then we need to deal with our resident idiots. Resident idiots that even lack the spine to do something brave..." He paused and with a smile looked at her. "I think that I might have an idea about how to hurt Dumbledore and Fudge at the same time."

"Go on."

"Technologically wizards here are in the late nineteenth century, if not even earlier," he said and saw her nod. "While the world is constantly advancing, technology is getting better and better as well as the view on many issues is changing. I know that Stark and Worthington worked with MACUSA in the past and know how to work with magic."

"I think that I know what you are trying to achieve," she said. "You want to show to the younger generation that there is something more than parchment and quills and that you can do something more than play Quidditch or read books."

"Yes," he smirked and looked out of the window. "If you look anywhere around you see everything develop and changing, while most wizards are far behind our time."

"So Hogwarts will be your first target?" She quietly asked. "Or do you plan something else?"

He was silent for a moment and turned to look at her. "Three things, I thought about suggesting to them either acquiring the Daily Prophet or making their own newspaper, just so that the Ministry needs to work hard for their propaganda and focus on St Mungo's and Hogwarts. Those two things need modernization of just about everything and it needs to be done as soon as possible."

"Hogwarts is a gamble," she said and he looked at her. "I know that Loki forced some things onto Dumbledore and I would let those things happen first, while watching how they accept them. Too much might be a shock, St Mungo's and another newspaper won't be the worst thing as everybody will see it and it will be a nice jab at the Ministry."

"That they are useless and spout nonsense that shouldn't even be published as does every politician?"

"No," she said and shook her head. "That they are stupid and anger everybody around us, something that will bite them sooner rather than later."

He laughed and she looked at him. "Every reasonable person would agree with you that making your neighbors pissed off, not to mention great powers, is suicidal and shouldn't even be thought about, unless you have a big enough stick to make an attack at you a costly endeavor. Now think what wizards have to scare away SHIELD, us or Asgard?"

"Nothing," she said quietly. "Not a single thing."

"Exactly," he smirked. "While SHIELD has tactical warheads and probably Fury managed to get some bigger ones, we have some agents that can carve a bloody path and Asgard, well, Thor is enough."

"So someone will say call and will reveal that the Ministry is with their pants off and asking to be kicked."

"Among other things, but yes," Wisdom said and smiled. "It wouldn't be a bad idea, though there are a few far better ones."

"Still the Ministry getting compromised isn't a bad thing," she pointed out and looked at him. "Do you need me to focus on something in particular?"

"No," he said. "Just try to recruit as many former and current aurors as you can, I have a feeling that they will be needed really soon."

"I will, in fact it is getting easier as not many like Umbridge and while few will die for her, the majority will help anybody that can promise her being thrown out of the office," she said and walked out of the office, but before closing the doors she paused and looked at him. "You need to hide better who you were, it is obvious for me who you were and a lot of aurors will recognize you the moment they can get a better look at you. Also there is your older brother."

He stiffened and looked at her. "Don't mention who I was to anybody, it needs to stay a secret, too many lives depend on it."

"I will, it's just that it is easy to see through," she said and closed the doors behind herself.

He growled and looked out of the window, he needed to do something to hide who he was, even if he wanted to hate her for those words, she was also right and he knew that sooner or later one auror or another would tell his true name and that could be bad. No, it would be catastrophic and the fallout could wipe out MI-13 or at least weaken it.

o-0-o

Harry looked at Ulf and Atalanta and could tell that they were as eager and as nervous as he was, after all it was time for one of the trials that would decide their future. If they would be accepted by society as adults and warriors or thrown out of it and be forgotten. They had only the most basic things they would need to survive and in a few moments they would be dropped in the middle of the wilderness and would need to return to civilization on their own.

"Ready?" He asked, looking at them.

"Yes," Ulf smiled. "I was born ready and I want to be finally appreciated as a warrior, not treated like a child."

"Not only you," Atalanta said. "All of us want to be treated more seriously."

He nodded and at the same time Sif looked in their direction, she was with them in the passenger compartment. "Do you know what you need to do or should I repeat it for one last time?"

"You could," Harry said and she nodded.

"You have to find, catch and kill a deer, after that you need to taste its blood and eat its heart. You need to survive in the wilderness for two weeks and after that you are allowed to return to the Citadel," she said and they nodded. "You will have only the most basic supplies, so you will need to get your own food, shelter and everything else you will need to survive."

They nodded and at the same time they felt a tremor pass through the hull as the ship that delivered them landed somewhere. They waited for the doors to open and the moment they stepped outside Sif threw three small packages at them. The next moment they looked at her the ship was rising into the air and flying away.

"And now we are on our own," he said as he picked up the package Sif dropped onto the ground and opened it. "Sleeping bag, flint and steel, some food and water, some cloth and that's all."

"The same," Atalanta said. "I guess that we need to get everything else on our own."

"It shouldn't be bad," Ulf said and they looked at him. "Look where we are."

Harry nodded and when he looked around, he almost immediately understood what Ulf meant, they were on a large clearing in the middle of a mixed forest with trees spreading in every direction. He listened keenly for a moment and heard a noise of a stream flowing in the distance which meant that they were not in the worst location possible.

"Yes," he said and looked at Ulf. "We were in similar spots with your father or older siblings, so if we don't get eaten alive by mosquitos we will be fine."

"Yes," Ulf said as he picked up his package. "We need to get between the trees and find a good spot, after that we can go hunting and get the kill out of the way."

They nodded and holding their packages under their arm they started to walk towards the forest, a forest that could provide them with safety, food and everything else they would need to survive. On one hand he was excited as he was eager to test how good he was, on the other he knew that one mistake could cost him his life or his friends' life.

o-0-o

"This should be good," Atalanta said after several minutes of quick walk.

They were on top of a large hill with a couple of massive, ancient oaks growing in the middle of it and surrounded by a circle of dense underbrush. Harry was able to see a small stream in the distance and knew that it would probably mean fish and most certainly fresh water. Overall it was probably the best place they could find in a reasonable amount of time.

"Yes," he agreed and dumped the package onto the ground. "So we leave them on the tree and hunt our deers now?"

"We might," Ulf said. "It's still early and we can outrun almost anything that we will find."

"It's a risky action, but one that can help us a lot," Atalanta said and they looked at her. "If we fail, we will cause a lot of noise and scare away every animal in our vicinity, but if we succeed we will have food for days."

"True," Harry agreed. "So I would take the risk."

"I would also," Ulf said.

Atalanta sighed and nodded. "Then let's get it done, but first strip out of our clothes as we will get dirty and bloody, we will want them clean and not covered in various things. We don't have any spares."

They nodded, quickly stripping out of their clothes, down to the underwear. Once they secured their clothes and had their knives they disappeared into the forest.

o-0-o

Harry ran after a deer he had spotted for himself, each moment bringing him closer to his prey, he could smell its fear and it made him even more excited and eager to get close to it. His legs carried him through the forest, he felt as if he was flying above the ground. He glanced to the sides and he could see the forms of his friends chase their own prey. Showing how deadly and how fast an Æsir could be.

An animalistic howl left his mouth as he managed to get close to his prey, he extended his hands forward and grabbed deer by its hindquarters. It tried to kick him away and get loose, but it was too weak and he managed to stop it. It roared in fear and panic and it made the blood lust in him even stronger.

He managed to get it onto the ground, it's legs thrashing, but he ignored them as he crawled over its body and to the throat of it. He pressed the neck of the deer against the ground and slowly grasped it with his teeth, he could feel its quickened breathing as it struggled in his grip. His jaws snapped shut around the throat, ripping it open and he felt a fountain of blood flow into his mouth, it was hot and bitter, but he drank it eagerly. He swallowed part of the throat he had torn out and he got up, his whole upper body covered in blood.

With a few quick moves of his knife he cut out the still warm and weakly beating heart of the animal. He held it in his hands and looked at the sky. "May the spirits bless us in this Veizlatr, may we shed the confines of childhood to the open sky, and guides us on our journey into adulthood," when he said those words he bit his teeth into the raw, still warm flesh.

He ate quickly, tearing big chunks of meat and swallowing them almost whole, his blood lust quenched once he ate the whole organ, having done that he cleaned his knife, picked up the deer's carcass and started walking towards the place where their camp. When he got there he saw that Atalanta and Ulf were already there, huge stains of blood smeared over their torsos and faces. There were also two corpses of deers, both of them with ripped throats and deep wounds around their hearts.

"You look like hell," he said when he dumped the carcass onto the pile.

"As if you are better," Ulf said. "You are also covered in blood."

Harry looked at himself, at his torso and wings smeared in blood. "Point taken."

"Boys," Atalanta said and rolled her eyes. "Get yourself cleaned in the stream or a lake that is nearby and let me work on the corpses to get as much meat out of them as possible."

"You sure?" Ulf asked. "Or do you want our help?"

"Yes," she said, wiping blood of her face. "Someone needs to do it and I don't trust your skills with a knife to get it done. Besides, I won't bathe with you."

They looked between themselves and later at Atalanta who picked the first corpse, walked away from their camp and started to work on it, carefully cutting the skin and trying not to waste it. She looked like a demon with blood smeared over her clothes and body, there was even some in her hair. Harry glanced at Ulf and with a shrug they walked to the lake they knew was nearby.

Getting to the lake they stripped out of their underwear and placed it on flat rocks just under the surface of the water and let it stay there so that the blood would be washed away by the water. Having done that they jumped into the water and washed themselves from the blood and grime they got when hunting. For a moment they played with each other in the water, but they didn't spend too much time doing it and instead emerged from the water, dried their now cleaner clothes with a bit of magic and walked to Atalanta. When they got back to their camp they saw that Atalanta was done with skinning the animals and there was a rather big pile of meat laying on one of skins of a deer.

"How is it that I can get three deers skinned and their meat prepared while you only managed to clean yourselves?" she asked with a small smile. "Dress yourself into your clothes while I go to take a bath." She walked down the slope of the hill and stopped before disappearing into the woods. "And make a fireplace and some shelter for the night, it seems that it might rain."

Harry put on his shirt and looked at Ulf. "You prepare a fireplace, while I look for wood and something to make our shelter."

His friend growled, but nodded and pulling out his saxe knife started to dig a hole in the ground. Harry smiled weakly and pulling out his own knife he walked into the forest.

o-0-o

Harry carefully moved through the forest, his eyes looking through the trees and trying to find those that were fallen and would be more dry than everything around them. He spotted the fallen trunk of a young oak and walked to it, when he got there he pulled out his knife and started to cut it into smaller, more manageable pieces. The steel blade of his saxe knife easily cutting into the hard, dry wood with a dull sound. He cleaned it of smaller branches and anything that could get in the way, threw it over his shoulder and started to make a way back to the camp.

o-0-o

They spent most of their first day getting a supply of firewood and putting together some shelter that would protect them from the most vicious weather and allow some warmth. While it was still relatively warm all of them were thoroughly aware of how cold it could get the moment night arrived. It was not their first time deep in the wilderness, but the first when they were on their own.

Harry looked at the sky which was quickly darkening as the sun was slowly hiding below the horizon and the night was approaching. A small fire was in front of him which was in a hole dug out by Ulf in the ground. "How do you plan to play it?" He asked looking at Ulf and Atalanta.

"We need to spend two weeks here," Ulf said and they looked at him. "I have a rough idea of the place where we are and if I did the math correctly we need six days to get to the Citadel at our normal speed. So we have eight days to kill and do nothing."

"Just wonderful," Harry sighed. "Eight days stuck in the woods and doing nothing productive."

"It is better than another boring lecture on etiquette or diplomacy," Atalanta said as she braided her hair. "So I don't know what's your problem."

"It's just waste of time," he said and stood up. "I'm going to relieve myself."

"Don't get killed," Ulf said, trying to hold his chuckle. "I have heard that predators are drawn to pissing and careless Æsir."

"Very funny," Harry said as he walked down the slope and into the woods.

He stopped when he was far enough not to be seen by them from the hill, he dropped his pants to his knees and started to pee. As the piss left, he felt some of his worries and bad thoughts leave him, as if his body was throwing them out. He finished and pulling up his pants he walked back towards the camp.

"I'm still alive," he said when he walked into the camp. "So Ulf, don't make such jokes as they're not even funny."

The son of Ullr huffed and looked at him.

"Boys," Atalanta sighed. "Kill yourself later, we can't allow ourselves to get wounded or killed, we need to work together."

"Sure," Harry smiled as he slipped into their shelter and into his sleeping bag.

o-0-o

The remaining time of the two weeks passed as boringly as it could get with them doing nothing excluding sitting at camp and hunting from time to time to get food. When they emerged from the forests near the Citadel they were grumpy, frustrated and unhappy that they needed to waste their time doing almost nothing.

Harry almost immediately stormed off into the private chambers of the royal family to get cleaned and find a warm bath to clean himself. He entered his room and inside of it found Thor standing and looking at him, some pride visible in his eyes.

"You did good," Thor said and patted him on the shoulder. "You are no longer a child."

"Thanks dad," Harry said and grabbed a small bag thrown at him by his dad. "Are those?"

"Yes," Thor said and Harry nodded.

He watched his father leave his room and the moment the doors closed behind Thor, Harry walked into his bathroom and opened the bag. Inside of it were several round beads made out of clay and covered in geometrical carvings. He grabbed a small lock of hair to the right side of his head and quickly braiding it, he slipped the hair through the beads. Once it was done he undressed and slipped into the bath, he needed it after those two weeks in the wilderness as at the moment he could smell himself stinking of mud, sweat, unwashed body and blood.

o-0-o

Harry smiled when he saw a black wolf walk through the corridors of the Citadel and morph into a human being as it got closer to him. It was Wolf Prince Hrimhari and one of his uncountable cousins, but that was an advantage of near immortality. "So what does my favorite cousin wants from me?" Harry asked as he looked at Hrimhari.

"Do I need to want something from you?" Hrimhari asked. "Even if I'm leader of the Rangers it doesn't mean that I only show up at the Citadel when I want something from your grandfather or my own grandfather."

"No, I guess not," Harry said and sheepishly scratched his back. "Sorry about that, but I'm used that someone wants something from me whenever they see me."

"You poked hornets' nest and it unsettled everybody," Hrimhari said and with his head indicated at Harry's rooms. "We better move there, I don't trust too many people as that one person was just the tip of an iceberg."

Harry looked at his older cousin and nodded, they quickly walked through his rooms and emerged on the terrace adjacent to them.

"That corrupt judge?" Harry asked as he looked at the gardens below. "The one that was bribed to pass the sentence which got Jarl's father executed."

"Same one," Hrimhari said and Harry could tell that his cousin wasn't too happy about it. "Generally we try to keep track of every single former and active Ranger so that something such as this doesn't happen, but it seems that my information net was disrupted."

"And Jarl's father got killed and the Norns only know who else," Harry spat viciously.

"Yes," Hrimhari growled and his canines transformed into full sized fangs of a wolf. "But that is something with which I will deal, the reason I wanted to talk with you is something else, maybe more or maybe less pleasant than you would like it to be."

"It can't get much worse than this, can it?"

"Oh, it could," Hrimhari smirked. "Don't test how bad something can get as it usually will. Anyways the thing that I want to warn you about. I know that you discovered how good mead can be, but remember that when under its influence you are easier to manipulate and control, so be careful where you drink and with whom as some people have less than stellar plans for you and you being drunk is an ideal moment for them."

"Can't I have some fun during my life?" Harry pouted. "When Sif sniffed out where we were it didn't end too good for us."

"She kept you running even if you were throwing up?" Hrimhari asked and Harry looked at him. "Everybody is a rebellious teen during some part of their lives and I was also one and she was my tutor, so yes, I know her teaching methods too well. Way too well..."

"So I'm not the only one that is scared by her?" Harry asked, making Hrimhari laugh.

"No, not the only one, but you need to admit that she is good," Hrimhari said and handed Harry an elongated wooden box. "A little late for your birthday, but I was busy and you didn't help with it as it made my work harder and you had that hunt of yours."

Harry looked at the box and when he opened it and looked inside a wide smile appeared on his face. Inside of it on a velvet cloth was placed a knife, however it was not a normal knife. It was quite long and a bit wicked, it's blade had the famous and unmistakable silver and gold pattern of mithril and it was over sixteen inches long. Even if the blade was forged out of the best alloy available to Asgard the handle seemed crude and primitive as it was a simple piece of horn cut and polished to shape with a small guard to keep blocked blades from sliding across the blade and maiming its user. To the side there was a leather scabbard for it with two wide strips that allowed to attach it to any place its user wanted to. "Is it a Rangers Knife?" He asked as he looked at Hrimhari.

"It is, I know that another sword or axe will get thrown into the armory, while there is a chance that you might actually use this knife and I know that you wanted to have it," Hrimhari said. "Just don't impale yourself onto it as it would be embarrassing and your grandfather could hang me."

"I won't and thank you,"

"No problem kiddo," Hrimhari said and made Harry roll his eyes. He knew that he was the youngest member of the whole family, but it still annoyed him when someone used kiddo towards him.

"Can you use anything else towards me?" Harry pouted. "I don't need to be reminded how young I am, I feel that Sif will happily prove that I know nothing and that I am young and foolish."

"She needs to or you will get lazy," Hrimhari said with a smile. "So don't complain about her and get to work, or are you retreating to Midgard?"

"Not retreating," Harry corrected him with a wide smile. "Just a cousin invited me to spend some time there, so I'm not running away, I'm just using an opportunity to have some fun in a nice place."

"Good luck, then."

"Thank you, cousin dearest," he said with a bow of a his head. "Can you leave me alone as I need to pack."

"Of course," Hrimhari said, morphed into a wolf and ran out of the room.

Harry smiled looking at that wolf running out of the room, it reminded him of his own animal form. Shrugging off those thoughts he walked back into his bedroom and started to put he would need to take to Earth into the bag.

o-0-o

Harry could feel curiosity bubble under the stoic expression of Ulf, Jarl and Atalanta, even if they didn't show their emotions about the whole thing, he was sure that they were interested and just hid it well. Also even if their expressions were as blank as possible Harry could tell from the way they moved, it showed how excited they were about the whole thing.

"So how is it on Midgard?" Ulf finally asked.

"Interesting and... different than it is here," Harry said with a glance at his friend. "You should like it as you know how my cousin is and you know that he usually has bright ideas."

"Sounds interesting," Atalanta said and looked at him. "Also his girlfriend seems like a nice enough person to be around."

"Or scary," Harry added with a smile. "I mean I saw her tear apart blocks of stone with a thought." He saw them pale a bit. "But usually she is friendly and won't kill you."

"That's good," Ulf said. "I want to remain whole after this trip."

"Oh, you will," Harry assured him and looked at Heimdall who stood on guard in front of the Observatory. "Can you send us to Midgard?"

"Of course, Your Highness," Heimdall said with a bow and when they followed him inside he inserted his sword into the control pedestal of the Bifrost, activating and preparing it for their travel to Midgard.

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

Pregnancy might seem a bit weird, but Thor needs more children just in case Harry gets killed, which considering his lifestyle and hanging out with X-Men is not likely, but also not impossible and if Harry dies, there will be chaos as succession goes from father to son and with Thor lacking any offsprings it means that Loki is third in line to the throne, Balder would be before Loki but he is _dead_. Loki isn't the most trusted person and his offsprings even less, Hela, Jormungandr and Fenrir are tolerated, but not liked. Hrimhari would have a better chance to be approved, but he is hated by a big share of nobles and other realms for being a wetwork person and one that leads group that has blood of innocent on its hands. So unless they want to have a civil war or play with succession laws Thor needs to have offsprings in case Harry gets killed.

Gender and names are undecided, so suggestions are appreciated. Modern names won't pass, so think first and suggest second.

Coming of age, in most of ancient cultures it was grueling, hard and could be deadly for some participants, here it won't be that deadly, but neither it will be safe. At the moment all of them are thirteen and there are some rituals and sacrifices they will need to make during next two years as they become adults at fifteen. This hunt is more dependant on their tutors/parents deciding that they are ready and can happen at any moment as long as they are prepared, however other things need to be done at proper time.

Veizlatr, it means feast of flesh and it sounds quite well, so I chose it as the name for the first time.

Law and custom, law is written, custom is passed down orally, law is slightly more important than the custom. Generally when law isn't clear custom is taken into consideration, there are no official penalties for breaking it, but as shown by Sif if someone older decides, there can be.

Drinking age, in most of civilizations almost everybody drunk ale or wine mixed with water as it was far safer than water as unless you have plumbing that makes sure that all of the dirt enters the river downstream from the city the water will be dirty and with all kinds of bacteria. On Asgard it is a tradition left by the past as they are too long living to change tradition quickly and their body is nigh indestructible so there are no reasons to change it. Mead is way stronger as normal ale has 1-4% of alcohol, so you can drink it in buckets and you won't feel a lot of hangover, while mead can have 8-75% of alcohol. One Harry tasted was relatively weak compared to those drunk when wanting to ensure foreign diplomat will be easy to persuade, but he isn't used to it, so a goblet or two and his body starts to feel effects of hangover and he drunk much, much more than that.

Also mental age, Asgardians mature mentally much faster than we do. From early age they are entrusted with weapons that can kill you or people around you, no matter what or who are you, it will make you grow up fast. So Harry is much more mature than his age suggest, he is still carefree and goofy when he wants, but he can be dead serious and is able to think first and do later. Which means that he is also given relatively more freedom than any children of the same age would have on Earth.

Saxe knife, many don't appreciate this knife, but for those who don't know, it is probably one of the best and the most ingenious designs when it comes to knives. Putting it simply, it is more of a weapon, it is also a tool that can be used for a great deal of things. So they carry them around at all times as they are useful and in one place they have a hatchet, quite a good skinning knife, weapon, shovel, spear(find a thick enough branch, some rope and voilà, spear ready) and few other things.

Reviews:

 _Otsutsuki no Yami_ \- I would say thirteen or so chapters, one and a half of an arc ahead before Wizards and Hogwarts, maybe some more. No, Harry definitely didn't meet person named Jean-Paul before.


	33. Calm II

**A/N - Another lazy chapter with not much happening, at least for Harry as other people have some things to do and there is a storm coming. There is a bit of my attempts of playing with Gambit's accent which may appear later on.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Harry looked out of the window and smiled when he saw the familiar shape of Angel's Aerie appear from behind the hill. Figuring out where Warren wanted to have some fun away from the world wasn't the hardest thing to do.

"Surprised, or not really?" Warren asked, turning to look at him.

"Not really," Harry said with a smile. "I mean, there is a limited list of places where you could have wanted to have fun and I know that you love this particular mansion."

Warren nodded and grinned. "Also it is big enough to be able to survive so many people being inside of it, and so far away from the world that we can use our powers and not care about the amount of damage we cause."

"Or flirt with some people," Carol added and Harry looked at her. "I mean Jean-Paul, as he doesn't know when to stop and in this mansion there are more than enough holes to hide deep and let him pass past you."

"He isn't that bad," he said and she looked at him. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just that some of us found his behavior a bit crude and annoying."

"As if you weren't annoying," Harry chuckled and she glowered at him. "As well as quite good looking and nice."

"Not another one," she muttered and rolled her eyes. "I have enough of fanboys at school, thought you can behave and control yourself."

"Thanks, I guess."

"No problem, just don't expect much," she said. "At least not until I know you well, a lot of boys at my school seemed a bit nice, but then they proved that they are as bad as the rest."

"I'm not that bad," Harry pouted. "Ask Jean or even Rahne, if you don't trust me or Warren."

Jean turned and looked at them. "Carol, let him live as he isn't that bad and I know well as I saw the inside of his mind and there is no way to hide things. And besides, you can survive Jean-Paul or Warren, so how can you have issues with him."

"Thank you, Jean," Harry said with a smile in her direction. "At least you are a beacon of hope as Piotr won't wake up and is too deaf to look at me and too chivalrous to do something. While Illyana is probably buried in runes."

"No, I am not," Illyana angrily said. "I want to have some rest from all of this studying and magic."

"Don't you enjoy it?"

She growled and looked in his direction. "I do, but even I feel burned out after so long studying and I want to rest, so be kind and do not mention runes or several other things."

"Or what?" He asked with an innocent expression on his face.

"I'll burn that smirk off your face and make sure that it stays away," she growled, her eyes glowing a dark shade of red. "I like you and all, but be a lesser asshole at times and I will be a happier person and you will also be safer."

Harry frowned for a moment, but then nodded. "I think that I will accept your offer, I care for my beauty too much."

Carol chuckled at those words, making him look at her. "A boy that pays attention to how he looks is not something I expected to see, or to see too often."

"Someone needs to care about their looks to stroke their ego," Jean said. "And others don't need to as they look good enough even without trying to."

"That's unfair," Harry pouted. "I love being the center of attention, but in a more friendly manner than this, so let me live."

"We are finally here," Warren said as he stopped the car. He turned around and looked at Harry. "So you have all of the mansion to hide from them if you wish to, but don't count on my help as I don't plan to lift a finger to help you dig out of this mess. You wouldn't need to hide if you hadn't started it."

"Not a nice older cousin," Harry said and huffed getting out of the car. He opened the trunk, pulled out his bag and walked to the mansion, while whistling loudly. It was a fine time to start his more enjoyable part of the holidays, away from Sif and all of the training she made them do, here they would have nobody breathing down their neck and reminding them to keep working. Which meant a lot of time to have fun and enjoy themselves.

o-0-o

Fury looked towards the doors of his office when they opened he nodded as he saw Hawkeye, Black Widow and Banshee enter the room. They were people he needed to see about certain developments that were happening around the world. "Sit down," he said indicating three seats on the other side of his desk.

He stood up from behind his desk and walked to a set of massive windows that made up most of the outer wall of his office, he tapped them and their outer surface dulled and several images appeared on their surface. "The reason I have called you here is Operation Ghosts." He briefly smiled when he saw the looks of shock on their faces. "There are disturbing reports regarding Weapon X and their works, we suspect that they are attempting to kidnap mutants and experiment on them. I want you to meet him." He pointed to a large photo of an auburn-haired and red-eyed individual. "He is our double agent in Weapon X and if anybody is to shed some light on what is going on with them, it's him."

"His face seems familiar," Widow said and frowned. "Isn't he one of those annoying thieves from New Orleans."

"The same one, Le Diable Blanc or known under our codename as Demon, he caused a lot of chaos and is still relatively young, but don't let that fool you, he is one of the few people I truly respect and he knows how to fight."

"Director, do you have any idea who might be their target?" Banshee asked. "As I don't think they are going to target Xavier's as after the last attack it is a stronghold and we know how to fight back."

"Everything points towards lone mutants that are on the run or are ignored by their families, ones that won't be missed and ones that can be kidnapped without too much of an issue," Fury said coldly. "Your task is to gather information about Weapon X, find out about their base of operation and then we will strike at them. Strike fast and strong so that they don't have a chance to react."

"So it is a typical intelligence gathering kind of a mission," Hawkeye said and Fury could see something happening inside of the head of one of his best agents. "But if it was a normal data gathering, Director, you would have used normal agents and passive ways of doing it."

"There is no trace of them and we don't know where their base is, do we?" Widow asked.

"Indeed, Agent Romanov, as sharp as ever," he said with a nod in her direction. "We know exactly nothing about them and there are moles within SHIELD. I know that you are clear, so I won't send anybody else to spy on them as it is too important to risk a leak."

He saw them nod in understanding about how crucial and secret the whole thing was. He knew that he could trust them, the question was if they could get the job done and relatively fast at that.

"This will be all for this meeting, Demon is supposed to meet you in." He looked at his watch. "In sixteen hours in Budapest, when you will get there I will send you the exact location of the meeting spot, but for now you are dismissed. A plane is waiting for you at Dulles and inside you will find some of your equipment, the rest will be delivered to you in Budapest."

o-0-o

Harry smiled as he plopped down on one of the many comfortable couches scattered around Angel's Aerie living room and looked at Warren. "What are your plans for these two weeks?"

"Have fun and enjoy the time," Warren said and shrugged. "I want to be away from the noise of the louder part of the world and I know that you want to be away from Sif and her teaching methods."

"How do you know?" Harry asked as he focused on Warren. "I mean, I didn't tell anybody that I might have had a nasty meeting with her, but it wasn't that bad."

"What kind of a nasty meeting?"

"He got a bit drunk," Atalanta said as she entered the room.

Harry glanced at her and needed to keep his eyes from flowing out of his skull, she looked ethereal and even if he spent a lot of time with her, until now he hadn't noticing her charms. "As if you didn't get drunk."

"He asked about you," she said with a devious smile. "So I gave him the answer he wanted, nothing else."

Harry growled and looked at Warren. "Don't mention it at the Institute or I will skin you alive, am I clear?"

"Did I say that I would?" Warren asked. "I am merely curious what my little cousin did that and he doesn't want to admit doing it."

"Oh, he drunk a bit of mead," Atalanta said and added with a smile. "But I don't think he minds that experience, as he seems weirdly happy about it."

"It doesn't taste bad," Harry said and huffed. "And in my defense, I was goaded into drinking it by certain friend of us, so he is to blame. I'm as innocent as I always was, am and will be."

"As innocent as every teen is," Jean said as she entered the room. "I'm more surprised that you decided to break the rules as I don't remember you as such."

"Break the rules?" Harry frowned. "Technically speaking there is no drinking age on Asgard."

"But there is an informal one when it comes to mead," Jarl said as he slipped into the room after Jean. "You should have known it, same as it is on few other things."

"Is it a law, as in written?" Harry asked as he looked at Jarl. "Or is it a custom that everybody accepts, but there is no penalty for breaking it?"

"No penalty?" Atalanta asked with a wince. "Sif would be happy disagree with you, she made us run for a whole day, not caring about the fact that we were throwing up or dropping from exhaustion."

"That's harsh," Warren whistled and Harry looked at him. "I mean running for a whole day is already killing it, running beyond the point of exhaustion is even worse."

"Thank you dear cousin," Harry grumbled. "I really don't need anybody to remind me about those events."

"Someone needs to," Atalanta said with a smile. "After all we are your friends and you won't listen to others about your faults, so we need to remind you about them."

Harry sighed and looked at her. "Don't you have anything better to do than this?"

"You tend to listen to me more than anybody else," she said and Harry growled. "What? I'm only saying the truth."

"You change and twist it so badly that it is far from it," he said and glanced at Warren. "Can you tell me how I have survived with her living under the same roof and didn't kill her yet?"

"Because you like her?" Warren suggested with a smirk. "Or maybe she doesn't irritate you too much."

Harry sighed and shook his head. "You know that I will one day kill you?"

"You can try," Warren said and laughed. "But you won't do it, will you?"

"No," Harry said and frowned. "At least I don't think so, as I like you too much."

Warren rolled his eyes and laughed. "That's an answer I expected to hear."

"Anyways," Harry said and stood up. "I'm going for a swim, I need to burn out my energy."

o-0-o

Illyana rolled her eyes when she saw her brother getting thrown across the field and slam into the wall of the building. He and his ideas of spars and wrestling with Ulf were amusing at first, but now it got predictable and boring.

"Does this always happen?" Jarl asked as he joined her. "They seem to like doing it."

"Yes," she said and rolled her eyes. "It started when Harry took us with him to Asgard, now it happens whenever they see each other and have time. I know how to fight and can do it quite well, but this is getting a bit silly."

"Maybe something to distract you would help?" He suggested and he looked at her. "I mean, sometimes sparring is better than just watching someone else. So what would you say about a spar?"

She looked at Jarl and could see that the boy was sincere. She had also come to like him, even if she was able to only spend a small amount of time with him, she felt that he was a good person. Even if at first he was a bit withdrawn from the world, he was a completely different person when one came to know him. "I guess that we can," she said and stood up, "So what would you suggest?"

"Hand to hand?" He asked with a smile. "Weapons are messy and unkind, this is clean and more friendly."

"If you want to," she said as she looked at him. "Usual rules?"

"Usual," he nodded and smiled. "I know that you are better when it comes to technique and I know that I need to get better at it, while you want to get distracted."

She smiled and indicated at a free spot, walking there she discarded the hoodie she was wearing, followed by her shirt. She looked at him and saw that he had also discarded some of his clothes. "Ready?" she asked.

"Ready? I was born ready," he said and she charged at him.

"Good," she smiled as her fist flew towards his chest.

He raised his hand, caught her fist and she winced when his second hand charged forward and slammed into her chest. She was used to it, but even after getting slammed into various things it hurt as badly as the first time did. Maybe the pain was slightly smaller, but it was still there.

"Didn't you learn that charging into battle isn't the safest thing to do?" Jarl asked her as he pushed her backwards. "I learned that and even Harry managed to grasp the most basic idea of it: that it's just asking for trouble."

She tumbled backwards and landed on the ground, "I learned it," she said and growled. "It's just that it often works."

"'Rarely', would be a better word." he said with a smirk and walked forward.

She rolled away from him and stood up, her eyes focused on his body and moves. Waiting for any mistake she could spot and use. She spotted something that looked like a mistake and swiped her leg forward, hoping to catch him off guard and send him to the ground.

"Not bad, but it doesn't work on me," he said, simply avoiding her leg. "It works on some people that don't suspect it, but not on me."

"Then what works?"

"Getting creative," he said with a wide smirk and she growled.

Her attention was fully focused on him, watching out for every single trick and mistake. She grinned when she saw one and her right hand shot forward, aiming for his knee. She saw his eyes widen and move his leg, or at least partially, out of the way. However he was unable to do so fully and when her fist slammed into it he grunted from the pain.

"Better," he nodded approvingly and the next thing she remembered was a throbbing pain to her head and laying on the ground.

She groaned, opened her eyes and sat up. "What happened to me?" she asked blinking as she massaged the back of her head. "It hurts excessively."

"Yeah, sorry for that," Jarl muttered as he helped her get up. "I got carried away and slammed my fist too hard into you. I will try not to do it again."

"Don't do it," she growled and he smiled.

"Or what?" He innocently asked.

"You really don't want to see that happen," she growled and put her shirt on. "One that annoyed me even more ended up with two broken ribs and was embarrassed in front of the whole Academy."

"Okay," Jarl said and gulped. "I won't annoy you, at least too much."

"Good boy," she said and looked at him. "I like you, but sometimes you could be a nicer person."

"I'm charming as ever."

She rolled her eyes and snorted. "Then your definition of charming is different and mine is obviously better." She looked at him and later at her dirt covered clothes and body. "I need a shower or a bath… See you in a while."

o-0-o

Natasha Romanov muted out the sound of the engines as the plane flew towards the Old Continent and instead looked at Sean. "I know that you have some ideas about the place where Weapon X hid their base."

"I have," he nodded and placed a laptop on a small folded table between them. "Here," he said and typed a few things.

She looked at what was displayed and then it hit her, it was so obvious and out of sight. Old facilities of the Red Room were nothing to sneeze at. "I wouldn't expect Karkaroff to agree to house the thing, but the castle would work as a perfect cover. Nobody would look for those things below a school, but it works."

"And it makes entering it a pain," he said with a wince. "Children are used as a shield, we can't simply blast our way inside and need to work subtly. Which gives them an advantage."

She nodded in agreement and looked at the images displayed. "What about taking Durmstrang, locking the students out of the way and giving us an easy access."

He shook his head and she looked at him. "How are you going to keep them docile?" She arched an eyebrow and he sighed. "Natasha, they are teens, teens who are made to believe that magic is so powerful nothing will stop it. It took Fury over twenty years to make Ilvermorny accept the fact that there are things other than magic. The French took even longer, but the war had helped them and they decided that they are not going to be surprised by such alliances as magicals with non-magicals. So Beauxbatons is more balanced and gives one of the best educations when it comes to non-magical subjects."

"Right," she sighed. "Teens with guns, probably the worst kind of them as they know only power and are too dumb to know when to retreat. The last time I was looking around it I was almost caught by one."

"A sentry or did he simply decide to have fun outside?"

She was silent for a moment, her mind replaying the whole scene in her mind, trying to see the details that could be important. "I would have said that he just wanted to have fun, but then I didn't know that we might have Weapon X hanging around and those wouldn't have issues with using students as guards."

"Especially if they lack muscle," he said quietly and she looked at him. "I was the one that led the last assault on Weapon X around Voldemort's time, we made sure not to miss a single person that had even the slightest ties to it. I thought we got all of them, but..."

"But the current events suggest something else," she finished for him. "Also if they moved to Europe and Hungary or Romania of all things, they might have ties with the Red Room and that will be bad, really bad."

"How bad?" He asked quietly and looked into her eyes. "Natasha, I know that you don't want to talk about your past or the what you were forced to do, but it might be crucial for our mission and its success. Do you want to allow those children to suffer more at the hands of those bastards?"

She inhaled sharply and looked at him, glad that Hawkeye was somewhere else, most likely in the cockpit with the pilots. It took a lot out of her to regain her usual composure and calmness. It was what? Twelve years since she was forced to think about those things? If her mind was right it was something around that long and it still hurt badly.

Natasha slowly relaxed and looked at Sean. "Really bad, the Red Room was even more wile than Weapon X ever was. You know that in the Soviet Union it didn't matter that you killed thousands to get what you wanted. Here it was the same," she said and winced, old wounds opening. "We were beaten for the smallest mistake and were forced to kill those that failed..."

"What?" He asked, his eyes focused on her. "You were forced to murder fellow students? For what?"

"Yes," she said, very quietly. "We were forced to and the reasons could be trivial, failing in training or a bad look sent at a teacher or instructor." Her voice lacking any emotions and she looked at him. "That's how they had trained us and I fear that Weapon X might use some of their methods, especially if they recruited some of the former Red Room people." Her eyes widened as she realized something. "Now it makes perfect sense, that's how they were able to find me in Moscow."

"How?" Sean asked and looked at her. "I thought that you said it was an accident and that he was lucky."

She slowly nodded and sat silently, thinking how to put her thoughts into words. The dull noise of the engines being their constant companion, but was almost immediately pushed out of her mind. She finally slowly inhaled and released the air. " I have thought it was an accident because anything else didn't make sense and my friends told me the Red Room was gone and all of it's secret programs cancelled and facilities put on lockdown or used for normal military research."

"But?"

"But agents working for the Red Room were hired by Weapon X, it wouldn't be the most shocking change of colors done by agents and they would have known how I look, of what I am capable of and how to defeat me."

She saw him wince and a thin smile appeared on her lips. "I won't let them surprise me once again and then I wasn't watching for them as I thought that they were gone, also you and Clint will be with me so we should be fine," she said and looked at the things shown on the display of Sean's laptop. "Durmstrang will be a pain to infiltrate and secure for a strike team to enter after us. I have a feeling that they are not the sole nest of moles."

He looked at her and grimly nodded. "Yes, that would put everything in our basket and would be really bad for such an event as the one we are planning. Which doesn't leave a lot of options and will make a lot of people unhappy."

She smiled briefly, but it was a sour smile. "Yes and that's why they would recruit some agents there," she said and sighed. "Fury needs to know about it and we need to remember about them. Britain was a stronghold of Asgard's influence on this planet. So they might have a lot of things tucked in various places in that damned castle."

"Fury will be really unhappy, but he might be forced to order an assault on it."

"That's his problem," she said. "We have our own bag of them and let him worry about his, also pass this message to Director Hill as she is responsible for Europe and Wizards."

"She already hates me for the data that I got out of Karkaroff," he said and she smiled slightly.

"It's your job," she said and with a grimace she pulled out her laptop. For one last time she looked at him before she dived into the data she had stored.

o-0-o

Harry looked at the forest covered slopes of the nearby Rocky Mountains and smiled. It was good to be here. Among those jagged peaks, the trees covering every slope, the crisp mountain air and the sunlight pouring onto the ground he felt completely at ease and the fact that Sif was far away and in other dimension helped immensely. While he respected her, she was not the best person to be around.

"It looks good," Atalanta said as she joined him on the balcony. "Also, I can tell that you want to be away from Sif."

"In a way, yes," he slowly said and paused, considering how to explain it. "I know that she wants to teach us how to survive in the world and I know that she knows what she is doing, but sometimes she could be more laid back and forgiving."

"That last outburst of her anger was mainly thanks to you and Hrolf," she pointed out with a smile. "So it's your fault that she got angry at us."

Harry rolled his eyes and looked at her. "You won't ignore it and you will mention it until the end of time or even longer,won't you?"

"Someone needs to keep you focused," she said and smiled. "Also I like to annoy you, not as much as Ulf likes to, but it is fun."

"And to think that you are my cousin," Harry pouted. "I can't see any family resemblance between us, not a single ounce of it."

She smiled and chuckled. "Well, black hair are rather common in our families," she said after a moment. "After all excluding your father every other member of your direct family has black or dark hair. There is also the fact that we all understand Ancient Greek without a single issue."

He rolled his eyes and made her chuckle.

"You need to accept that we are cousins, even if we are different," she said. "But I don't think that you want to remember this little detail?"

He hesitated for a moment and shook his head. "No, I don't even remember for most of the time that we are related to each other."

"Yet we are related to each other," she smiled and looked towards the mountains in the distance. "You know that Hera will hate you for being my friend?"

"So?" He arched an eyebrow. "She knows that she cannot touch me either directly or through proxies without incurring the anger of my grandfather."

"I know," Atalanta said softly and corrected her hair. "It's just that she is a vicious person and if she gets an opening, she will use it to kill you or me or both of us."

Harry sighed and looked at Atalanta. "Can we not talk about those things? I want to have some rest from the snake pit of Asgard and the plots within plots which are a part of an even bigger scheme."

"Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile. "I'm used to those games as your grandmother took it upon herself to explain to me the connections between us, the fae and the other mystical races and families of gods. Including who owes favors to whom and who has a grudge against whom, who has debts to whom and so on."

"That explains things," Harry nodded with a thin smile. "But still, don't think about it and it will be a lot better for all of us."

"Yes," she agreed with a smile. "So how long are we going to stay here?"

"Two whole weeks," he said and looked towards the mountains and the sun that was slowly moving across the sky. "I wanted to give you an opportunity to have some fun with me and my friends away from all of the court politics of Asgard and in a more relaxed place."

"I like this idea," she said and made him smile as the two of them looked at the landscape around.

o-0-o

Warren looked at Jean and smiled as she approached him. "You like your cousin," she said as she left a peck on his cheek. "Don't you?"

"He is a nice person," he said, trying not to get distracted by her. "Also he honestly needs this kind of holiday away from caring about everything and we also need them. We badly need them to rest and relax away from all the noise."

"Yes," she smiled and he saw her look at Harry and his friends that were having fun on the ground below. "And to think that he was forced to live with those creatures."

"Yes," Warren growled and looked at her. "The important fact is that he doesn't need to anymore and has a family and friends, us included."

"Touché," she smiled. "And I think that he is even more eager than we are to return to the Institute, after all we couldn't take everybody here."

"There's that," he nodded. "Still, I'm surprised that father allowed me to invite so many of them."

"He trusts you," she softly said. "He trusts you and wants to see how you deal with keeping things under control, after all you are nineteen and supposed to be the responsible one. So he wants to see if you are ready for something bigger."

"As if I wanted to," Warren said and rolled his eyes. "I already get a headache when I try to remember all of those details I need to know. And there is also being an X-Men, which I love much more than running a company."

"You know that many would have killed you just to have such worries? Or not if I should buy a car, but which one to buy."

"Jean..." Warren sighed. "Let me live, I want to relax, not brood about the future and you seem to be eager to make me brood as much as you can."

"Someone needs to keep you focused," she smiled. "As otherwise you get lazy and fall even for the simplest of traps, including that one on Asgard with Hrolf and mead."

He blushed at the memories and looked at her. "I didn't know what it was and how strong it was, so the fault is his, not mine."

"But you did it regardless" she pointed out, a happy expression on her face. "So the fault is yours, and only yours, deal with it, big boy."

He growled and looked at her. "Jean, are you siding with them against me?"

"No," she smiled and lightly kissed him, sending sparks of electricity across his whole body. "I just care about you and someone needs to keep you focused and that's what I am doing."

He felt his hormones wake up, which made him sigh. "How am I supposed to think and be focused when you keep waking up my hormones that won't behave around you."

"I don't know," she smiled. "That's your problem to figure out, not mine, not theirs but just yours."

He shook his head and took a couple deep breaths, trying to get rid of those thoughts, he enjoyed them, but they were bad for his focus and effectiveness. "I know what you suggest, but not now, now I want to keep my mind focused."

"If you want, I will let you," she smiled. "It's not like they don't know how to take care of themselves, they should be more than capable."

He nodded and stood on the balcony watching his cousin and their common friends.

o-0-o

Budapest, one of the oldest cities of Europe and the capital of Hungary, spread over the banks of Danube River, was definitely not a place where Natasha Romanov wanted to meet a contact that could have tails following him wherever he went. She sat at a table at one of the less shady looking cafés with Sean while Hawkeye went sightseeing and hunting for potential tails.

"Can you tell me why he wanted to meet in Hungary of all places?" she asked as she looked at Sean. "It is one of those countries where KGB and the Red Room were strong and they like to keep an eye on their agents."

"Because the other choice would be Romania or Moldova," he said with disgust in his voice. "Two countries where we might end up dead and I think that we can deal with a curious customer or two."

She looked at him and sighed. "If the Red Room was recruited by our lovely enemies, which would not be the biggest change of colors, then their agents will be harder to deal with."

"And that's why I suggested for Hawkeye to go hunting," Sean said and indicated with his head at a tall building to the side. Her gaze raced there and she almost immediately spotted Hawkeye standing on top of it. "He can see the café, the street and a lot of places from where our guests will come, if they come."

"True," she said and looked around, she spotted the one whom they were supposed to meet, but didn't show it. "He is here and he seems confident."

"Well, he has every single reason to be such," Sean said. "I once tried to hunt him down in New Orleans and failed."

"Oh," she nodded and looked at their guest.

He was a tall, lean teen, maybe nineteen years old with red demonic eyes and auburn hair, with his pale skin it make him look dangerous and a tiny bit creepy. He was wearing a long trench-coat and if she was right he had a lot of toys hidden inside of it.

"How may I help you?" she asked as her hand almost instinctively reached out to her pistol, safely hidden under the table.

"I think that Demon can help you," he said and sat down. "Fury knows how t'be convincin' and asked Demon t'help you."

Natasha rolled her eyes at the accent but nodded. "How sure are you that you didn't bring any tails with you?"

"I'm a thief chère, I know how t'hide and move unseen."

She looked at Sean who nodded in agreement, she didn't spot any of Demon's tails, but it was better to be safe than to wake up in a damp cell God only knew where. "So what can you tell us about your official employer?"

"So blunt, chère, I expected more from you," Demon said, pulled out a cigarette, lit it and smoked for a moment before answering. "Weapon X is a vile, vile thing and I joined it because I didn't have a choice. They promised t'repay my debts and protect me from my enemies, but now I will do everythin' to see them gone."

She looked at him and nodded encouragingly, he was young and it took a lot of courage to do what he was willing to do.

"They are catchin' mutants and experimentin' on them," he said quietly "Nothin' matters t'them and I want them gone. I saw them beat thirteen year old kid for complainin' because he was hungry, he survived it, but many didn't."

She winced internally and steeled herself. "We suspected, but we need data about the location of their base. If we don't get it they will keep doing that and won't be stopped."

"Under Durmstrang," he finally said. "They created a complex of underground chambers and corridors, as well as used the oldest part of the castle, forgotten by almost everybody. The Headmaster of Durmstrang is fully aware of it and even allowed some of his older students t'help Weapon X."

"That bastard!" Sean spat. "He knew!"

"Yes," she coldly said. "We can talk with him at a later date, now information is more important." She turned to look at Demon. "We want you to return there and try to gather as much data as you can, we will strike at them as soon as possible, but we need to plan it."

"How soon you are goin' t'attack?"

She glanced at Sean. "We will pass you a message as we snoop around, trying to learn as much as possible. We don't want to get surprised by them and if we fuck it up they most likely will kill everybody and bury everything deep underground."

Demon seemed ready to explode, but after a moment calmed down and nodded. "I don't like doin' it, but I'll do it."

She nodded and looked at Sean. "Do you think we need to learn more?"

"No," Sean said through clenched teeth. "I will need to speak with someone, but not you."

"Good," Demon smiled. "I wouldn't like t'lose my head."

"Then get lost," Natasha said. "The longer we are together, the bigger the chance someone spots you and tells your employer where you were and I doubt you want that."

"No," Demon said. He finished his cigarette and left them.

She waited for him to get away and she looked at Sean. "He was honest, I know that he is a thief and knows how to lie, steal and hide, but here he was honest."

Sean nodded and she could see that he wasn't too happy. "Who wouldn't be honest, those things need to be gone and if he is going to work with us, we should be able to destroy them for good."

o-0-o

Carol Danvers wondered if she should punch Jarl or not, she could tell that he was interested in her or at least attracted to her, but she disliked most boys. She saw far too many of them behave like mindless drones the moment they saw her, yet he seemed to be able to control himself. He also seemed as smooth as Harry was, maybe less and didn't spout useless trash as most drones from her school did. He was also attractive in some strange way and seemed like a nice enough person to.

"Why do you look as if you were about to punch me?" He finally asked, she blinked and looked at him. "I saw how Atalanta behaves before she is ready to unleash her temper and you were similar."

She was dumbstruck, she didn't expect him to read her so well. "No, I don't think so, you are too nice to attack and I don't think you will behave like a mindless drone that wants to get into my panties."

"No, I won't behave in that way," he said with a thin smile. "On Asgard we are supposed to know how to behave and control ourselves."

"So that's how Harry is so calm and composed most of the time?" she asked, trying not to look into his mesmerizing blue eyes. "He seems to be able to think first and act later," she said and grimaced. "Or for most of the time as he punched his cousin when he started to gape at me."

"Which cousin?" Jarl asked. "I always thought that he had only one cousin, Warren."

She sighed and looked out of the window, her gaze running over the far slopes as she tried to gather her thoughts. "I don't know the exact circumstances, but he has one more cousin, a cousin whom he hates, it relates to their past, he mentioned it, but I don't remember. So you will need to ask him, not me."

He looked at her and chuckled softly. "I think that you have guessed what happened between them and why they hate each other."

She looked at him and nodded. "Can we go for a walk?"

"Too many ears nearby?" He asked.

She nodded and led him through the maze of the corridors until they were in a room she chose. She slammed doors shut, walked to the window and closed it. Having done it she turned to look at Jarl. "Don't mention to Harry that I have told you this information, he might not like it, but he is too stubborn to openly talk about these things."

"So what happened to him?" Jarl asked.

"His cousin hated him because of who he is," she said. "From what Harry told me and what I guessed on my own, he landed in the care of his aunt and uncle who abused him."

Jarl looked sharply at her. "Abused a child?!"

"Yes," she said and looked at him. "It isn't known on Asgard?"

"No," he said and shook his head. "But I guess that different cultures have different ideas."

"Looks like it," she said. "As I said earlier, don't tell him about it, he is stubborn and won't appreciate it if you tell him that you know about his past."

Jarl grimaced and nodded. "I noticed and you like him too much to point it out, don't you?"

"Yes," she said and smiled. "But I have a feeling that you wanted something else from me, didn't you?"

He blushed and protested. "No, you only think so."

She rolled her eyes and muttered. "Boys..."

"What?"

"You are always so dense and don't admit that you like a girl, or you do the total opposite and behave like idiots," she bluntly said and made him blush. "So what is your answer."

"I... think that I like you," he finally said.

"Was it hard?" she asked.

"No."

"Good boy," she smiled. "If you behave nicely enough I might consider you as a good enough person to date."

"You might?"

"Did you expect me to drop everything and rush at the first good looking person I meet?" she asked as she corrected her hair and saw him follow her moves. "Also don't gape at me so openly."

"No," he said and blushed. "Sorry for that, you are just too beautiful not to stare at."

"You're flattering me, but it won't help you," she said. "Also I know you for a few hours, so I want to know you better first."

"Sure."

"Good you understand," she said with a smile and looked at him. "Can you leave me alone? I need to unpack and do a few more things."

He nodded a bit reluctantly and disappeared out of the room.

"He might not be a bad choice," she said as she watched him leave. "At least he knows how to control himself and seems gentle enough."

Having done that she looked towards her bag, wishing for it to unpack on its own. It wasn't willing to do it unfortunately, so she sighed in resignation and started to unpack.

o-0-o

Fury exited the elevator and walked down the sterile corridor, at the end of which was a pair of guards with heavy weapons ready to be used, behind them was a thick blast door that would make even doors used to protect bank safes burn from envy. He showed his identification card to the guards and they stepped aside, placing his eye in front of the retina scanner he placed his hand on the cold metal surface of the blast door. There was a moment of silence and then the scanner beeped in confirmation and with a gentle touch of his hand the door opened .

The moment he stepped inside he was met by a pair of wands pointing at his head, they were held by wizards that were the MACUSA's version of aurors. One of them handed him a small vial with a violet liquid inside, he drank it and felt their gazes on him. The moment he started to glow he would be killed. They looked at each other and then at him.

"Director Fury, you are who you claim to be," one of them said stepping aside.

He nodded in thanks, walked past them and towards the next blast door, which required the same process as the previous one. The moment they opened he looked around the cavernous room, which was just one of several excavated over six hundred feet below ground level. They were housing SHIELD R&D or at least a part of it.

"Director, welcome to Base Omega," Phil Coulson welcomed him. "I think that you will be happy with what they have created, last test was promising."

"Is it ready?" Fury asked as they walked through the room. "We might need a couple of them in the near future."

"Yes, _Malleus Maleficarum_ works even better than we had originally expected it to perform. It's still a heavy piece of weaponry, but it works."

"How heavy? Is there any chance we will need to drop more than one to breach those wards?"

"Five tonnes of steel, tungsten and runes," Coulson said with a wince. "That is the normal version, the stronger one is twice as heavy."

Fury nodded and looked towards a pair of bombs laying on a table in front of them. They were massive pieces of metal shaped into the form of a dart, with two pairs of four control surfaces, those closer to the tip were small, almost non-existent, while the second pair was much bigger. At its end a small rocket booster was attached. As he took a better look he saw hundreds of shapes engraved on the metal's surface. "Kinetic energy and runes do the work?"

"Mostly kinetic energy, runes are there to force all of the wards to activate, so that when it slams into them, all of them go with it. Also some of them make a nice shockwave that should knock out anybody close to it."

"Sounds promising," Fury said and looked at it. "What's the catch?"

"We have only ten of them and we might get two or three more before the month's end, we are setting up an assembly line, but it will take time and the runes need to be inscribed by hand and cutting into tungsten is a challenge," Coulson said and paused. "There is one more option if you need to break the wards, but it is kind of a last resort."

"What?"

"Nuclear warhead, but it will waste most of its energy as it will spread in a nice ball, instead of slamming straight into the shield formed by a ward."

"And I will get hanged for usage of nuclear weapons with civilians nearby," Fury pointed out. "Not to mention that it will cause a huge storm that will destroy SHIELD, so no it's not an option. I'm not insane and if need be we can use normal bombs."

Coulson nodded. "We can, but from our experiments we will need truckloads of them, they made wards of similar strength as ones around Durmstrang and we needed three Lancers loaded up with the heaviest bombs they can carry to breach it."

Fury nodded and made some mental math. "Which would probably wake up everybody inside of it and be a really good warning that we are coming to pay then a visit."

"That's why we decided to design this thing," Coulson said tapping one of bombs. "They will do it more easily and faster, and won't cause collateral damage."

"Now the question is what we can use to carry it."

"B-1, B-2 and B-52 are the only choices, we tested it with the Air Force as they also won't mind having a weapon that can destroy wards, petty dictators love to hire wizards to help them keep power and sometimes these are needed."

Fury nodded and looked at the bombs. "Which means that we won't be able to keep them on the helicarriers and we will need to wait hours to get them delivered. We won't be able to keep any crisis a secret, which can be bad."

Coulson nodded and motioned for him to follow, they walked through the room, passed through one more blast door and entered a smaller area where a couple of engineers were quietly talking about something, huddled around something that looked like a rocket. A large one. "We are still working on it, but in theory it should work. It's not nice, it's not small, but it can be integrated with a helicarrier."

"Modified Tomahawk?" Fury asked as he took a better look at it. "Or something else."

"New missile," Coulson said. "It should be possible to give it a normal warhead so it can be used to blow a hole when we don't need ward shattering service."

"You got me interested," Fury said with a predatory smile. "Durmstrang won't know what hit them."

"They won't, sir, that's as much as I can confirm," Coulson said. "May I know sir, why you need it ready as soon as possible?"

Fury looked at him and considered if he should tell him about the information discovered by Widow. "Durmstrang is doing things that make me unhappy."

"I see, Director if that's the case I think there are a few more toys you might like. If you could follow me I can present them."

He smiled and with a nod followed Coulson, who showed him several toys that would make the wizards really, really unhappy or at least the British part of them.

o-0-o

Harry blinked a couple of times when a silver blur passed in front of him, he looked around trying to find the reason, his probably most annoying friend known as Jean-Paul Beaubier. "What do you want Jean?" He asked spotting him standing behind him.

"To talk," Jean smirked. "Just talk, mon chéri, nothing else."

"Yeah, sure," Harry snorted as he looked at Jean. "So are you aware that I have two furry guards that won't have a single issue with ripping your throat open and drinking the blood out of it?"

Jean paled and looked at Harry. "No, you never mentioned them, and I didn't spot them at the party."

"Well, it's as good as any moment for you to meet them," he clasped his hands twice and there were two plumes of smoke from which massive wolves emerged. Harry placed his hands on their necks and looked at Jean. "These are my guards or companions, Freki and Geri."

"They won't eat me?" Jean asked as he took a couple of steps away from them. "They look as if they wouldn't have a single issue with that."

"No," Harry laughed. "They are huge softies once you get to know them and they don't have bad intentions."

Jean gulped and nodded. "So could you kindly send them away?"

"Scared of just two wolves?" Harry chuckled. "Or something else?"

"No," Jean said. "Just not used to them and mon chéri, it's hard to talk when you have two pairs of eyes following your every move."

"Happens," Harry said and snapped his fingers. "Better?"

"Better," Jean smiled. "Are you aware that you are attractive and you make me drool?"

"I might be," Harry said and rolled his eyes. "But even if you look good, you do not outshine Carol, so don't expect too much from it. At least without somehow convincing me."

"Pretty please?" Jean pouted.

"I will consider it, but let me think first and leave me alone as I have a feeling that At wants to talk with me and she doesn't like eavesdropping."

Jean looked at him and later turned towards the corridor. "Of course, I'm gone," he said and paling rapidly disappeared.

Harry smiled and walked to his room as he knew that Atalanta learned from the time the two of them spent together on Asgard that she could walk right into his room most of the time. And in turn he could do the same when it came to her room. Sometimes it lead into embarrassing situations, especially in the morning or right after they got back from training as there was a high chance that they could walk in on the other dressing up.

"So what do you want?" He asked as he looked at her. "I mean, I know that you have something on your mind."

"To talk with you," she said and sat down on his bed, fidgeting a bit. "Harry, I know that you are hiding things you don't want to share and I know that you want to throw them out."

"I'm not hiding things," he said turning to her. "I'm perfectly fine and don't need to talk with you about them."

Atalanta sighed and looked at him. "We both were taught the exact same exercises and ways of hiding things we want to keep hidden. I know how you do it and I can tell that you are hiding things."

His eyes widened and he looked at her. "I don't have anything to hide from you."

"Sit down," she said, patting a spot to her side. "Harry, I don't want to hurt you or invade your privacy, but you used to trust me."

He sighed and looked at her. He could see that she was serious and winced internally, _she is as stubborn as it can get and she won't leave this room without a fight,_ he thought and looked at the spot patted by her. Sighing dramatically he walked to it and sat down. "Are you happy?" He asked.

"At least some improvement on your part," she smiled and looked at him. "I'm worried about you," she softly said. "You are bottling down the emotions you are feeling and you can lose yourself to them."

He growled and glared at her. "Since when did I allow you to swoop around my mind?"

"You didn't-"

"Exactly," he smiled. "So don't look into my mind."

"I'm not looking into your mind or never have been," she said and he looked at her, some shock and surprise in his eyes. "I saw how you changed and I'm worried about you, Harry."

"I'm fine," he huffed and looked dangerously at her.

"No, you are not fine," she softly said and placed her hand on his shoulder. "We are as fragile emotionally as humans are, or even more. Don't tempt the fates as I don't want to lose you to madness and insanity, you are one of my few true friends here."

His eyes widened as he looked at her, _she might have something worth listening to say,_ he thought and remained silent for a long time. Finally having done that he nodded. "I will hear you out."

"Good," she said and looked into his eyes, her golden ones looking into his emerald ones. "Can we move to the level of our minds and thoughts?"

"Are you sure?"

"Do you have anything to hide?" she asked, chuckling lightly. "Otherwise you wouldn't have even questioned me, normally you have allowed me to talk to you in your mind."

"No," he said and tried to fought a blush creeping up his cheeks. "I just don't want you to see some of my thoughts."

"Do you like me?" she asked, chuckling merrily. "Or is it something else."

"No," he blushed.

"Just admit it and allow me into your mind," she said. "I won't laugh at any of your feelings."

"Fine," he said and she smiled.

Atalanta closed her eyes and Harry almost immediately felt gentle probes touching outside of his mind. He pushed his shields out of their way and they passed into his mind. _"It seems that nothing has changed here since the last time,"_ she said. _"So I don't know about what you are so scared."_

" _I don't know,"_ he finally admitted. _"So maybe you will help me get over with it?"_

" _I can, but first, can I look through your memories?"_ she asked and he wavered for a moment. _"You know that you have probably nothing to worry about."_

" _We will see,"_ he said as he felt her look through his mind. _"Can I look through your mind? Since I'm allowing you to see mine, I think I should be allowed to take a look at yours."_

" _Sure,"_ she said. _"You don't have the same level power of telepathy as I have so touch my forehead and it will allow you to see them."_

Harry looked at her and brushing some of her hair away placed his calloused and big hand on her forehead, it was warm and soft. When their skin connected he felt a spark of energy zap between them and he felt her mind just in reach. He pushed probes of magic into her and explored, feeling her emotions, thoughts and memories.

" _How does it feel to be able to see my memories, thoughts and feelings?"_ He heard her ask, some amusement underlining her voice.

" _Distracting,"_ he said as a chain of thoughts passed in front of him. _"I feel as if I am swimming in an ocean and don't know any direction."_

She laughed at him. _"You will get used to it, generally think about a phrase and say it in my mind. Things connected with it will fly to you, but watch out what you think as you might get what you didn't want to find."_

" _Anything is allowed?"_ He frowned.

" _Yes,"_ she said. _"Just be careful about my childhood?"_

" _Why?"_

She paused and he could see a wave of uneasiness wash over her. _"Let's just say that it was not the best one, so I'm still a bit sore about it."_

" _That could be said about my own childhood,"_ he bitterly laughed. _"Just see it and you will understand."_

" _I will and I will be careful with you."_

" _Thank you,"_ he said and focused on her own mind.

He called up her memories of her childhood and was almost washed away in their flow, they were strong and wild, flowing without pattern and loosely connected with each other. One thing that was common through all of it was fear. Fear of Hera, her plots, assassins and the future.

" _How did you survive there?"_ He asked. _"I would have been driven mad by watching out for an assassin."_

" _I could ask you the same question,"_ she said and he looked into her eyes, they were filled with sadness and sorrow. _"I saw your past Harry, I saw how you suffered at the hands of those filthy things and how you tried to get away from them. When we first met, I felt something draw me to you, and until now I was unsure why that was. Now I see._

" _Why then?"_

" _We are similar. Two people sharing a terrible past. You had those beings, while I lived in constant fear of my grandmother and her reapers."_

" _I knew that it was hard for you, but I didn't know that it was that hard,"_ he said and embraced her. "You are safe now and away from her."

"Yes," she said and smiled weakly. "Thank you, Harry."

"No problem, you also know about my past."

"Yeah, I know and I don't envy you," she said quietly as she let her fingers roam through his wings.

"Thank you," he smiled weakly and let his hands slid down her back. "It means a lot to me."

"As it means to me," she said as tears streaked down her cheeks. "You are my first true friend."

He smiled and wiped her tears away. "Don't cry, you are safe now."

"I know," she said quietly. "But I think it is a dream."

"It isn't," he assured her. "I'm as real as you are."

She smiled and pulled him into a kiss, at first his eyes widened in shock, but then he let the emotions control him and he forgot about every other thing. Only the pleasure mattered, his lips melted on hers, he felt her tongue probe his mouth and he pushed his own tongue into her mouth. It felt as if he was in heaven and only the current moment mattered, as if nothing before and after was important or existed. Finally after a long moment their lips parted as they were forced to take a breath, he panted heavily, sweat dripping down his forehead. It was something new that he rarely saw, it was the proximity and closeness that was new and the warmth. He looked at her and saw that her eyes were filled with happiness and pleasure. "It was... It was...," he tried to say.

"Fantastic," she finished for him. A large smile on her lips. "It was fantastic and you were even better."

"Thank you," he said and placed his hand on hers. "I think that you understand why I behave the way I do."

"Yes," she nodded soberly. "I also finally know what draws us together."

He only smiled and moved his hand along the curves of her back, enjoying their proximity and closeness. He saw her smile and snuggle against him, her normally impossible to read and see through mask shattered and he could see her enjoying it. He felt her hand move across his massive wings and he only smiled as she slowly moved through them, avoiding plucking out any feathers.

After a long moment of comfortable silence she looked into his eyes. "We also have other things to worry about and our friends might start to look for us."

"They can wait for a bit," he said and saw her chuckle.

"We spent half an hour here," she said. "That's long enough for some of them."

His eyes widened as he looked at her. "What?"

"Yes," she said sadly. "Maybe we can do it when we will have time, but now we need to stop."

Harry pouted but nodded. "You are right and it's not like we will be disturbed on Asgard."

"That's positive thinking," she smiled.

o-0-o

"Where were you?" Warren asked as Harry and Atalanta entered the living room.

He looked at them and frowned, there was something new about them, they behaved around each other in a more comfortable manner and were more relaxed.

"Just talking," Harry said, sheepish smile on his face. "Not much else."

"That's what you are saying," Warren said. "But still, you spent an awful lot of time doing it."

"Let them live," Jean quietly said. "They might decide to play with you and I don't think you will enjoy it."

He blushed a bit and nodded. "Never mind, just don't drop out of sight for so long."

"We won't," Harry promised.

"Good," Warren smiled and looked at them. "I guess that the talk was enlightening for you."

Their reaction was amusing for him and he almost immediately laughed as their cheeks turned beet red and they looked between each other uncomfortably. "Yes, it was," Harry finally said.

"Good," Warren smirked and watched them leave the room, almost running, blushes on their cheeks. Life was good.

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

I think that one pairing is getting kind of obvious, but there will be surprises.

Wards and destroying them, energy is energy and for laws of nature it really doesn't matter what kind of energy it is, it just need to be even. Also there are runes written on those things, runes that took ages to develop and test, not to mention billions of dollars of investments, SHIELD might have also some help from Asgard who is interested in reining those wizards of Earth.


	34. Calm III

**A/N - The end of holidays is here and the beginning of a school year and a cliff hanger at the end of the chapter. As always, read and review.**

 **o-0-o**

It was a usual day in the Scottish Highlands as Loki hovered in the air above Hogwarts, his palms spread in front of him. His body was completely at ease, kept in the air by magic, but it was obvious that whatever he was doing was straining him. A loud ripple was heard and Hogwarts changed, the tower that was flush with the rest of the castle was moved away from it and enlarged.

It was moved to a spot away from the rest of the building and its top changed, gone was the characteristic conical roof. Instead from the top grew four smaller towers that were connected to the main body below. It was a new dormitory tower for the castle, one of the most important changes promised by Prince Loki to the Headmaster.

Instead of the previous four common rooms, one for each house, there would be one, larger and more comfortable able to safely accommodate students from all the houses. Dormitories would be still separated by gender and house, but that would be the only common thing with the old times. If it was up to Loki, the houses would be weakened, but it was impossible to achieve that and, if he was going to be honest, pointless.

Looking at the castle he smiled, content that his job here was done. As he looked at his child he was surprised to see that it looked as good as it used to look when he had founded it with the four greatest magic users of that time.

For one last time he smiled and with a snap of his fingers he was gone from Earth.

o-0-o

Atalanta stood on the balcony of the Angel's Aerie and looked at Harry, they were there with Ulf who was busying himself with sharpening the edge of his axe and the monotonous sound of the whetstone scraping against metal filling the air. "Midgard isn't that bad of a place to be," she finally said.

"No, it is not," Harry nodded with a smile. "I came to like it and if my grandfather's agrees to it, you and Ulf could come with me for a lot longer during the next year."

"Huh?" Ulf asked as he diverted his attention from his axe.

"I mean that if you want, you can come with me for a lot longer during the next year, officially as bodyguards."

"But in reality?" Atalanta asked

"But in reality just friends," Harry said and smiled. "I can handle most things charging at me and there are also my wolves."

"Cocky are we?"

He laughed softly at those words. "No, I just know my capabilities really well and how much I can get done on my own."

"You know how to lie too, to not tell truth and hide what you don't like," she said and he chuckled.

"Well, I had a good teacher."

She smiled and placed her hand on one of his wings. "May I?"

"Just be careful with it," he said. "They are sensitive and don't pluck any feathers."

"Why?" she asked, her fingers moving through his wings. "They seem hard and tough."

"Because for most of the time they are such," he said and looked at her. "At least on the outside, underneath there is a softer layer and it can get destroyed by almost anything."

"Like down feathers?" she asked "To keep you warm?"

"Yes, they are a good protection when sleeping," he said with a wry smile. "I can wrap myself in them."

"I need to see it," she said, a mischievous glint to her eyes. "It must be an amusing sight to watch."

"It can be," Ulf said from the side. "He looks as if he was wrapped in a cocoon and is a pain to wake up."

"Why?" she asked, her gaze focused on Ulf.

"His wings can hit hard and throw you away," Ulf said and laughed. "I don't envy his future lovers."

"If you hadn't woken me up, I wouldn't have kicked you away," Harry said and added more softly. "It is one of my reactions."

"Because of them?" Atalanta asked, her golden eyes focused on Harry's green ones. "Or something else?"

"Probably them," Harry said and she didn't miss it when Ulf's eyes focused on them.

"Does he know?" she asked as she moved closer to him.

"To an extend, I didn't have a reason to explain things to him, while you saw my mind and my memories,"

She growled and looked at Ulf. "You will need to tell him, you trust me and I trust you, but he might have doubts about your friendship."

"I don't want to," Harry quietly said. "I don't want to and I'm scared of his reaction."

She snorted and lightly punched him in the arm. "You are a fool, Harald James," she said and looked at Ulf. "Come with us."

She grabbed Harry's hand and dragged him, he tried to protest, but she ignored it. From the corner of her eye she saw Ulf looking confused, but following them. She entered into her own room, let Ulf through and slammed door shut behind them. She could feel Harry's attempts to free his hand, but she ignored them and with a glance shut the windows.

She sat down on her bed and looked at Harry. "I know that you don't like to talk Harry, but you need to open up," she softly said. "We are your friends and we trust you, so you should also trust us."

He growled at her, but stopped when her golden eyes focused on him, they were full of kindness and compassion, not the usual blank mask that was so hard to read and understand. Now they were like a bottomless abyss, full of kindness and warmth.

"Will you do it?" she asked and placed her hand on his cheek.

"I will," he finally said.

"What will he do?" Ulf asked. "So far I've only been getting more and more confused."

"About my past, before I was brought to Asgard," Harry said quietly and looked at them. "I won't force an oath out of you, but I want you to be considerate about who you speak this with."

"We will be," Ulf said and Harry smiled in thanks.

He spent the next several minutes telling them about his past and what had happened to him, he felt as if an acid had left his body and even if he had already talked about his past, this was different. He knew them for the longest amount of time and they were simply there, not asking and letting him to do it in his own way.

When he was done with his storytelling he heard Ulf growl, low and rumbling. "How is it possible that those things were allowed to take you in and are still alive?"

"I don't know," Harry said. "I want to simply wipe it clean and forget it."

"You can't do that, but you have your family and us now," Atalanta softly said and made him smile.

"Yes, I'm glad that I met you and all of my other friends," he said quietly. "I don't know whom I would be if not for you and your help and support."

"Most certainly not the person we like and know," Ulf said. "And we don't want to check into what or whom you could have changed."

"Exactly," Atalanta said and looked at Ulf. "Would you mind leaving us alone?"

Ulf smiled and with a nod left the room, leaving them alone and to their own devices.

"Are you calmer now?" Atalanta asked as she snuggled up against him. "Or are you still as worried as you used to?"

He looked at her as he felt her warm body touch him, the closeness and her comfortable weight pushing away his fears and worries. "It helped," he finally said. "Though you did a lot that helped as well."

"I'm glad that I could," she smiled. "You are a good person and I saw how badly you were being destroyed by it."

Harry sighed and looked at her. "I thought I was fine, but apparently I wasn't."

"No, you weren't," she said, her hand moving through the feathers of his wing. "So in a year's time you want me and Ulf to come with you?"

Harry was silent for a moment, his eyes focused on her and her distracting hand that was slowly moving through the feathers of one of his wings. "Yes," he slowly said. "I want people that I trust, like and know, who will happily help me, as well as won't be as stiff as any of the guards my uncle or grandfather would find."

"Good answer," she said and smiled. "So you want us to help you not get mad inside of Hogwarts?"

"Among other things," he said and placed his hand on her back. "May I?"

"Sure." she smiled. "So what are those other things?" she asked as her hand carefully moved through his feathers.

"Having fun and helping me to keep fit as I doubt anybody else would be able to keep up with me."

"And since we are as fast as you are, we would be able to help you," she said, snuggling closer to him. "Not to mention that you will have a few people you know with you."

"Exactly." He smiled as a comfortable silence fell onto the room. They sat there, simply enjoying each other's presence and closeness.

o-0-o

Warren smiled as he snuggled against Jean, it was one of the few moments before their return to the Institute where they could be together and alone. Their naked bodies embracing each other and keeping the heat between them. It was morning and the warm sunlight was pouring into the room, made their bodies glow gold.

"I will miss these moments," she whispered as she left a peck on his cheek. "Until Yule Break we won't have an opportunity to be together like this."

"No, we won't," he sadly nodded as he looked at her body laying to his side. "I love you, Jean," he whispered

She smiled and kissed him, her full lips mashing against his. "I love you too."

He smiled and ran his hand over her side. "You are so beautiful," he said, his fingers brushing against her soft flesh. "And I'm glad that you are mine."

She smiled at those words and looked into his blue eyes. "I'm as beautiful as you are," she finally said.

He chuckled, looked at her and glanced at the clock standing on his nightstand. "I would love to make love to you, but they will start looking for us."

"So?" she asked as she rolled onto him and straddled him. "They can wait."

He sighed and tried not to look at her round, perky breasts. "We can do it at night," he said. "Now we need to get dressed and take care of them or they will storm into the room and find us in this position."

He saw her blush and nod. "I'm disappointed in you," she pouted and flowed off him and the bed.

Warren openly gaped at her body as she walked to the bathroom, her completely naked body visible to him. Long, toned legs with muscle thanks to the constant exercises and running, her large shapely ass that made him drool each time he looked at it and her perfect, flawless back. Her fiery red hair moving in mesmerizing patterns and complementing her beautiful body.

He let her take a bath first and laid in his bed, looking out of the window and at the mountain peaks visible in the distance. This holiday had been wonderful and there were still a few days left.

o-0-o

Harry smiled and looked at Warren. "This was the best idea out of the whole year, at least on your part," he finally said. "I needed to relax away from the world and Asgard, as much as I love it, it can be tiring."

"Thanks," Warren smiled and laughed. "So you and Atalanta, is there anything going on between you?"

Harry blushed and growled. "No, she just helped me to understand a few things."

"So why are you blushing?" Warren teased him.

"I don't know," Harry said and looked around, trying to find a good way to get out of the trap. "Maybe it is just that it's warm?"

"Maybe, or maybe not."

Harry growled and looked at Warren, if looks could kill, Warren would be a smoking pile of ash. "Since when have you been allowed to poke my private life? Maybe we should talk about you and Jean?"

Warren was about to say something when a silver blur passed through the room, it made a circle around him and stopped in front of Harry. "I see that he got you cornered mon chéri," Jean said.

"Jean, maybe some help?" Harry asked.

Jean frowned and looked at him. "Why not." He finally nodded and grasped Harry's hand. "Hold tight," he said.

"What-" Harry asked before he was almost torn apart by the speed.

The next moment he remembered he was standing on the roof of the Angel's Aerie and Jean was standing by his side, a smirk visible on his face. "Do you like my speed?" Jean asked.

"It is nice, but distracting," Harry said, shaking his head to regain some focus. "Also seems to be tearing things."

"Or connecting them," Jean said with a smirk. "I don't know how you got caught by your hot cousin."

"I would also like to know that," Harry smiled and looked at Jean. "Thank you for your help."

"No need to thank me, mon chéri." Jean bowed his head. "I did it because you deserved to be saved or it would have ended up badly."

Harry arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean by it ending badly?"

"Your body combusting on its own," Jean shrugged. "Or another bad event that would rob the world of your beauty."

Harry snorted and rolled his eyes. "Remember, I am a demigod, it is harder to get me to die."

"Which is even better," Jean chuckled and looked at Harry. "So mon chéri, won't you thank me for being your savior?"

Harry smiled and looked at Jean. "How could I do that?"

"A kiss would be enough."

"Just a kiss?" Harry asked.

"Just a kiss." Jean smiled. "It's not much."

"No, it's not," Harry nodded and leaned towards Jean to kiss him.

Jean smiled and they kissed, it was a short, sloppy kiss.

"Did I bite you?" Jean asked.

"No," Harry said, blushing a bit. "Once again thank you for your help."

"No problem," Jean said and Harry nodded.

He turned to look at the nearby peaks of the Rocky Mountains as the sun lazily moved above their heads, on Asgard the weather in the mountains was more vicious and dangerous. Here it seemed like a paradise come true.

o-0-o

Fury smiled as he stood on the roof of the Triskelion and watched as the newest helicarrier exited her drydock, she was a much deadlier ship than the first one and should serve SHIELD faithfully. She was over four hundred meters long and ninety meters wide, she was the largest unit ever deployed by SHIELD and her name was _Valiant_.

"She looks good," Tony Stark said as he broke the silence. "It is obvious that without my touch she wouldn't be as good as she is now."

Fury nodded and glanced at Stark. "She is good, but a lot depends on her crew, without it, she won't work."

"I hope that you found someone good to be her commander."

"Yes, I have," Fury said and smirked.

 _Valiant_ left her drydock and slowly turned around, allowing them to look at her flight deck which was filled with a wide assortment of planes, starting from a heavily upgraded version of F/A-18 Super Hornet, from F-35 to Quinjets, used solely by SHIELD. However those weren't her only fangs, she also mounted several railguns placed in her belly that allowed firing at targets located below her. There were also several positions of anti-aircraft defenses evenly spread out around her hull to prevent planes and rockets from hitting her.

"Who?"

"Rhodes," Fury said and smiled as Stark's jaw dropped. "He is quite competent and I need someone reliable, and we know him. Sometimes that is needed more than everything else."

"Wasn't Hill slated to receive this ship?"

"No, she got a post in Europe and I need her there."

Stark nodded and Fury could tell that he was thinking about something. "Do you want me to design something else for you?"

Fury looked at him, his sole eyes boring into Stark's soul. "There is one project that could benefit from your help, I will send you data about it by tomorrow as I won't mind your help with designing the final product."

"How secret is it this time?"

"Technically I should hang myself for telling you about it, but first I should kill you," Fury said, his lips forming a smile. "It's as dark as it can get, nobody is supposed to know."

"Lovely," Stark snorted. "So what's its codename?"

"Malleus Maleficarum."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hammer on the Witches," Fury said and looked at Stark. "You mention that you work on it and your heart will be hanging on top of the biggest rocket I can find."

"Got it." Stark nodded.

"Good,"

Fury stood there watching as _Valiant_ rose into the sky and then activated her main engines, there was a massive roar as they fired for the very first time. A set of two arc reactors buried deep within the hull providing just over ten gigawatts of power for a couple of pellets of palladium and not taking an obscene amount of room like nuclear plants tended to do.

She was the leading ship of her class and he couldn't wait to get his hands on more of them, two of them were under construction and contracts for construction of eight more, each worth over twenty-five billion dollars, were to be signed.

o-0-o

Harry sighed as he looked at the Rocky Mountains, two weeks here passed like a blur and the blissful holidays spent among their peaks in the Angel's Aerie ended. It was time to say goodbyes, for some to travel to Asgard and for some to return to the Institute. He smiled weakly as he looked at Atalanta, who stood by his side.

"I will miss you," he said and placed his hand on her back.

"I will, too," she said and smiled. "You can use Hábrók."

"I can and I will," he said and glanced in direction of Jarl and Carol. "But I doubt I will be the only one."

"Probably not," she said and snuggled against Harry. "I hope that you won't get killed."

"I won't At," he said and looked at her. "Kiss for goodbye?"

She only smiled and leaned towards him, their lips met and for Harry it felt as if he was in heaven, his lips melting on hers. He felt as his heart skipped a beat and his body temperature increased by a couple of degrees.

"I will miss you," she whispered as their kiss ended.

"So will I," he said and looked towards Ulf and Illyana. "They are waiting for you."

"They are," she said and slinging her bag over the shoulder she walked to their friends that would return to Asgard.

For one last time Harry looked in the direction of their friends and correcting his hair he walked to Warren who was waiting for him in front of one of the cars.

"Lucky you," Warren chuckled as Harry got into the car. "The Princess of the Amazons that likes you."

Harry blushed and didn't say a word, he knew that Warren would tease him even more so he decided to save some of his dignity and not answer.

"So you won't deny that you are in love with her?" Warren asked after a moment, making him growl. "Don't get so aggressive, I'm just playing with you."

"Then do so more subtly," Harry said and pulled out a book, trying to completely ignore his older cousin's antics.

o-0-o

Sean Cassidy looked around as he entered the control room of the Rock, it was buried deep within the Alps and was probably the most important base outside of Triskelion. He saw Maria Hill bent over the table showing a map of Europe and covered in notes, he walked to her and she looked up when he approached.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"Not much," he said and grimaced. "Karkaroff knows how to avoid giving a full answer and he is too precious to get more creative with getting data out of him. One thing he said was that they planned something big."

"Something big?" she frowned and her gaze darted to the map. "That probably means a move against one of the Omega level beings and there is a problem."

"What?" He asked as he looked at one of lists with names. "Two of them are missing?"

"Yes," she said. "We had subtle surveillance placed on them, undercover agents in their vicinity and they just disappeared as if they were whisked away by magic or something similar. Someone must have done it so that we didn't see him, or-"

"Or they used a wizard to help them," he finished and she looked up at him. "We know that while the White Council is focused on itself and several other things, the wizarding world is more than happy to meddle in our affairs. I'm almost certain that Dumbledore or another heavyweight isn't playing in this game, the rest is questionable."

She looked at him and later at the map. "One of them was snatched in the UK and other in the US, but the pattern was the same. So the same group did it."

"And the same group could be coming for the rest of our Omega," he said. "All of which are at Xavier's."

"Which is hard to penetrate, but it happened in the past and it's not like they stay inside of it all the time so someone might snatch them when we aren't watching," she said and sighed. "And we can't share it with them, even if we want since nobody will believe us."

"What about Demon?"

"He is laying low and trying to get as much data as possible," she said and glanced at her watch. "He should report in three days."

Sean nodded and looked at the map. "Can you get Lacrosse to take a look at Hogwarts and Durmstrang, just in case we need to pay them a visit?"

She looked at him, considering his words. "I will contact Director Fury and suggest the usage of Lacrosse, but he will need to know why we need to use them."

"Because a radar doesn't have the slightest issue with taking a look at things below wards," he said with a smirk. "MACUSA found how to upgrade their wards to hide from radars, but I doubt those two managed to do it, so we will have all the data we want."

She nodded and looked at him. "I have a mission for you, gather a strike team and check Alkali Lake, while there should be nobody present, there might be someone or some evidence."

"Understood, Director," he said and turning around walked out of the room.

o-0-o

Hawkeye crouched on the roof of a building in Kraków, his gaze sweeping over narrow streets between townhouses, looking for a target that should be somewhere here or at least the intelligence data suggested that he would be. His eyes narrowed when he saw a man walk down the street directly below him. The man fit the description he was given and by the looks of it he was the target. He wasn't tall, nor he was short, just an average male in his late thirties maybe, with light brown hair in a cheap suit, a briefcase in hand. He looked like an average person, nothing unusual or extraordinary.

Hawkeye looked around for any potential bodyguards that could be around and spotted only two. Carefully placing his bow on the roof and making sure that it wouldn't make a single sound or slip onto the ground, which would reveal his position, he picked up his SCAR-SSR rifle. He placed the scope in front of his right eye and aimed for the first goon's head.

He squeezed the trigger and a soft pop was heard as the bullet left the barrel and slammed into his target's head. It hit him right in the ear and he was killed before he had a chance to react. Before the second guard or the target could react Hawkeye aimed at the second guard and killed him.

Hawkeye dropped onto the ground and ran to his target, he slammed him into the wall and pulling a knife out of its scabbard pressed it against his throat. "Are you Doctor Hugh Bricksdale?"

His target gulped and looked at the knife pressed against his throat and then into Hawkeye's eyes. "Yes," he whimpered.

"Good," Hawkeye said and decreased amount of pressure on Bricksdale's throat. "What do you know about Weapon X programme?"

"Nothing."

Hawkeye looked at Hugh and later at his goons. "Then why did you have two bodyguards, both of them wanted criminals in at least ten countries and why do you sneak through the city like a petty thug?"

Hugh gulped and spat at Hawkeye. "I know nothing, swine."

He threw Hugh onto the ground and pressed his knee against his spine to keep him steady. Hawkeye pulled out a pair of handcuffs, cuffed and left his target on the street and went to collect his equipment. Dropping down back onto the street, Hawkeye lifted Hugh and looked at him. "We could have done it less painful for you, but since you are unwilling to work, you will have to have a date with Psylocke."

Hugh paled as Hawkeye dragged him through the street, they entered an alleyway and Hawkeye nodded to a pair of guards that stood in front of one of the buildings. They opened the door in front of them and pushing Hugh ahead, Hawkeye entered it. It was dim inside, but his eyes easily adapted to the darkness and he saw another pair of guards and Psylocke.

"Good job," she said and walked to them. "One doctor to interrogate and a briefcase full of data, you have outdone yourself."

"Sloppy guards that lacked imagination," Hawkeye said with a shrug. "He is all yours, have fun picking apart his mind."

"I will," Psylocke said as she took Hugh from him and walked to one of chairs. "Sit!"

Hugh looked at her, stubbornness visible in his eyes. She smiled and pushed him into the chair, completely ignoring his protests.

"Now we will talk," she said as she came to a stop behind him and placed her hands on his temples.

Hawkeye winced as he saw what she was about to do and silently slipped out of the room, interrogation never was his thing. Kill a goon or a dictator, yes, interrogate, no.

o-0-o

Hrimhari stood on top one of the trees just outside the fence of Malfoy Manor and whistled quietly. It was a fortress that would be problematic to attack. If he was right those hedges were a nasty subspecies of a strangler, a plant that was resistant to almost everything and would strangle everything that got close. Even if it wasn't enough, what was behind it would make almost every assassin run away in fear, a pair of Wadjet cobras, forty feet long with venom able to injure a god and a pair of manticores which made the task of getting inside a tough one.

"We might need more support," Vidar said. "The hedge is not a problem as we can use flamethrowers to burn it, but those things behind..."

"Those things behind would be a challenge for my uncle, Prince Thor," Hrimhari finished. "And we don't know where the civilians are," he added with grimace.

"So what do you suggest, Sir?"

He looked around and sniffed the air. "While I know that my grandfather, Prince Loki, wants Malfoy gone, I won't risk an attack on this thing. Especially with civilians inside as it can get nasty, we will wait for a moment when he will be alone and then we will strike," he said, his voice sullen and lacking any emotion. "Now we will look for easier targets."

"Understood, sir," Vidar said and Hrimhari nodded.

For one last time he looked at the mansion and then glanced at the sky, a beam of Bifrost descended onto them and whisked them away to Asgard. It was the first failure in this campaign, a failure without weapons being even used. A failure that hurt his honor and pride as a warrior.

o-0-o

Fury stood by the viewing slit, placed in a wall of the bunker, over a kilometer from the target area, he knew that he could get a recording of the test or a written report, but he wanted to see it on his own. The true power of _Malleus Maleficarum_.

The unmistakable sound of jet engines was heard through the air and when he looked upwards he could see the sleek, matte black hull of B-1B Lancer approach the target. It was diving towards the target and then from it a small, dart like object disconnected. The rocket engine placed at the end of the dart ignited and the projectile flew towards the target, followed by a fiery trail of exhaust gasses, there was a brief moment before it slammed into the wards.

There was a flash of light, followed by a deafening sound and a wave of dust and energy. He felt as if a few hundred kilos of rocks slammed into his body. When the dust settled and he was able to look towards the wards he saw nothing.

The weapon worked as advertised or maybe even better, but that would be decided once the full report was prepared and they would have an opportunity to inspect the readings from the hundreds of sensors scattered across the whole field.

o-0-o

Oliver looked around curiously, Hogwarts felt different and new, no, not new, fresh would be a better word. He walked to his usual seat at the Gryffindor table and joined his friends from the Quidditch team. "So the changes seem to be real," he said.

"Yes," Charlie said. "The dormitories and common rooms are completely different and according to what we were told, there will be a long list of announcements made by Dumbledore at the beginning of the feast."

"I wonder how similar to the Academy it will get," Katie said. "As it was awesome and I want some of it brought here."

"Who wouldn't?" Oliver asked. "I mean, they pushed us into the ground over and over again, but we had an opportunity to relax and have fun."

"It should be interesting," Charlie said and at the same time the doors leading into the hall creaked open. "Here it comes," he said when a long trail of first year students entered the room.

"So once it is over we will learn something interesting?" Fred Weasley asked. "Or did my ears stop working for a moment?"

"We will," Oliver said with a roll of his eyes. "Now we need to survive the sorting and hear him, but I hope that there will be a change."

They nodded and turned to watch the sorting, the queue of fourteen year old students quickly getting smaller as they were sorted to their houses. The ew students were somewhat evenly spread across all houses and once the ceremony ended everybody looked at Dumbledore who stood up and walked to a podium placed in front of the high table.

"Welcome to yet another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he said as the noise died down. "I want to welcome back the old students and greet the new students that will spend their next seven years inside of these hallowed walls. As many of you might have seen there have been made changes to the school, the first and most important one being that all of the houses now share a common room."

The reaction to those words could only be described as an explosion. A wave of outrageous shouts and cries washed over the room. It looked as if a storm appeared and shook everybody and everything. It was a change that not many expected and even less were prepared to see, yet it was pushed down their throats, not caring about their opinions.

Oliver was surprised by it, but he didn't protest as he knew that it wouldn't change a single thing since he was almost sure that Loki was behind it.

"Silence! Silence!" Dumbledore bellowed, his voice cutting through the noise and silencing them. "This is something that you won't change and you can protest as much as you wish, but it will remain in place." There was still some grumbling and general unhappiness, but it had turned from outright rage into a simmering one. "The next thing many of you will accept gladly, Professor Binns decided to resign and rest in peace, which means that from the start of this year until I find a suitable candidate I will be teaching History of Magic."

If the previous reaction was an outburst of hate, this one was an outburst of pure and primal joy. A wave of cheers and whooping washed over the whole hall, startling the ghosts and shocking the Professors who didn't expect it. It was a show of enthusiasm and joy not many had seen. The first year students looked at their older peers with shock and confusion, they couldn't understand why they were so happy.

Oliver didn't hide his happiness as he shouted with everybody else in joy. Binns was finally gone and Dumbledore had decided to take this position.

"Since the start of this year Runes and Logic as well as the basics of Arithmancy will be a compulsory subject for every student. They were as such in the past, but due to the mistakes done by the previous Headmasters they were removed and now it is a proper time to return them to their rightful places," Dumbledore said and Oliver could tell that the old Headmaster was unhappy. "Also those that won't get at at least an Exceed Expectations in Logic won't be allowed to study Arithmancy."

"Seems fair," Charlie muttered. "And maybe it will keep the amount of idiots in check."

"Huh?" Fred frowned.

"Nine out of ten lacks any understanding of Math," Oliver explained with a sigh. "And they didn't see what my cousin needs to study in Muggle school."

"Cousin?" Charlie asked. "You didn't mention that you have any."

"Second cousin," Oliver explained. "She is fourteen or so and lives in the USA, so we don't see each other too often, but we met during holidays and she mentioned that she harry met Harry."

"How and when?"

"At a party hosted by Worthington, around March or April."

"Cool," Charlie said and Oliver briefly smiled.

Dumbledore cleared his throat and fired several sparks from his wand, silencing them. "The last thing I want to announce is that it has been agreed with Prince Loki that twenty-eight students, four per year, will be allowed to study on Asgard. The first group will be chosen during the first term and will travel to Asgard before Christmas break," Dumbledore said and clasped his hands twice. "Tuck in," he said as food appeared out of nowhere on the tables.

o-0-o

The Lacrosse satellites were originally constructed for NRO, but now were a joint venture between NRO and SHIELD providing high-quality radar pictures of objects in which those agencies were interested. When Director Hill asked for radar pictures of Durmstrang and Hogwarts two satellites out of their constellation changed orbit, their engines firing to move them into one that would allow a flyover above their targets.

They were rarely used by SHIELD, but there was one exception to it, buildings hidden beneath wards able to hide what they protected from sight, yet failed to do the same for radars. Multiple flyovers would be performed, in each of them the powerful radars would collect immense amounts of data for processing and analysis. Once done it would reveal if there was anything of interest located in those two places.

o-0-o

A trio of Quinjets flew over the treetops towards Alkali Lake, their black sleek hulls almost impossible to spot in the darkness of the night. They made a loop above the lake and slowed down in front of a dam, where they engaged their vertical thrusters and gently landed on the ground.

Banshee checked his rifle for one last time and placed night vision goggles in front of his eyes as he exited the aircraft. He looked around and in the greenness of night vision was able to see the rest of the agents leave the Quinjets and form up teams.

He looked at the entrance into the complex and images flashed through his mind from the last time he was inside it, the time when he saw things he thought were possible only in the movies and books. Beings that were so mutilated and twisted that they no longer couldn't be named humans. He looked at the agent to his side who was grasping a Saiga-12 with a drum of flechettes and pointed at the entrance.

They entered the complex, guns pointing towards any hole from which something could jump out and attack them. He knew there was a good chance that they would run into something nasty willing to rip their throats open and eat them. He saw movement in front of himself and pointed his gun in its direction.

The thing turned out to be a male in his late thirties with an untidy mane of hair and the physique of a brawler. Banshee depressed the trigger and fired, yet the target brushed off the bullets as if they were nothing and kept running. It even ignored the withering hail of fire that came from a Saiga-12 shotgun, volley after a volley of flechettes was completely ignored by it.

"What was that?" One of agents asked as the thing passed them. "It was something unnatural."

"Sabertooth," Banshee said as he reloaded his rifle. "Suspected of working with Weapon X, now we know for sure."

Agent nodded and Banshee could tell that he was scared of the thing they just saw. Sean's gaze ran over the spent cases littering the floor and he motioned agents to move forward. They needed to check this place and if Sabertooth was their first guest, he could only wonder what would be next.

o-0-o

Harry sat in the front seat as Warren's car sped down the highway and had a really, really bad feeling about the time that was to come. He didn't know why, but he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle. Even the weather seemed to make him sad as there was a large front of rain clouds moving towards them.

"Stressed about something?" Warren asked as he changed the lane. "Or just a bad day?"

"Probably a bad day," Harry brushed off. "Really bad day."

Warren nodded, focused on driving and then it happened a truck slammed into them from the side and threw out of the highway. If that wasn't enough something exploded right behind it and threw it into a spinning motion, it rolled over and over again, thrashing everything that was inside. It was a miracle that they survived the accident.

Harry felt as if his whole body was being slammed into a wall over and over again. When the car came to stop it was in the middle of the field. He looked around he saw that Warren had a massive, ugly cut on the skin across his forehead and was unconscious or dead, yet the second possibility couldn't get into his mind. He wrestled himself out of the safety belts and the moment he was out of the car he felt as if a mountain slammed into his skull.

He landed in soft soil and before he lost his consciousness he felt something grasp him by his shoulders. "You will come with us." After that he felt something once again slam into his head and blackness took over his mind. _To be continued…_

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

Loki is changing Hogwarts as even if he have issues with Dumbledore, he also knows that if he lets it boil and simmer, he will have another warlock/dark lord in maybe twenty or so years. Prevention is always cheaper than dealing with the fallout, so he does it as otherwise he would need to spend his precious time to chase down that wizard.

One common room is the least painful thing he could come up with and one that does the job just fine, they need to integrate as in the books until book five we had houses fighting with each other and while friendly competitions is appreciated and encouraged, this isn't the case as those wizards fight with each other and cannot stand each other.

Also curriculum, they use Latin for spells so it is safer to know Latin as a whole as a lot of texts and books written to thirteen or fourteen century will be in Latin only and while there are translations, they tend to miss subtleties of Latin and Math, they want to study Arithmancy and don't know Math. It's as wise as starting Chemistry from playing with uranium.

White Council, for those who don't know it is a ruling body of wizards in Dresdenverse, at the top of it is Senior Council, seven the most powerful and oldest wizards out of the whole council. Usually it is focused on itself, chasing warlocks and as of recent on a war that just ended leaving a huge power vacuum with hundreds of things trying to fill the void.

Lacrosse, codename of a constellation of satellites used by US government for radar reconnaissance, I went with an assumption that wards simply make us see things, which means that radar will see just fine, besides it is based on radio, which we know in the canon works around magic.

Sabertooth behavior, he is a brute, but he is also a predator and a fight against whole horde of agents backed up by two Quinjets is a thing even he wouldn't do. Each Quinjet has 20mm Gatling cannon with several thousand pieces of ammunition to it, ammunition designed to punch holes in armor, now imagine human body being greeted by such assault. He could ignore fléchettes and bullets as he was running and target charging at you is a hard one to hit, besides human limbs have some limits, while cannon on a Quinjet has computer targeting systems which aren't affected by stress or nervousness.


	35. Who sows wind will harvest storm

**A/N - Calm is over and now is the time for fast and dirty action, blood, bodies, pieces of them and buildings might be flying as Fury and Loki are rather unhappy and want blood, this arc as a whole will be dark and going into extremely dark at times. There are several important things in the really long Author's Notes at the bottom, if you want to understand what is going on and what will be happening read them. Yes, they are long, but hopefully they will explain a lot of things and make things easier for me later on. Read and review.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Heimdall was watching the universe when his gaze was drawn to Midgard, he was subconsciously watching the youngest Prince of Asgard and now he was gone. His all-seeing sight focused on Midgard and his eyes widened when he didn't find him and the last spot where he was seen was the smoking wreck of a car. There was not a single trace of the Prince's body and it made him worried.

He grabbed a beautifully carved horn hanging on his belt, placed it in front of his lips and played three long signals. Each of them rattling bones and awaking sleeping people. It was the sound of the horn named Gjallarhorn, a horn played only in the times of great danger to Asgard.

o-0-o

Fury snarled as he jumped down onto the ground from his helicopter, someone fucked up their job and now the youngest Prince of Asgard was missing. He looked around and immediately spotted a car wreck and pieces of it strewn around. He glanced towards the road and saw a truck hanging on the posts and the lane closed so that forensics could safely work.

"What had happened here?!" he asked looking at the nearest agent. She was a short, blonde and blue-eyed woman, and her name was Karrin Murphy.

"We don't know, sir," she said. "The most probable chain of events is that the truck pushed the car sideways," she said, indicating at the truck. "But how the hell the car ended here is a different question altogether."

"What about the victims?" he asked as they walked to the wreck.

"That's a good question," she said and indicated one spot in the soft soil, a human shape visible in it. "Someone was laying here, but when we arrived they pulled the victim out of the wreck and he couldn't have been in two places."

He nodded and looked at her. "I think that you have an idea."

"Yes," she said. "Assuming that there were two victims and it is the most probable scenario, one of them probably freed himself from the wreck, but if I'm honest, a human would be unable to do it. They said that it was a miracle the first victim survived."

He nodded and once again looked at the scene, trying to place everything in his mind and imagine the way it had happened. He paused when he saw a part of a door that was ripped away from the wreck. He walked to it and touched it with the tip of his boot. "Agent Murphy, I think that you can assume that someone got out of the car," he said indicating the piece of wreckage.

"How?" She asked, her eyes wide. "I saw a lot of weird things, but even when working with Dresden I never saw something like that."

"Because it was not a human being," Fury said and smiled. "It was a half-blood Æsir, a son of Thor to be exact, a very important being to SHIELD."

She looked at him and paled.

"Yes," Fury quietly said. "I think that we both know what truly happened here."

"What, sir?

"He was kidnapped," Fury said and indicated to the truck. "Check the plates, driver, his friends, family and try to learn as much as you can about him." Then his gaze moved to the ground around the wreck. "Look for every single piece of evidence you can find and I want it done yesterday. I have a feeling we will need all of our luck to survive this. If need be dig the ground a yard or two deep, but find everything."

"Yes, sir," she said and walked away. He nodded and walked to the helicopter waiting for him.

 _Why didn't you warn us about the whole thing,_ Fury thought as he strapped into the seat and the helicopter took off, _why didn't you do it and who else is their target._ He paused and looked out of the window. _Only she can be their target, but she is at the Institute._

His eye widened as he realized something, he pulled out his phone and called Hawkeye. "Get to Carol Danvers and guard her until any reinforcements get to you. You can expect everything Weapon X has in store."

o-0-o

Hawkeye stopped his car in front of the house occupied by the Danvers family, got out of it and walked to the door, preparing his ID on the way. He knocked once and the doors opened in his face. "Who are you?" The male who opened the doors greeted him.

"Agent Clint Barton of SHIELD," Hawkeye said, showing his ID. "I was asked by Director Fury to ensure that your daughter is safe."

"She is safe and you have no right to intrude into my house," man snarled.

Hawkeye smiled and looked at the man. "I can get back here in a minute with a search warrant and I will rip your house apart, or you will let me see her as there is a high chance that she is in danger."

"Fine."

He nodded and pushing past the unwelcoming man Hawkeye walked inside, his eyes looking for trouble. "Where?"

"Second door on the right."

Hawkeye smiled and followed the man, who opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Carol, there is someone here to see you."

There was a moment of silence after which Carol emerged from the room and he breathed out in relief. "Carol, Director Fury sent me to make sure that you are safe as someone almost killed Warren III and Harry is missing."

Her eyes widened and she looked at him. "What?"

"I'm not joking," he said quietly. "We think that they might make a move against you, so it would be the best if you could get to the Institute now."

Carol's father tried to protest, but stopped when Hawkeye's gaze pinned him. "Of course, she can."

Carol nodded and disappeared into her room and moments later reappeared with a bag over her shoulder. "I'm ready."

He nodded and they walked to his car, she threw her bag onto the back seat and took the front seat. He got in and activating the lights and a siren, joined the traffic, most of the cars moving to the sides and allowing him to pass.

He looked at Carol and saw that under her calm mask she was scared of everything. "Carol, they should be fine and once you are at the Institute you will be safe too."

She nodded and didn't say a word, he nodded back and focused on driving as fast as safely possible.

o-0-o

Loki stormed from Asgard and appeared in Fury's office, without any introductions he summoned magic and slammed Fury against the wall of his own office. "Where is he?!" Loki hissed as he walked to Fury and pulled out a wicked knife. "Where is he?"

"That's what I would like to know as well," Fury said and gulped. "I know that Weapon X did it, the rest is unknown, Hawkeye is securing another that could be their target, but the rest is unknown."

Loki looked at him and released Fury. "You speak the truth, so I won't kill you, but my brother might be less restrained."

Fury breathed deeply a couple of times and nodded. "I know," he said. "That's why I'm trying to keep it as secret and quiet as possible."

"I will ensure that my brother controls his temper," Loki said and looked around the office. "I will help you as much as I can, but I need to know everything you know."

Fury nodded and walked to his desk, he typed several things on the keyboard and images appeared on the glass wall of the office. Loki looked at them and walked closer to get a better look. "You have a mole inside of that thing, it will help us, but for now he is useless," he said, walking past the first one. "You suspect that it was done in some part by wizards and it helps as we know who could do it, also the way the kidnapping was done says a lot."

"They lack people that are strong enough to stop an enraged Æsir," Fury said. "So they used a couple of explosives and a car crash to daze and damage him, so that they could strike him in the head and knock him out."

Loki nodded and looked at Fury. "Plans of Hogwarts and Durmstrang will help a lot since I think that an assault on them will be beneficial. However I would suggest you start with Hogwarts as I'm almost certain that there are agents of Weapon X inside, agents that are young and relatively harmless, but can tell us a lot."

"And the fact that they are young means they are easier to break,"

Loki smiled dangerously and nodded. "Among other things, but more importantly they won't be able hide information as good as you or I can. So if you strike fast, they should be completely surprised by the fact that there is an attack coming and if you do it at night they won't be able to organize a structured resistance."

For the first time in a long time a smile appeared on Fury's face. "And once everybody is accounted for and safely cuffed they can be interrogated for any information they have."

"Exactly," Loki nodded and walked along the wall. "Assuming that the attack would happen tomorrow night or on the night after it and the interrogation would take maybe a week's time. You should be able to learn about the exact location of their base in, let's say, ten days, after that maybe a few days of moving agents around and in three weeks you should be able to attack it."

"Could Asgard provide us with some assistance?"

Loki slowly shook his head and Fury looked at him. "Normally we would have gladly done so, but interstellar politics are in a very precarious state and we are gathering forces for a war we hadn't seen for the last two centuries. We need every unit we can get on the future frontline or close to it, so excluding a small unit of Rangers nothing will get deployed to Midgard."

"What about intelligence data? Images, names, anything that I could have some use for?"

Loki considered Fury's words and nodded with a dangerous smile. "That, I will gladly provide, tell me just what you need or want and it will be given. But everything else is beyond our capabilities, at least for the time being."

"I understand," Fury said and looked around the office. "I will get things going and in ten or twelve hours I will have a list of requests for you."

"Understood," Loki said and with a wave of his hand a portal to Asgard opened . He stepped through it and was gone from Midgard.

o-0-o

Harry groaned as he opened his eyes, he felt like shit and as if all of his bones were broken and put back together. He looked around and saw that he was laying on a concrete or stone floor and that he was naked and that a metal band was on his wrist. The first thing that hit him was the cold, followed by a feeling of uneasiness.

"Where am I?" He weakly croaked.

"In hell," someone at his side said. "A place where they keep those like you and me."

Harry sat up weakly, all of his joints creaking and protesting against the movement, and looked at his companion, he was a tall, lean, slightly muscular person with a mop of brown hair on his head and brown eyes with a dull light of amusement inside. He was maybe thirteen or fourteen, Harry had trouble telling his age. "You're a mutant?"

"Yes," his companion said and smiled faintly. "As is everybody kept here, dress yourself."

Harry blushed a bit as he finally realized he was naked, he looked around and saw on an unoccupied cot simple gray clothes, a pair of underwear, shorts and a shirt. He put on only the underwear and the shorts since his wings made putting on a shirt a troublesome task and it would limit the range of his movements which he wanted to avoid at all costs.

Having done that he looked around the room and found that it had heavy iron doors, thick walls and a miniscule window placed in the ceiling. There were two cots with blankets too thin to be called something more than a piece of cloth and in the corner a simple toilet and sink, so that they could at least stay clean.

"Who are you?" Harry asked as he sat down on his cot and looked at his companion.

"Robert Drake," he said. "And I've been here for about two months. So who are you?"

"Harald Thorson," Harry said with a weak smile. "Son of Thor and a Prince of Asgard."

Robert laughed mirthlessly. "Here you will be just another chain of letters and numbers."

"What?!" Harry growled as he started to shake. "What will I be?!"

"They treat us as disposable things," Robert said and looked at him. "Calm down or you will be the next one."

"Next one for what?" Harry asked confused.

"The Pit and after that, experiments," Robert said quietly. "That's how they punish us."

Harry was too shocked to say a word and only looked at Robert, a question in his eyes if this was some sort of a poor joke.

"No, I'm not joking," Robert said. "You will see it on your own."

Harry growled, his elongated canines flashing in the sparse light of the room. "They won't dare."

"They will, they do it to all of us."

Harry was about to say something when the doors of their cell opened and a person with auburn hair entered through them, he had red eyes and a staff in hand. For Harry he looked like a devil or a demon. He pointed his finger at Harry. "You, come with me."

Harry glowered at him and pulled his lips into a feral snarl, revealing his long canines.

"Come or I will force you to come with me."

Harry looked at Robert who nodded, defeated he got up from the cot and walked to the stranger with the staff.

o-0-o

A black SUV followed by a limousine entered onto the grounds of Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, they rolled in last and stopped in front of the entrance into the main building. From the lead car bodyguards in implacable black suits exited, armed with assault guns. Their eyes swept the grounds, looking for any threats to their employer. Once they found none, one of them rushed to the doors of the limo, opened them and out of the car stepped out Warren Worthington II.

He was wearing an implacable suit and looked as composed as the CEO of a multi-billion corporation should, but keen observers would spot hundreds of faint lines adorning his face. The moment he was seen a wave of reporters and journalists that was waiting at the gates of the hospital rushed towards him trying to learn anything about the events that had happened just two days ago.

"Mr Worthington, can we ask for a comment about the events of the past few days?"

"Mr Worthington, can we get a statement from you?"

"Mr Worthington, can you tell us who did it?"

He ignored these questions and many others that were hurled at him and instead quickly walked forward, his bodyguards keeping the reporters away from him, his own bodyguards were soon joined by the US Marines that stood on guard outside of the hospital. Most of the media circus was stopped by a line of Marines and allowed his bodyguards to rush him inside and into the safety of the building as there was still a high chance there were assassins lurking around and waiting for an opportunity to kill him.

The moment he got into the hospital and the doors of the lobby closed behind him, the wave of questions died down and now was just a constant loud hum from outside. Seeing who he was and a stormy expression on his face, he was immediately directed towards one of the many elevators.

As he rode the elevator Warren mulled over the events of the day of the accident, he was briefed by Director Fury about what had happened and who could have done it. When he had heard the true details about the accident, those that would be kept secret from the press for the foreseeable future, his stomach had wanted to twist.

When he heard a soft chime, announcing that they had arrived and the doors opened, he let his bodyguards step out of it first and check if they were happy with the security level. They nodded and allowed him to leave the elevator. Outside of it a medium height female doctor with keen brown eyes and dark brown hair pulled into a ponytail was waiting for him.

"Mr Worthington," she said. "I'm Doctor Lam and I am responsible for your son, so I thought that it would be best if you could learn about his state from me."

"Of course, Doctor," he nodded. "I received information about his state, but Director Fury couldn't provide up to date information."

She nodded. "I will take you to the room where he is and on the way there I will explain his state."

"Of course."

His bodyguards formed a loose circle around them and they started to walk.

She looked at him, waiting for a permission to speak and he lightly nodded in her direction. "I will be blunt with you, Mr Worthington, a normal human would be dead long before your son was transported to the hospital. He has both legs broken in multiple places, a ruptured lung, two broken ribs, several cracked ones, his left hand took the brunt of the impact and almost everything inside of it is broken. He also has a concussion, several deep lacerations from pieces of metal that impacted him and shrapnels that slammed into his back."

"How is it that he is alive?" One of the guards asked and Warren's glare focused on him. "Pardon me, sir, but I have seen people with half of those injuries and they usually bled out or died very slowly."

"We have a theory," Doctor Lam said quietly and they looked at her. "We did tests on his blood and it seems to be capable of regeneration and recreation of destroyed tissue. So we suspect that this ability saved him and is still helping with his recovery, but it will be a very long time before he will be allowed to leave the hospital."

Warren nodded and looked at a pair of guards with battle rifles and dressed in full body armor. "Director Fury sent them?"

"Yes," she said as they passed them. "Mr Worthington, we will do everything possible in our power to ensure that your son is released as soon as possible, but even the most optimistic estimates say that he will spend here weeks, if not months. In the last forty-eight hours we performed several surgeries and there are a few more to be performed this week."

"I understand," Warren said and looked towards door with another pair of guards just outside of it. "He is inside?" Warren asked, indicating door.

"Yes," she said. "He is in a coma and under life support, so I would strongly advise that the amount of time spent inside be maximally limited."

"I understand," Warren said and opening the door stepped into the room.

When he entered the room almost instantly he was greeted by the noise of the life support machinery that surrounded his son's bed in a wide circle. As he looked at his son, he had trouble recognizing him, he was almost wholly covered in bandages, some of them slowly soaking with blood. Warren III looked as if he came out of hell and fought with a beast, when Warren II had heard Doctor Lam list his son's injuries, he had trouble believing it. But now it was too true and too real to be anything else than harsh reality.

"Get well, son," he softly said, before walking out of the room and closing doors behind himself. He looked at Doctor Lam. "Doctor, at first I couldn't believe you, but now I certainly do."

She nodded and smiled weakly. "That's the reaction of almost every family member when they are being told about the extent of the injuries of someone they hold dear."

He nodded sadly. "I saw him with broken wings and broken bones, but not all of this," Warren said, his voice strained with emotion. "This is something new, his old wounds were collected in fair conditions, this was an attempt to murder him."

"We will do everything in our power to save him and ensure that he will fully recuperate," she said. "We have the best equipment and the best staff, sir, you can be sure that he will get the best treatment available."

Warren nodded and looked at his guards who formed a circle around him as they started to walk to the elevators. As he walked there he thought about what he had seen and what he knew from Fury, it seemed that someone wanted to see what a woken up lion can do when it is angry. He knew that on his own he wouldn't get much beyond what Fury knew, but he was a member of the Hellfire Club and an attack against one of them could be treated as an attack against the whole club.

o-0-o

Fury followed by Banshee entered the command center of the Triskelion and looked around, inside it the highest ranking members of SHIELD, representatives from various branches of United States Armed Forces, various intelligence and law enforcement agencies as well as people from the Department of State were gathered.

"Welcome," Fury said walking to a podium placed in front of a large display. "We all know what happened two days ago and we are all aware of who was almost murdered in this attempt and who was kidnapped. He needs to be retrieved as soon as possible as well as any other mutants that are held captive by Weapon X. Agent Cassidy will present a plan of the Operation Adamantium Will."

He walked away from the podium and to one of the last few seats open in the first row and allowed Cassidy to present the plan.

Sean Cassidy walked to the podium and looked at the gathered people. "Operation Adamantium Will has two goals in mind, first is freeing Harald Thorson and every other mutant kidnapped by Weapon X and second is to completely destroy Weapon X and everything that works with or for them," he said and on a screen behind him a photo of the accident site appeared. "He was kidnapped from upstate New York two days ago, while his cousin Warren Worthington III was almost murdered." Photos of Warren and Harry appeared on screen. "Based on the intelligence we have gathered and the information provided to us by our allies from Asgard and various European countries we know two things."

He paused for a moment and raised his right hand. "One, that they have wizards and are willing to use them when they think they will gain something from that." He straightened one finger. "Two, they have agents and possibly bases in two wizarding schools of magic, places where there are innocent children." He straightened a second finger.

He allowed those words to sink in before continuing. "Our first target is the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it is the closest one and we have exact blueprints of the building so storming it and arresting everybody will be easy. The name of this part of the operation is Operation Adamantium Shield, its target is to secure Hogwarts."

There was a small pause made by Sean to allow everybody to gather their thoughts. "It is based around Task Force 60 and the helicarrier _Valiant_ ," he said and explained. "A pair of Lancers will destroy the wards system around Hogwarts and once it is down, we will move the troops using helicopters from _Ford_ and _Valiant,_ whichwill land in a lake close to the castle. Everything is based around secrecy so it will be done at night, when nobody can see our preparations and the strike needs to be done with no witnesses. Hogwarts is located in the northern part of Scotland and by the sea so not many people should be able to spot our movements."

"How are we going to achieve it?" Asked one of the USAF officers sitting at the back of the room. "From what you have said, Agent Cassidy, Hogwarts is located in Scotland and if I remember correctly there are many air corridors passing over it, bored passengers of planes in the middle of the night will easily see two aircraft carriers launching planes."

"Officially they will take part in large exercise with the Royal Navy and many other NATO navies under the name of Neptune's Spear and the airspace over the whole area will be closed," Sean explained and on a screen behind him a map of Scotland and the seas around it appeared. "If we do it correctly we will be able to achieve our goals in two to three hours."

Sean paused for a moment and looked over the hall. "At the same time as Operation Adamantium Shield we will launch Operation Adamantium Dagger. Hunter-killer teams of Delta, SEALs and STRIKE will be inserted into the forests around here," he said and a high resolution radar photo of Durmstrang appeared on the screen.

"This is the Durmstrang Institute of Magic and if our intelligence is right, it is also the main base of Weapon X and as you can see on the photo it is heavily fortified." He pointed with the laser marker at the anti-aircraft guns and missile emplacements, the radar stations and the bunkers. "Those places need to be found and, before our attack, neutralized. Hunter-killer teams and groups of normal Special Forces will carry it out. For now they need to find and neutralize them, the order to strike will be passed right before the attack. Any questions?"

There was a moment of silence as people looked at their notes and later at the materials they were given. Sean saw a raised hand and nodded in its direction.

"Agent Cassidy, according to the materials we were given Durmstrang is on the border of Romania and Ukraine. Will the governments of those countries be notified about our operations?"

"No," Sean said. "We spoke about it at length with Director Fury and Director Wisdom and we have agreed that they can be notified the moment we are attacking as we don't know where agents of Weapon X are and we can't risk any leaks."

Sean looked in Fury's direction and nodded. Fury stood up and joined him at the podium. "This is everything for this briefing, you will be briefed about the details of the next part of the operation once this stage is over. The operation will launch in thirty minutes from now. Thank you for your attendance."

o-0-o

Harry walked out of the cell and quickly looked around. It was a narrow, dark corridor with sparse light and bare concrete walls covered in various stains and by the looks of it some blood. He glanced at the teen with the staff. "Go," the teen simply said, indicating to the end of the corridor.

Harry looked at him and saw that he was not joking. Shrugging it off he walked down the corridor, the teen following him half a step behind, staff in hand. They walked for a long moment and ended in front of large metal doors. The teen pulled out a card and moved it against the reader set in the wall.

The doors creaked open and revealed a large arena, Harry was about to ask about it when he received a kick to his back and was thrown onto the sand covering the arena. His training kicked in and he immediately entered into a roll, coming out of it he was crouching on the sand, hands placed in front of him. His eyes swept over the arena and stopped on a person or a thing on the other side of it. It was hidden by the shadows, so he couldn't see the details, but even the little he could see made tendrils of cold run down his spine.

That person was massive, over eight feet tall and looked like a mountain with masses of muscles and fat covering its body and making it look like a giant ball with two legs, two hands and a head attached to it. As Harry looked at it, it reminded him about Thurs, one of the most savage and dangerous tribe of Giants that lived on Utgard, a tribe so dangerous and aggressive that it was treated like animals by the other races of the Nine Realms and its population was kept under control.

When it moved it felt as if the whole arena was shaking, as it emerged from the shadows Harry was able to spot two small protrusions from its back that looked like wings or a very underdeveloped form of them. Even if it shocked him as wings were an extremely rare inherent mutation, but the thing that froze the blood in his veins was the face of the person. Large, round with dark, cold hazel eyes and a crop of blond hair on its head.

Harry looked at the face and his eyes narrowed as familiar shapes were brought to the surface of his mind. It reminded him of Dudley. "Dudley?" He tentatively asked.

"Yes," the beast roared. "But now my name is Blob and you will die."

It charged at him and Harry's wings unfolded as he took off into the air, he let Dudley pass under him and roar in disappointment before folding wings and diving. Harry slammed into Dudley and pushed his older cousin forward, but it didn't cause any damage.

Dudley whipped around with too much grace for his size and grabbed Harry by his legs. "We will explain our relations to each other, Freak," Dudley spat before punching Harry and throwing him into the wall.

Harry managed to avoid crashing into the wall and slowed down by opening his wings, his feet made two long lines in the sand as he decelerated himself. When he came to a stop he slowly backed away from Dudley and towards the wall. He knew that having a wall behind usually helped in batle and the wall was useful when it came to bashing your opponent into it. Normally he would pound Dudley into the ground, but here it was impossible as he lacked his strength and Dudley had got an upgrade.

It seemed that he was in for the fight of his life and at least his health and more probably life was at stake.

o-0-o

The moment the signal to start the operation was passed several things happened at the same time. Three B-1B Lancer strategic bombers took off from Ellsworth, each of them carrying two of the new Ward Busters, they ascended into the sky, swiftly reaching an altitude of fifteen kilometers, once there they started the long trip to Europe with a planned air-refueling above the Atlantic Ocean.

At the same time _USS Gerald R Ford_ and her task force accelerated to their full speed and started to sail towards the coast of Scotland. There they were supposed to meet up with the SHIELD helicarrier _Valiant_ which would be joining them for the mission to come. She was the newest aircraft carrier of the US Navy and so far was untested in engagement, for the last two years she had been passing her trials and bringing her crew up to speed.

In a few places across the USA, transport planes were loaded up with soldiers and their equipment, they were carrying the forces necessary for launching Operation Adamantium Dagger. Their next stop would be the bases located in Italy and Germany where planes would be changed. Massive and loud strategic airlifters would be changed for smaller tactical ones that had VTOL capabilities and were stealthier.

Those were advances made by the United States Armed Forces, however there were also moves done by other groups. Actions very important for the operation to come. The crucial one was done by SHIELD, their second helicarrier, _Valiant_ , flew towards the coast of Scotland to meet with _Gerald R Ford_ and her group.

Several Quinjet departed from undisclosed locations scattered around London and flew towards the Atlantic Ocean to meet up with _Gerald R Ford_. Aboard them were the people crucial to the success of the whole mission.

The clock was ticking and now it was only a matter of time before the first bomb would explode. Pieces were on their way to proper locations on a chessboard and once there, the strike would begin.

o-0-o

Harry winced as he felt his cousin's massive fist slam into him, it hurt like hell and even all of his previous experience and training in martial arts didn't help him as he was used to blocking strikes, instead of dodging. While blocking worked fine when you had a comparable amount of strength, when you were at a physical disadvantage it failed badly.

He rolled out of the way and unfolding his wings he flew into the air, each move bringing him away from his opponent. When he was almost touching the domed roof of the arena, he dived towards Dudley, legs extended and aimed for head. Harry's legs crashed into Dudley's head, in a normal fight, his opponent would be missing a good chunk of his head with two feet sized holes in it, Dudley only roared and caught Harry by his legs and proceeded to slam him into the ground over and over again.

Harry was barely conscious when he heard someone shout " _Crucio!_ " and his cousin yelled in pain before releasing him. His sight was blurred, but he could see someone walking to him and point a wand in his direction. " _Stupefy!_ " And the next thing he saw was complete and utter blackness.

o-0-o

Loki almost gulped as he entered the study of his father on Asgard, he had never ever seen Odin so furious. Now his father was glowing with barely contained magic and the immense power of a Skyfather, a sign of his control being strained and if that was not enough to suggest that the Skyfather was in bad mood, than the furious snowstorm raging outside of the Citadel was more than enough. At first Loki thought that it was Thor's doing, but Thor was away and the storm was in place. The storm was so vicious that even his Jotun genes didn't protect him from the cold and he was unable to get rid of it.

Loki bowed his head to Odin, took a seat in the only free chair in the study and poured himself some wine before speaking. "Father, what a fine weather outside, do you know who is responsible for it?"

Odin growled and Loki felt an increase in the pressure inside of the room. "Do not test my patience, we both have heard the sound of the Horn and you rushed out of Asgard the moment it was heard. Tell me what was the reason of you being in such a hurry?"

Loki sipped his wine, he didn't feel its excellent taste and flavor, it tasted like the worst kind of cheap vinegar. "Your grandson has been kidnapped," Loki finally said, almost whispered. "His cousin was almost murdered and we cannot track Harald down, it is as if Heimdall's vision was obscured."

Odin's eye glowed with a golden light, a light so powerful that Loki was forced to shield his own eyes. "Find every single one that was even connected with this deed and ensure that they are punished accordingly, how you do it, I don't care. Don't have mercy for them."

"Execution?"

"No," Odin said and Loki looked at him. "Death would be too merciful for them, they need to suffer. Slavery will be more fitting, several hundred years of hard physical labours and servitude will be a fitting punishment for them. Nobody is allowed to raise their hands against Asgard and my family without punishment."

Loki smiled viciously and nodded. "It will be done, Your Majesty, they will feel the wrath of Asgard."

Odin nodded and Loki took it as a cue to leave the room, he had data to gather and pass onto SHIELD. As well as find those that did that and kidnapped his nephew. The rest of their lives was going to be hell, long and painful hell. Their punishment and suffering would be a signal to those that would try to do the same thing in the future.

o-0-o

Rhodey felt pride as he stood on the bridge of _Valiant_ and looking to the side he could see the imposing shape of _USS Gerald R Ford_ sail to her side. Both of them kept the same speed as they sailed towards Scotland, at first he had doubts that his ship would be able to do the task, but she did it and was now steadily sailing forward.

He walked onto the balcony, run around the bridge and looked at the sky, he could see a pair of F/A-18 Super Hornet pass above, flying combat patrol above the group and to keep passenger planes away from them. As his gaze moved onto the deck of his command he could see dozens of helicopters and tiltrotors being prepared for the task that awaited them.

He met Harry Potter at the Avengers Tower and now wanted to murder those that kidnapped the teen, while he didn't get to know him that closely, he met him and learned a couple of things about him. He looked for one last time at the stormy sea, which seemed to read his mood quite well, walked inside and crossing the room walked to his command chair.

o-0-o

Loki walked out of the portal in Furry's office and smiled as he walked to the Director, but it wasn't a pleasant smile. No, it was a smile that would make even the bravest consider getting out of his way.

"What news do you bring?" Fury asked, diverting his gaze from a display showing the movement of his forces. "If they are good ones, you can stay, if they are bad, the cells below the Triskelion are empty."

"Good," Loki said and smirked. "Depends for whom, for us really good, for some people not so."

Fury looked at him and smiled. "Go on, my people discovered a few things and it seems that it pissed off Warren Worthington II as I received a lot of data from anonymous sources. Sources that know a lot and are willing to share."

Loki's eyes narrowed for a moment and then he looked at Fury. "The Hellfire Club decided to stand together and treat this attack as an attack on the whole club?"

"I think so," Fury said standing up and walking towards him. "Also there is a weird increase in hacker attacks on Russian and other Soviet bloc countries, hacker attacks that require infrastructure and resources not many have."

"Well, well, well," Loki whistled. "That makes matters interesting and will help us a lot as it will keep the major players looking for things they cannot spot and will give us a lot, I mean a lot of leeway."

"Exactly," Fury agreed and Loki could feel his gaze trying to look into his soul. "So what news do you bring from Asgard? I see this smirk on your face only when you have a plan that will make some poor soul suffer and cry out in pain."

Loki only smirked and looked at Fury. "I don't make people suffer unless they cross one of few lines, attack my home, injure or kidnap members of my family, plot against Asgard and are a threat to the universe."

"And they kidnapped Harry."

"Exactly," Loki confirmed in a voice lacking any emotion. "So they will suffer, suffer a lot as the Allfather decided their fate and I'm his messenger. I also have data and information for you that should help you, but first and foremost I'm his messenger."

"Start from the message then," Fury said and Loki nodded.

"Their fate is simple, slavery on Asgard," Loki said and saw Fury look at him. "While I'm aware that here it is banned, according to our law it is considered as harsh a punishment as death or maybe even harsher, especially in the most brutal version. According to my father and I agree with him, they deserve it."

Fury was silent for a moment, trying to digest these piece information. "Officially I cannot approve it, unofficially I will put it that way, I don't want to deal with them. If you want to have probably several thousands of people to take care of, be my guest."

Loki smiled and looked at Fury. "Their base is under the Durmstrang Institute, isn't it?"

"It is," Fury said with a wince. "And I have a very good reason to believe that at least some of its students helped Weapon X one way or another. So for safety's sake you will be allowed to take all of their students and staff and sift through them, those that are innocent will be returned here and spread out across other schools of magic with a supervisor assigned to them, while the guilty ones..."

"Will be ours," Loki finished. "It is a deal we can accept and your superiors will be happy as Durmstrang was always a pain. Before I go over what I have learned, what do you plan to do about Durmstrang?"

"Destroy it and make sure that it stays that way," Fury grimly said. "They are too much of a pain in the ass, as you said. If they were somewhere out of the way I would have ordered nuking them, but they are in the middle of Europe and hence the nukes are problematic."

Loki nodded and scratched his chin. "From what I remember you have powerful conventional explosives, what about doing traditional demolishing, also moving heavy equipment shouldn't be that hard and it should do quick work of the castle. The bigger issue will be those tunnels below, they will need to be collapsed and that is hard."

"It is," Fury said and paused to look out of the window. "We will worry about it at a later date, now can I get the data from you?"

"Of course," Loki said with a smile. "From what I have gathered the one that attacked Harry and Warren was Sabertooth and some hired mercenaries, they still have some goons left in the USA, but Banshee scared them with Alkali Lake and most of them are in Europe. Watch whom you trust as I'm almost certain that there are some people in your military that support Weapon X."

Fury growled. "I will fry them over a fire and later feed to tigers, little bit at a time."

"It would be an amusing sight to watch, but for now it will be enough if they are out of the way and under watch," Loki said and paused. "Do you know that you have moles in your own agency?"

"I know, I just need to find and catch them. After that, life imprisonment or execution and they are dealt with."

"Yes, but there is second more important thing for you to know. Russia wants their influence to grow and they are silently funneling funds and manpower for Weapon X," Loki said and started to pace along the wall. "They should have stopped after Harry was kidnapped, but the minds of power hungry people are a mystery and sometimes they don't know when to pull back and let someone kill their proxy."

Fury paled at those words. "If they will be defending Durmstrang we will get an all-out nuclear exchange and wipe out life from the planet," he whispered and then composed himself. "Would it be possible for you to orchestrate something that would make Russia focus on China? So that they are focused on each other and allow us to deal with our mess?"

Loki was silent for a moment, the only sound in the office was one of his boots moving across the floor. "I will cause a distraction to keep them away and allow you to work without any interruptions. I know that you have a rather valuable source of data, the Headmaster of Durmstrang, may I talk with him?"

"You can try," Fury said. "We tried to break him and so far have failed, he answers our questions, but a straight answer is a miracle."

"He will sing," Loki cheerfully said. "He will sing very quickly and will give you everything you will ask him of."

Loki saw Fury nod and with a snap of his fingers he was gone from Fury's office, there was a new toy for him to play with and break to get data out of it.

o-0-o

Maria Hill stood in front of a massive digital wall, mounted with a map of Europe with the positions of SHIELD assets marked in green markers and the enemy's positions in red. She was a bit shocked by the scale of the operation that was underway and the one about to follow it. "Russia is an unpredictable player," she finally said and glanced at Natasha. "How will they behave?"

Natasha was silent for a moment before finally giving an answer. "They dislike anybody mucking around their sphere of influence and even if the Soviet Union fell apart over twenty-seven years ago, they want to be a big player. So they will try to hinder any movements into their zone of influence, no matter how forced by someone else they are."

"So that's why Weapon X forged an agreement with the Red Room and moved to Romania or Ukraine?" Maria asked looking at the map.

Natasha regarded her with a cool gaze. "Yes, when I worked for the Red Room we used the same tactic, find a hideout somewhere out of the way and in a place nobody would attack. So Durmstrang would be a perfect hiding place for them and if those reports are true, it will be a pain to take over."

"Yes," Maria nodded with a wince. "If the reports are correct they have over forty anti-aircraft guns and several missile launchers, not to mention that it is dug into the ground and masked well."

"Yes," Natasha nodded. "May I join those teams that will infiltrate the area of Durmstrang? I know how the Red Room works so I should be able to get them out of the hairiest situations."

"You can."

Natasha nodded and walked out of the room, her boots clicking on the rocks that made up the floor. Maria watched her leave for a moment and then turned her gaze to the map. She needed to prepare for the situation to come. In an hour the attack on Hogwarts should begin.

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

Karrin Murphy - ex-cop, former Knight of the Cross and at the moment focused on protecting Chicago from supernatural nasties, as well as working for SHIELD who only smiled when she was fired. Dangerous character that you don't want mad or you will be murdered, knows aikido, marksman and a very dangerous person.

Slavery, it may sound strange, but slavery is a viable option, even with all of the technology Asgard has, machines are complicated, expensive, and need a trained worker to operate them, sure they are more efficient, but slaves are far cheaper when it comes to upkeep. A normal worker will want decent pay, vacations, good workday and if an accident happens the family might demand compensation. Slaves on the other hand, especially the worst of the worst (murderers, traitors, races that break treaties and ignore warnings) are simply speaking, far cheaper, they need food, a place to sleep, some basic healthcare and can work for up to fourteen hours per day without overworking them and you don't need to pay them any salary. Also there are jobs treated as humiliating or not worthy of a freeborn Æsir, farming, mining, logging, some construction works, some entertainment (brothels, bathhouses) and some servants (mostly menial tasks).

Also slavery comes in a few variations, in short there are two kinds. Those that ended as slaves due to debts and the rest (murderers, traitors, those that raised their hand at the royal family, abusers of magic, races that broke treaties over and over again, war criminals(genocide and there are few more, but genocide is one of those that irk Asgard the most)). There are some laws on slaves and, the main ones are that only the state has the right to sell them and that they should be provided the minimum necessary to live (healthcare, food, not overworking them). Those that ended up slaves due to debts are more in a situation of a worker most of their pay gets taken by the one they owed some money to and it ends the moment they repaid their debts. While those turned into slaves for life have menial tasks and those that no sane person takes.

Important reason is also the fact that imprisonment is an expensive thing and prisons take a lot of place when you want them designed so that escape is almost impossible, on the other hand slaves are too tired to create too much of a problem and are scattered, so even if they cause troubles, it will be a small uprising and even local inhabitants will easily deal with it. Prisoner generates only expenses, while slave is also a source of income as they work, so imprisonment is from economical point of view pointless. And smaller amount of prisoners and prisons means either lower taxes or that money being spent on something else, so from an average citizen point of view it is a good idea as there are hundreds of places where that money can go - new arenas, health care, education and so on - those are things that everybody see and is using, which also makes them happy. So realm as a whole has de facto four gains, huge income from various fees, taxes and hundreds of other things, slaves are a very profitable business, huge group of people that are either willing to serve in the military or work somewhere else where they are more useful for the economy, decrease of expenditures on prisons and prisoners, which makes administration happy, and last, but not least it has money to spend on things that make people happy. Which is important as when you have population happy and glad that it is living in your country you can do a lot of things that are unpopular, but needed and it will be accepted, raise taxes, extend conscription for a larger group of people, introduce whole range of reforms and so on. Sure, you can do it even when society is unhappy, but you risk that they will start to think how to get rid of you and lesser amount of taxes will be flowing into the budget, people will be finding a way to avoid conscription and so on.

Russia and its behavior, Russia wants to be seen as a strong player and has massive issues when their pride gets stomped on, so even if they risk getting obliterated they will try to flex their muscles, also they live in a dream named Soviet Union and think that they can say 'no' and the world will listen. So SHIELD is balancing on a very thin line, one wrong move and they will have ballistic missiles flying both ways and nobody sane wants MAD. Also Russia might be supporting Weapon X, so it will try to protect it and that means facing SHIELD and making calculations as they have two choices, go for a confrontation and end up exchanging nukes and other mass destruction weapons or cut Weapon X loose, while pretending to do something to protect it. International relations are a multidimensional environment with hundreds of major players, each of them trying not to lose and preferably win something. While normally someone would back up Russia, many countries don't mind fall of it as from their point of view it means one less competitor or rival, depending on their relations.

Hellfire Club's behavior, Weapon X was already pushing into their territory so when they kidnapped Harry, Warren didn't have any qualms about saying enough and using his contacts to cause some trouble. Also by not doing a single thing they would be seen as a weak group and someone could make a move against them. Hacker attacks don't seem dangerous, but in modern times everything is run by computers that are in one way or another connected to the net. So one strike and they don't have communication facilities, medical equipment is failing, satellites are out of range, industry has troubles working and whole database of secret files is being published. Issues with equipment or communication can be fixed, satellites, too, but whole database that was made public? No way as once it is on the Internet intelligence communities of almost every country will have a feed frenzy, trying to get as much as possible and use it as soon as possible, while diplomats try to explain that nothing happened and that their country should be trusted.

Asgard's behavior, they have something of a similar scale to a world war coming up so Earth is for them at the bottom of their list of things to worry about, they could have squashed Weapon X with one move, but if they divert resources, they will open their flank and the Chitauri might pounce.

Fury's calculations with Durmstrang, he can simply purge it with Asgard, but it will change nothing as those that don't help Weapon X will desire revenge on SHIELD for what it did to their relatives or friends. So his tactic is designed to achieve as much fear as possible with the smallest cost possible, by obliterating the school, he solves the problem and sends a very powerful messages into the world.

Defenses of Durmstrang, Weapon X knows well that SHIELD can lose their patience sooner or later and may launch a massive air attack, one that would bomb them into the Stone Age, so they prefer to be safe and installed those defenses. They won't stop a very determined attack, but they will cause anything that less than an overwhelming show of force is pointless and by that point Russia would be willing to pounce.

Weapon X generally made SHIELD play as dirty as possible and kid's gloves are off, not many will get a fair trial, most will be simply executed somewhere in the wilderness and their bodies buried in unmarked graves. It will cause a lot of uproar, but SHIELD wants this organization gone and dead.

Why SHIELD asked the USA for help? SHIELD is mostly an intelligence agency, which means that it is great when it comes to dealing with data gathering and analysis, catching spies and in general behind the scenes work. Granted it has STRIKE teams, but there is not much of them, maybe three or four thousand around the world, five if being generous, it also has helicarriers on which there are several thousand agents per each, but 80-90% of their crew isn't prepared for battles and is there to operate complex machinery of a helicarrier. They are expanding their assets when it comes to warfare, but it takes time as they don't need your typical grunt that can be trained in few months, but someone that has training on a similar level to special forces which means years of training. On top of that they are just an agency, agency that de iure answers to the President of the United States of America, it is also being changed, but it isn't at the moment, which means that they cannot simply fly in large numbers into airspace of a foreign country, capture several hundred minors, interrogate them and release those that don't know a single thing.

While the USA and by extension NATO has manpower that can be used, has ships and planes to move it in a timely manner, has proper diplomatic channels to get permissions from other countries and can create a believable cover for all of the mess that is about to happen. Not to mention that it has two crucial things for such an operation - experience and people that know how to carry it out - there are several thousand people, few hundred planes and several dozens of ships to be moved. Someone needs to oversee and control it, ensuring that it works in synchronization and that there are supplies ready for those assets.

There is also issue of equipment and gear, as mentioned earlier SHIELD is an intelligence and security agency with limited assets, so in terms of gear they won't have a single thing that is bigger than a fighter-bomber plane or a tactical cargo plane as in 99+% of cases, it is enough. While military is supposed to be prepared for almost any kind of conflict which means that it has almost every kind of plane and knows how to utilize it.

Reviews:

 **Gime'SS** \- yes, she is pushy, but otherwise everything will bounce off Harry as usually you need a large hammer to get into his head and sometimes shouting at someone helps. Also she won't take no for an answer, she is a determined person, but also has softer sides.

 **WhiteEagle1985** \- Orochimaru would be proud of those that caught Harry, Weapon X, probably the most vile group from Marvel.

 **Otsutsuki no Yami** \- Harry is the youngest Prince of Asgard which means that anybody that wants power or wants to be known will be tracking him. Also information can be bought, it's just a matter of price and encouragement to share, there is a way to bribe every single person, you just need to find it.

Traitors are everywhere, ones on Asgard are enjoying time in the mines, after all ores won't mine themselves and someone needs to do it, Fury knows that there are moles in SHIELD, but doesn't know where they are or whom they are, wizarding world is full of them, though next few chapters will reduce their number by quite a bit.

Malfoy is tricky, they don't want bystanders caught in the blast, but who said that soon priorities and moods won't change and fury might be unleashed upon him.


	36. Dies Irae

**A/N - Part two of the mess caused by Weapon X and this time Hogwarts discovers that it can be taken quite easily, no matter its supposed protections that will need a replacement or two. Also soon it will be short some students as Fury's mood is a bad one and he doesn't have patience to deal with them. As always read and review.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Rhodes watched the night sky as _Valiant_ was at the coast of Scotland, her flight deck was almost glowing from the amount of lights that were lit to allow people to work. To the side was _Ford_ ,her flight deck also covered in light. As he looked at it a F/A-18 Super Hornet was sent into the air where it joined dozens of planes already circling the task force.

It was a security measure he thought unnecessary, but he also knew how deadly certain things could be, so he preferred to be safe than sorry. Nothing was indestructible and if you presented someone with an opening in nine out of ten cases they were going to take it.

He watched operations carry out for a moment and then walked inside, to his command chair to watch the show happen. He was only a passenger on his own ship since his commands had already been given and all he needed to do was wait. Wait and watch the events happening at Hogwarts.

o-0-o

Three B-1B Lancers disconnected from the tankers and started to accelerate, quickly gaining speed as they flew towards the Old Continent. They were only a short distance away from their target, long trails of flames followed them as they activated the afterburners and prepared to carry out an attack run.

The sea quickly turned into land as they sped over Scotland and picked up speed, easily breaking the sound barrier and slipping into supersonic speed. Scotland was asleep underneath them, veins of light cutting through the blotches of black. There were occasional blobs of light, but even they were a minority amongst the blackness and darkness.

Data flowed between the planes and weapons were carried on board as they prepared for their mission. One of the Lancers started to gain altitude, while the other two started a dive. Their variable geometry wings increased the angle of attack as they gained speed and the Bomb Bay doors opened, revealing dart-like bodies of Ward Busters to the world.

The altitude dropped steadily as they charged towards Hogwarts. Fifteen kilometers to ten. Ten to five. Five to three and the moment they reached three kilometers above ground the locks holding the weapons inside were released and they started to fall.

The bombers closed the Bomb Bay doors and started to gain altitude and getting away from Hogwarts as quickly as possible. They charged towards the sea and the nearby carrier task force.

At the same time the bomb's engines ignited and the control surfaces pointed them straight downward, while the rocket boosters accelerated them to four times the speed of sound. Speed was one of the necessary factors for the Ward Busters to work with their full power. They slammed into an invisible shield around Hogwarts and were instantaneously vaporized, but the wards around the castle failed and broke apart in a tremendous release of energy that made the whole castle glow. It was the signal for the attack to commence.

o-0-o

Dozens of helicopters, tiltrotors and Quinjets emerged from the darkness of the night and touched down around the massive form of Hogwarts Castle. The moment they were on the ground soldiers and agents jumped out of them and onto the ground. Some ignited flares to mark the landing zone for the next wave of aircrafts while the rest of them rushed towards the castle.

The thick wooden outer doors survived the first assault, but failed the moment explosives came into play. A small amount of them around the hinges and once the explosion was over this heavy piece of wood was inside of the hall and the first soldiers were running over it and into the castle. They were the very best of what the United States could offer, they were the cream of the crop, most of them had seen years of service in the most elite units, so storming a giant school wasn't a challenge for them.

Inside they divided into smaller teams and started to secure their assigned zones of the castle, preparing for the arrival of their reinforcements and the second wave that would make further advance possible. There was no light being used as to confuse potential enemies and to allow them to utilize their night vision goggles.

In just under fifteen minutes the common area of the castle was secured and groups of soldiers were gathered in front of the living quarters of the staff and the entrance into the dormitory tower for the students. When the signal was given the doors were turned into splinters and they rushed inside, securing their targets that had so far been sleeping soundly.

There was just one instance of a short fight erupting when some students were caught awake, however it ended as soon as it started as they didn't stand a chance against trained soldiers and after one of them was slammed into the wall, the rest of them surrendered.

The ones asleep were dragged out of their beds in whatever clothes they were wearing and their hands were cuffed behind their backs. It was not normal treatment when it came to children or teens and they weren't normal personnel to carry out such task, but there was a chance of encountering resistance and they were chosen to prevent it from getting ugly.

At the same time strike forces stormed into the living quarters of the faculty members and cuffing them dragged them out of their chambers. However there was a case of putting up some resistance, the Headmaster of the school tried to fight them and one of the soldiers got surprised by him and took a spell to the face, but that was where Headmaster's luck ended. The one closest to him slammed the butt of his rifle into his face, knocking him out and allowing him to be subdued.

o-0-o

Sean Cassidy entered the castle grounds and was almost immediately greeted by one of the soldiers, who nodded in his direction. "Agent Cassidy, everything is secured and everybody was captured without any lives lost."

"Perfect," Sean said. "Spread them across the castle, five students per room and three guards with them. Agent Braddock is on her way here and once she arrives we can check if they are Weapon X agents."

"It will be done," Soldier nodded and started to whisper things into the radio. "What about the staff?"

"One per room and three guards, in case of Dumbledore and Snape four and helmets protecting from telepathy attacks," Sean said and paused. "Also ensure that they are separated from the students, the smaller amount of things on which they can support themselves the better."

The soldier nodded and whispered several more things into his radio.

Sean slowly walked into the castle and could see groups of soldiers move their captives to various rooms where they would spend the next several hours. Most of them were confused, shocked and unable to protest, but some tried to put up a fight, which ended the moment they received a fist to the gut.

Sean looked around the Great Hall and thought about the events that had happened, they had the students, every single one of them, but there was one more thing to be done. He looked at the soldier that was his companion and snapped his fingers, getting his attention.

"Yes, sir?"

"Dormitories," Sean simply said and explained. "Get a team or two and rip them apart, if there is anything of note hidden, it will be there. Destroy everything if you need to but find those things and get them revealed."

"Dig through private possessions?"

"Especially through them," Sean grimly said. "You would be surprised about what can be found inside, especially when you have a moment to look through it and do it keenly. Oh and rip the floors open, they is the second favorite hiding place and unless we have clever customers we will find a lot of data there, as people who think are safe get sloppy."

The soldier nodded and walked away, leaving him alone to keep the whole thing organized and prepare for Psylocke's arrival. She would do most of the interrogations, probably and more importantly would find those that work for Weapon X or any other organization. He knew from his experience that in such a large group, over a thousand people, there would be at least a couple of idiots that got bribed or in any other way convinced to work for someone. The question was just who they were and where they were.

o-0-o

Fury stepped into the cell where Karkaroff and Loki were and took a look around. Excluding Karkaroff being tied to a wall and having several shallow cuts not much had changed. Maybe Loki being a bit chirpier, something that unsettled him, a happy Prince of Asgard, especially happy in this way was bad.

"Did he open up?" he asked, taking a look at Karkaroff and later at Loki. "Or does he claim he doesn't know a damn thing."

"He opened up," Loki said and smirked, wiping clean his dagger. "It took a couple of illusions, some physical pain and one intrusion into his mind. Now he should be more talkative than he used to."

Fury stared at Loki, but then nodded. "So what did you learn?"

"Durmstrang is where Weapon X's base is located, they are beneath the castle and have their main facilities there," Loki coldly said and sent a glare at Karkaroff. "Students are used to help them control the mutants and are allowed to practice the dark arts on them, while not all of them do so, a big percentage does."

"What else?"

"They are trying to improve the mutants as much as they can and if what he said is true, their next big project is related to Harry," Loki said and waved his hand at Karkaroff, making a new shallow cut appear on his torso, followed by a scream of pain. "I don't know what it is and he also doesn't know. Back to the topic at hand, their base is underground and designed in a way that access inside is hard."

"I know," Fury said and smiled dangerously. "I will open it like a can and storm it, nobody will get out free or alive without my knowledge."

Loki nodded and smiled. "Could Asgardian warriors handle the castle? So that we can catch all of those that will face our justice on Asgard and so that there will be less of an issue after the attack."

Fury was silent for a long moment. It was a good offer and it would solve some of his issues. "You can, but I thought that you had issues with the amount of free warriors you could spend."

"Not really," Loki smiled. "We had, but I spoke with our commanders and they managed to scrape between themselves around a thousand of them or so, so there will be more than enough of them to take control of the castle. Also slaves are part of our economy and we prioritise such things as this."

"Good. It will make my job a lot, I mean a lot easier and I will be able to storm the base from my entry points and you will be able to do it from above."

Loki nodded. "That's the plan I was going to suggest, both of us use what we have the best and gain what we want."

Fury smiled and looked at Karkaroff. "I will leave you with him and go to do some other things."

Loki smiled and as the doors closed behind him, Fury was able to hear the screams of pain echo from the cell. It seemed that Loki was in a vindictive mood and Karkaroff was the one that would feel it.

o-0-o

Oliver Wood looked around the classroom in which they were kept and saw that there were four more people with him and three guards in completely black uniforms and armor that made them look alien. Alien and dangerous to be precise. He could easily tell that they were non-magicals as they had rifles and pistols with themselves, not wands.

As he sat there, his hands cuffed behind his back, he tried to think about any reason why they could be here and the only thing that came to his mind was that SHIELD got annoyed with Hogwarts and decided to deal with it, once and for good. However soon another possibility surfaced in his mind, that someone was hiding here and they needed to find them.

The door to the room opened and through it stepped inside a tall woman with long violet hair and the body of a warrior, however those two things didn't draw his attention. His attention was drawn by the long sword strapped across her back.

She looked around the room and her gaze focused on them and Oliver felt something powerful enter his mind and look through his memories, thoughts and emotions. It was there only for the briefest period of time and as quickly as it appeared it was gone.

"Those four are clear," she said, indicating him and three more. "This one stays as he knows something."

Two guards moved and indicated for him and the three she had indicated to walk out of the room, while her gaze was focused on the one that remained behind. As Oliver looked at him, he had a feeling he was not going to see him soon, if ever.

o-0-o

Carol Danvers was angry, annoyed, impatient and needed to vent off some of her steam. She punched the bag and saw it fly across the room and slam into the wall at the end of it. She heard someone clapping behind her and with a growl she turned to see that she was facing Roberto da Costa.

"Well, well, well," he said as he walked to the bag. "You know how to punch and do it quite nicely when angry or annoyed."

"So what?" she asked.

"The point is that this is the worst way for us to deal with our feeling," he said and looked at her. "It is not the first time someone was kidnapped or almost murdered and the best we can do is to stay put."

She growled and defiantly looked at him.

"I'm serious, Carol," he said, walking closer to her. "You know me for some time and you should know that I'm right for most of the time."

She growled, looked at him and later at the punching bag that was thrown by her. "Maybe you are right, it's just..."

"It's just that you are angry," he finished for her and smiled. "If you want to burn energy in this manner, I can help you."

"You can?"

"I was sparring with Harry for most of last year," Bobby said with a shrug. "So I'm used to being slammed into various things, even when he controls his power he can cause a massive amount of damage."

She smiled and punched him. "Here and now."

"With pleasure," he smirked before sending a powerful strike at her.

o-0-o

Sean Cassidy entered into one of the dormitories and looked around, his eyes scanning the room. He was looking for any spots where he would hide things if he was an agent and didn't want them discovered, there were some advantages of being a former cop and working for some time with spies. You were able to think the way spies or at least people with training as spies thought.

He spotted a floorboard that was looking a bit too worn out to look consistent with the rest of the floor. He knelt in front of it and pulled out his knife, jammed it between the two planks and moved so that it could be used as a lever. Gently pressing his hand onto the handle he watched as the piece of a wood moved upwards, too easily to not have been moved before.

Sean smirked, moved the plank so that it revealed what was below it and reached into the hole. He pulled out a thick pile of papers, a wireless radio and several more papers. "Let's see, who you are," he muttered as he placed radio to the side and focused on the papers. "Interesting, very interesting."

He picked them up, walked out of the room and headed for the nearest Quinjet, he needed to make some calls and ask for some data to confirm what he had seen. If he was right, they had hit a jackpot, if not, it was still worth the trouble.

o-0-o

Harry groaned as he opened his eyes, he felt as if his whole body was on fire, but first was broken into tiny pieces and put back together. "What had happened to me?" He asked as he glanced at Bobby.

"The same thing that happens to all of us," Bobby said and smiled weakly. "Though you seem not to have anything more serious than bruises, Blob can cause more damage than that."

Harry's expression turned into one of hatred and anger.

"What?" Bobby asked, confusion in his voice.

"Blob," Harry spat. "He is my cousin, a cousin that if I could I would have killed."

"Oh," Bobby said. "I didn't know."

"No problem," Harry said as he sat up, the blood rushed to his head and for a moment he almost lost consciousness. "The only thing he did was annoy me, if I had more space and my strength he would have been dead."

"Strength?"

"Last time I bench pressed over thirty tonnes," Harry said and smiled as Bobby's eyes widened. "I'm not joking, if I had an artifact used by my father, I would be able to do twice as much."

Bobby shook his head and they sat in silence since they weren't in the mood for talking and Harry wanted to not think at all. As he looked at the window placed in the ceiling he was able to see the moon and the stars move across the night's sky.

o-0-o

Remy LeBeau, more commonly known as Gambit was used to a lot of unusual things and events, as well as plenty of hideous or outright cruel ones. Surprising him was a hard thing, yet Fury managed to do it quite easily, especially recently.

He smoothed out the paper onto which he wrote down the message he got and below it he wrote the deciphered version of it. As he looked at the words covering the paper he was having some difficulty believing what was written on them. Someone either lost their mind or were devilishly clever and stupidly brave. Or both.

He pulled out his cigarettes and lighter, lit one of them, smoke it for a while and looked at the message from Fury. He crumbled it into a ball, threw into an ashtray that was on his desk and lit it. He sat there, watching it burn and turn into ash, destroying with itself any evidence of his treason. He preferred to call it a change of heart, but his official employer might have disagreed.

Having done that he walked out of the room and out for a stroll down the corridor, someone needed to keep those idiotic thugs from Durmstrang on a leash or they would cause trouble and since nobody else was willing to do it, he was the one responsible for them. Not that he minded as it allowed him to keep an eye on the mutants and indirectly help them.

o-0-o

Natasha Romanov slung her assault rifle over the shoulder and grabbed the sniper rifle as she prepared to leave the tiltrotor that delivered them to the Carpathian Mountains something like fifty kilometers away from Durmstrang. She jumped down and crouched upon landing as she waited for the rest of her team to join her.

"Let's go," she said when she saw all of them were on the ground. "We need to get into the forest before dawn."

"The Red Room is that careful?" one of soldiers asked.

"Yes," she said, her gaze running over the mountain peaks. "It is that careful and they don't like unwanted guests, but we can melt with the background and move more freely in the forests ."

She saw them nod and they started to walk accompanied by the light of the moon and the stars, their forma was a crouch as they tried to stay as small as possible and with large rucksacks with supplies on their backs. However even with dozens kilos of ammunition, weapons and other supplies they still moved with the grace of a predator that approached his prey.

Her eyes swept over the jagged peaks and then focused on a thick forest ahead of them, beyond it was Durmstrang and inside the first parts of the base. She checked her watch and looked at the sky, trying to see how many hours of darkness there were ahead of them.

o-0-o

Loki was sorting the information and data gathered by various agents and spies working for Asgard as well as their scouts when the doors of his study opened and into the room entered a short person. At least for an Æsir as on Earth he would be called everything, but short, he was five feet six, which on Asgard was below average. However it was not his height that drew attention to him, his arms did, they were the size of an average Æsir thighs, they were massive and covered in thick muscles.

He was a dangerous person and the moment someone looked onto his face they were momentarily forced to focus on it. It was covered in scars, some of them hideous and deep. However once someone got over those scars they discovered the face with keen, unnerving scarlet eyes that were a gateway to a bright mind hidden behind this exterior.

He wore simple clothes, over which he had a black chainmail with a sword, a wicked thin knife and a saxe knife strapped to a belt. He walked across the office and stopped in front of Loki's desk. "Your Highness, did you summon me?" His voice was deep, but surprisingly smooth.

Loki looked up from what he was reading and smirked, his smirk vindictive and dangerous. "Indeed, I did summon you, Holler," Loki said and indicated a chair on the other side of his desk. "Take a seat and help yourself to some mead or ale."

Holler nodded and poured himself ale from a crystal carafe and into a golden cup, he sipped it for a moment and looked at Loki. "So, Your Highness, what's the matter that requires my assistance?"

"How should I put it?" Loki wondered, before an idea came. "What do you think about humans as slaves?"

Holler was silent for a moment and slowly sipped his ale before he gave an answer. "If you keep them on a short leash they can be good slaves, need a bit of time to get used to the rules and the fact that disobedience is not accepted. Also they are fairly long lasting ones, with proper care they can last up to three hundred years, but it depends on the age when they were caught. May I know why you ask about it?"

"Because my nephew, Prince Harald, has been kidnapped and the Allfather decreed that everybody that helped do that, is working for an organization that did it or supports it, is to be brought to Asgard and turned into a slave," Loki cooly said.

"How many of them and how harsh will the slavery be for them?"

"How many?" Loki wondered. "I would say a couple of thousands and he said the harshest possible punishment for them, it needs to be a warning to the whole universe that kidnapping any citizen of Asgard will be punished severely."

Holler smirked, his smirk dangerous and cruel. "I understand, Your Highness, I will take care of them. Just let me know when catch them so that I can be ready to greet them in a fitting manner."

"I will," Loki nodded. "A thousand of our warriors will take part in the assault on the place where he is being held captive and they will be ordered to capture everybody they can get their hands on. Some of them will of course be innocent, but we have agreed it would be safer to sort them here and simply send the innocent ones back to Midgard with our most sincere apologies."

"It can be done," Holler said as he finished sipping his ale. "Mind probes will be able to do it and I doubt that any of them posses the ability to survive a powerful mental assault."

"No, they don't have that ability," Loki said. "You may leave, that's all I wanted from you. I will send you a message when we start the whole attack."

"I understand, Your Highness," Holler said with a bow and walked out of the room.

Loki looked at the doors and then at the piles of papers covering his desk, he needed to get them organized and analyzed. Even if he disliked doing so, he was one of the few that could do it quite quickly and efficiently.

o-0-o

Sean Cassidy winced when he saw two soldiers drag an unconscious Hogwarts student out of a classroom which Psylocke decided to treat as her own. He stepped inside and she immediately looked at him. "I guess that he worked with Weapon X," he said, pointing his finger in the direction of the body.

"He did," she said, disgust visible in her voice. "He was the last one too, I thought that it would take me more time, but they lack any protection of their mind and a surface scan was enough to find all of those working with Weapon X. After that it wasn't hard for me to get every single secret out of them."

He nodded and looked out of the window onto the calm grounds surrounding the castle. "Did you learn anything of use? Something useful that we don't know."

She looked at him and he could see her eyes become glassy for a second as she browsed through the memories she had seen. "I would say yes, they have more bases, those reported to a base in the Highlands and spent their holidays under Durmstrang."

"Do you have its exact location?" He asked.

"I know it," she said. "When I have a map I can mark it, but memories don't allow you much more."

"Then let's go," he said. "One of the Quinjets is a mobile command center."

She nodded and followed him through the maze of corridors that made up the castle, once they left the castle they quickly crossed the grounds and entered into one of the Quinjets. Normal benches and seats were thrown out and in their place was a small command post with a map of Scotland. Sean opened it, picked up one of the markers and handed it to Psylocke who made a circle on the map.

He looked at it and made some mental math before looking at her. "Are you sure about it?"

"Yes," she said. "I'm as sure as I can get."

"Good," he said and picking up his radio, he activated it. He whispered a few things into it and looked at her. "The unit that is on board _Valiant_ will check it."

She nodded, he walked out of the Quinjet and left her inside. He needed to clear his mind outside. Stepping outside he breathed in the fresh and crisp air of the Highlands.

o-0-o

A pair of matte black shapes took off from the ground from an undisclosed location in Germany and flew southeast, their targets being on the border of Ukraine and Romania. They quickly gained altitude, ascending to their flight altitude, revealing their famous elongated and thin shape with thin and long wings. Those were spy planes officially known as U-2 and their sole task was gathering data for analysis. However this time their payload was different, instead of normal high resolution cameras they received newly developed ones that were supposed to be able to look through wards. This mission, dubbed Silver Eye, would test this theory and possibly gather invaluable data.

o-0-o

Rhodes watched as a couple of helicopters took off from _Valiant_ and flew towards the shore, for the last few hours he saw more landings and take offs than he had seen in weeks when serving with the Air Force. There was one huge advantage of a two tier flight deck, planes could land and take off at the same time and as he watched helicopters take off, a F/A-18 Super Hornet landed on the second level.

He glanced at the display showing the location of every SHIELD asset in the area, the only impression he had gotten from it was that this crazy rate of operations was not going to end any time soon. More and more Quinjets were arriving, each of them carrying more agents and weaponry, he didn't know for what, but from the rumors he heard the first helicarrier was being moved towards Europe. Which meant that the storm would strike soon.

o-0-o

Hawkeye jumped onto the ground the moment the helicopter touched down, he saw several operatives join him and once everybody was down, the helicopter took off. He looked in its direction and then his gaze swept towards the entrance to a cavern, the base was supposed to be there and after Alkali Lake no sane pilot wanted to be on the ground. The chances of meeting Sabertooth were small, but still there.

He indicated to the entrance and slowly moved forward, while he loved his bow, he was also a pragmatist and he knew that a gun sometimes was a much better choice than a bow. So while his bow was on his back, he was holding a customized FN F2000,a gun that was small enough to be used in such places and packed one hell of a punch.

Crawling forward his eyes swept over the rocks and into the darkness which was gone the moment his eyes focused on it, while he didn't see as clearly as he normally did, he saw things clear enough to tell them apart.

"Clear," he said. "It goes deeper into the mountain and it looks artificial," he said, squinting his eyes to get a better idea of shapes.

"Artificial, sir?" one of operatives asked.

"Smooth walls," Hawkeye said. "So we have our base."

They slowly walked inside, pointing their guns at every moving shade or shape and watching out to not be surprised. After a long walk down into the bowels of the mountain they entered a rectangular chamber cut out of bedrock. It was obvious that someone was here not long ago and that they left in a hurry, there were papers, pieces of equipment and hundreds of miscellaneous laying around.

"Call forensics and get them to secure it," he said as he looked around.

"What will you be doing, sir?"

"Looking for any that were here, some might have decided to have some insane idea and stay somewhere close."

He ran out of the cave and changing his weapon to his bow started to ran up the mountain slope. He climbed quickly and soon was standing close to the peak, looking around he was able to see the Hogwarts castle, the Black Lake and even the ocean off in the distance. His eyes swept over the nearby ravines and forests looking for any sign of people hidden there. There was almost no chance that they would be stupid to do such things, but he had seen it happen.

o-0-o

Fury entered the briefing room of the Triskelion and looked around. Whilst previously there were mostly deputies and even lower ranking representatives, this time there mostly directors, chiefs of staff, executive officers, in short those that decided and carried out plans. Which for what he had planned was ideal, this time the stake was much higher than in the previous step.

He walked to the podium and waited for a moment to let the usually chatter die down, he subtly cleared his throat and everybody looked at him. "Welcome," he said, his gaze sweeping over the faces of those gathered. "The first stage of Operation Adamantium Will was a complete success and now it is time for the second one."

He pushed a few buttons and a blank screen behind him came online. On it quickly appeared photos of Durmstrang, a radar map of the area around the school and a table and diagrams with hundreds lines of information. There was a moment of silence in the room, interrupted by the scribbling of pens and pencils on paper as questions and observations were being made.

"Durmstrang is a place with a plethora of defences , some of which are dug into the ground and spread over a wide area. The same attack plan we used for Hogwarts won't work here. At Hogwarts we were dealing with wizards that lacked any non-magical help, at Durmstrang we have both things and a lot of captives that need to be freed," he said and paused for a moment. "We need to strike fast and strong, so that they don't know what is going on before it is too late. It will be a combined arms attack, planes will have their own share of tasks to complete and foot soldiers theirs."

He saw people nod and he smiled. "We know that there are two lines of defense around the castle, the outer one is good, old and tested anti-aircraft guns slaved to their own radars. Something with which most of us present here have dealt with in the past." There was a wave of laughter at those words. "Missile launchers are placed behind them, we don't know what kind of missiles they have so they need to be gone the same time the guns get blown up.

"We have our people on the ground around the castle and they will try to take out as many emplacements as possible, but they can't be everywhere, so the rest will need to be disabled by our planes," he said and changed the images for those showing only the base and the castle. "Part of the complex that is above the ground will be handled by Asgard as they have a reason to be here and they want to have some revenge on their Prince's kidnappers. The part below the ground is going to be taken care of by our troops and agents. An important factor is the hostages and the captives kept inside those cells," he said and a part of a base was highlighted. "We don't know in what state they will be, both physical and mental, so no going with guns and shooting everything that moves. Also right after the soldiers, medics will go to get them out of the danger zone and onto the surface.

"I won't repeat the words written in the material given to you as it is pointless and besides, you will go over them with your staffs. However I want you to understand that it is a crucial operation and its success is the only accepted outcome. In the materials handed to you, you have the exact details of what is expected from each of you and the agency or branch you control."

He paused for a moment letting those words sink in and looked over the hall. The expressions on people's faces were grim and hard. It looked as if a storm was brewing inside the room and it's fury would be terrible. For a moment he felt some compassion for Weapon X which woke up a sleeping dragon, but it was gone sooner than it appeared. Calling them humans would be an insult to the whole of the human species, they were able to do things that made even him sick.

o-0-o

Harry felt a fist slam into his face and his eyes immediately flew open, before the person that did it had a chance to do it once more, his own fist flew forward and slammed into the gut of that person. It pushed him away and gave enough space for him to sit up.

Four Weapon X thugs were in the room and they were making the room feel crowded, one of them was holding his gut thanks to Harry's strike, but the rest was angry at him. Two walked towards him, trying to circle him, but he managed to get between the two of them. However he didn't notice the third one which hit him with a rod that sent voltage coursing through his whole body. He crashed onto the floor, his whole body twitching as it dealt with the voltage.

Two thugs grabbed him by the shoulders and carried him out of the room, not caring about his legs that were dragging behind on the floor. Looking around he saw that he was moved into a part of a complex, his keen nose told him even more. He could feel the strong scent of antiseptics and blood in the air .

They passed through a long corridor, a couple of intersections and entered a large room, he squinted his eyes when the bright light filling it hit them. The thugs paused for a moment and it allowed him to take a better look, it looked a lot like operating rooms he had seen on Asgard, just more crude.

"Put him on a table and secure him," someone said and they lifted him into the air, then placed and cuffed him to the operating table.

He tried to move and found that he couldn't do a single thing, he was completely immobilized and couldn't do a single thing. He looked around and saw a few people in surgeon's garb prepare for something. One of them walked to him and picking up a scalpel from a nearby tray cut open his shorts and shirt.

A second surgeon walked to him with a syringe in hand, pressed it into Harry's arm and he felt a stinging sensation followed by a wave of cold and all of his limbs became suddenly very heavy. He immediately recognized it as anesthesia and started to struggle even more, which seemed to not impress the surgeon who walked to him and started to make incisions in his torso.

Harry's dull, hoarse roars of pain echoed through the room as more incisions were made, the scalpel easily cutting through the skin on his chest.

o-0-o

Natasha crouched in her ghillie suit and looked at the defense positions around Durmstrang, they looked like a maze and were designed by someone who knew how to do the job. Her binoculars swept over the shapes of the missile launchers painted in a camouflaging pattern that made finding it a pain.

"Four," she whispered into the radio. "Four missiles in each and they are dug in."

She slowly moved forward and laid on the ground, as to make herself smaller and less human looking, crawling she moved past the missile launcher and towards Durmstrang. As she did she wondered how it was that previously they hadn't spotted them or didn't get killed. Those things wouldn't have a single issue with taking out her plane.

Her eyes swept over the forest in front of her and she held her breath when she saw a patrol walk down the path directly in front of her. All of her muscles tensed for a moment and then relaxed as her training took over. She laid, not making a single move or sound and watched them walk past her, not even noticing that she was laying there.

Slowly she rose and hid in the bushes growing to the side of a road, she didn't want to risk another meeting with a patrol, it could compromise her mission and that would be bad. Slowly moving forward she scanned the countryside, if there were guards, it meant that there was more hidden around and that it had gotten a lot more dangerous than she had originally estimated.

"Lynx, enemy has sentries, patrols of four with heavy weaponry," she whispered into her radio and heard two clicks as a confirmation.

The moment she received confirmation she slipped into a small depression in the ground and hid there, it was a perfect spot for watching the grounds around her and counting the guards as well as other pieces of equipment they had.

o-0-o

Dumbledore looked at the door of the classroom as it opened and Fury stepped inside in his famous black coat. He stopped for a moment and looked around. "Albus, I see that you are enjoying your new quarters," he said mockingly.

"Could have been better, but I'm not complaining," Dumbledore said. "So may I know what brings you here?"

Fury smirked and walked across the room, he stopped for a moment at a window and looked outside. Finally he turned around and walked to Dumbledore. "Let's just say that I'm doing a job that should have been done long ago, I'm dealing with moles that should have been gone before they caused what they already have."

Dumbledore looked up and frowned. "Moles? At Hogwarts?"

"Yes," Fury said. "My agents found twenty and all of them were interrogated and imprisoned for the time being as Loki has plans for them, plans that are fitting of their deeds."

"But they are just children and everybody makes mistakes."

Fury growled and focused on Dumbledore. "Tell that to Warren Worthington II or his son or even your precious Harry Potter, Warren's son is in coma and nobody knows when he will wake up and Harry Potter is missing. So don't even dare to call them children and don't call those things mistakes as it is a fully conscious act and I won't tolerate it."

"What happened?" He asked, shocked by Fury's words.

"He was kidnapped and evidence pointed here and to Durmstrang," Fury coldly said. "I have my moles, so you won't be kept for longer and if you cooperate with Loki I will forget the whole thing, if not you join them in hell. The choice is yours."

"I will help you," Dumbledore finally said as he knew that Fury could be far less understanding.

"Perfect," Fury smiled. "I will show up once I clear the mess they caused."

Without a word he turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Dumbledore alone to his musings.

o-0-o

 _Valiant_ took off from the sea by the coast of Scotland and accelerating quickly she sped towards the middle of the Old Continent, she was needed there as the Operation _Adamantium Cutlass_ would start in a couple of hours. Her thrusters, an improved version of the ones utilized on her older sister propelled her through the air south-east.

As she passed over the North Sea she was met by three squadrons of F-22 which formed into a formation around her. Their sole task was to keep curious planes away from her and allow her a safe passage through the crowded airspace of Europe. There were hundreds of planes in the air at the same time and an unfortunate accident could easily happen and nobody wanted to explain how two planes crashed into each other. However even the crash wasn't as dreadful as the idea of the billions that would be spent on Valliant's repair and those paid to the families of the unfortunate victims.

At the same time cargo planes across the USA were being loaded up with the tonnes of supplies that would be required for the whole thing to work and with hundreds of people that would execute it. Even if it was a military operation, a large number of them consisted of non-combatants psychologists and medics as nobody knew in what state the captives were and sometimes even minutes were crucial. Their target were a couple of bases in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, where the cargo would be loaded onto smaller planes that could take off and land on a prepared stretch of flat and even ground. Which would allow for delivery right to the Durmstrang or close enough to be of use.

Cargo planes with supplies and ground troops were not the only things being moved in preparations of the mission ahead of them. Combat planes were being moved closer to their target and alongside them, the tonnes of ammunition they would need as everybody took the worst estimations as the basis for their calculations and that meant moving unholy amounts of heavy weaponry.

These moves would take over a week to complete, but they couldn't be done sooner without the risk of it getting done sloppily and such a risk could simply not be accepted.

o-0-o

Fury's fingers thumbed on the surface of his desk as he considered if this was a joke or not, he had seen a lot of bad decisions, but this one seemed to reach new heights of idiocy.

"It is true," Alexander Pierce said entering the office. "The NRO confirms it and the French satellites saw the same thing as well."

"So someone wants to play hard or is just tickling the line," Fury said as he looked at a large map of Europe. "If they move, at best they will get to Vistula or Oder before they are stopped and after that we can push them back. So it doesn't make sense to attack."

"Show of power?" Pierce suggested.

"No, more along the lines of exercises that are taking place, we do a similar kind of them, the timing is a bit suspicious, but that's Russia for you."

"Are we going to change the moment of the launch?"

"No," Fury said, shaking his head. "We need it done as soon as possible and they will do something no matter what we do, so no. We will attack as planned."

Pierce nodded and slipped out of his office, leaving him to deal with a pile of reports and a growing headache named Russia.

o-0-o

Harry groaned as he opened his eyes, he sat up on the cot and almost immediately felt a throbbing pain at the base of his skull. He looked around and focused on Bobby who was looking at him in worry, when his gaze focused on Bobby he was able to listen to his thoughts and feel his emotions.

"What happened to me?" Harry asked

"They did something to you," Bobby said. "The rest I don't know, two thugs dragged you here last night."

Harry looked at him and his eyes narrowed as they focused on the boy.

Bobby winced and looked at him. "Stop whatever you are doing, just stop it," Bobby said as he tried to control his voice.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled as he focused his gaze on something else. "It seems that I'm a telepath... _To be continued_

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

 **Many will wonder why Hogwarts fell so easily and quickly.**

 **One - Surprise, no wizard expected such an attack to happen.**

 **Two - Time, in the middle of night you do not expect an attack to come.**

 **Three - Shock, unless you are trained to be constantly alert you will sleep as soundly as a baby and not many things will manage to wake you up. So the most they managed to do was to sit up in their beds before being dragged out and cuffed, while someone else was aiming a gun at their head.**

 **Four - Terror, Hogwarts is supposed to be an impenetrable fortress that is impossible to be conquered. So nobody expected such an attack and terror is the biggest nightmare or the biggest friend, it turns off coherent thoughts and reasonable mind, which means that one that can use it wins.**

 **Five - Speed, special forces are like a tsunami wave, they come in fast and brutally, so even if someone was awake and put any serious resistance he would get a bullet to the knee or head and would be dealt with while other teams would go about their tasks.**

 **Six - Knowledge, SHIELD has exact plans of Hogwarts, with every single hidden passage, trap and access point marked. When you have them and good staff you can plan the best route through the castle and drill it into the heads of your soldiers.**

 **Seven - Technology, night is the worst time for a battle unless you have night vision equipment. Without it you have two bad choices, lit a light and see something, yet tell everybody where you are or not and don't see a lot.**

 **Dumbledore and Fury, Fury could get Dumbledore killed, but he doesn't gain a single thing from it and loses even more, Dumbledore is too powerful and too dangerous to be simply killed. He needs to be shown a proper place and kept on a short leash so that he doesn't cause troubles and plays according to the rules.**

 **Russia and its politics - I ranted once about it and will do few more times, but it needs to be understood, Russia wants to be seen as a powerful country that can do a lot so they will cause troubles and do everything they can achieve to get their goals. Also Soviet Union dream is still strong in their veins and they want to be treated as a country that can say no and you either obey it or get annihilated. Maybe my view is biased, but they are one of my homeland neighbors and there is not much love between us, better would be there is a lot of hate and bad history.**

 **Scale, the truth is that when you have any bigger operation, most of the work is done by logistics and support, someone needs to deliver them, get them food, supplies and whatever else they will need, they need someone to tend to their wounds and that takes a lot of people. Here they have a large number of people that are not in the best shape and need to be rescued which means even bigger strain on the logistics and if you have too many people, it is better than not enough.**


	37. The Interlude

**A/N - Continuation of the storm, or more properly calm before an even bigger one as pieces are moved across the chessboard in preparations for it to happen. A short chapter, but you can't have too much at the time and it perfectly wrapped up on its own, so I didn't bother with writing more.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Harry groaned as he opened his eyes, he sat up on the cot and almost immediately felt a throbbing pain at the base of his skull. He looked around and focused on Bobby who was looking at him in worry, when his gaze focused on Bobby he was able to listen to his thoughts and feel his emotions.

"What happened to me?" Harry asked

"They did something to you," Bobby said. "The rest I don't know, two thugs dragged you here last night."

Harry looked at him and his eyes narrowed as they focused on the boy.

Bobby winced and looked at him. "Stop whatever you are doing, just stop it," Bobby said as he tried to control his voice.

"Sorry," Harry mumbled as he focused his gaze on something else. "It seems that I'm a telepath though I wasn't in the past."

"They must have done that to you," Bobby said and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "They do that to all of us."

Harry growled and his growl soon turned into a rage-fueled roar that shook the whole room and made Bobby back away from him in fear. It washed over the whole planet and charged into the void of space, it also breached the borders between reality and the Nevernever.

o-0-o

Jean Grey was walking through the corridors of the Xavier's when she felt a powerful psychic assault slam into her shields, an assault so powerful and primal that it smashed her shields and pushed her onto the ground. She had never ever felt such a thing before, it was far more vicious and stronger than anything she had seen.

"What had happened to you?" Piotr asked as he caught her before she could slam into the hard, unforgiving floor.

"I don't know," she said and vomited as a wave of nausea washed over her. "Something or someone just smashed my shields to bits and pieces. It is furious and just woke up its powers."

"Let's take you to Beast," Piotr said as he helped her stand up. "It might be more than you think and it is better to be safe."

"Yes," she said and looked at him. "Thank you for your help."

"No problem," he said as they walked to the medical bay.

She smiled weakly, tiredness and exhaustion visible on her face. The attack was brutal and had cost her most of her energy.

o-0-o

However she wasn't the only one that suffered from the outburst of Harry's rage and she was lucky to get away from it with almost no damage. Odin was not so lucky as it slammed into his mind like a tsunami wave and threw him across the room. One moment he was sitting on his throne, while the other he was hurled through the air towards the opposite wall of the throne room.

He felt as if someone had opened a wound in his head and pushed a burning iron into the soft flesh below, he reached out with his magic towards the source of the attack, but stopped a moment before the strike as he recognized who it was. It was his grandson and it seemed that something had been done to him.

Rising from the ground Odin growled at the guards that rushed towards him and at the courtiers that were in the Throne Room. "All of you, out!" Odin barked and looked at Freyr. "Find Loki and meet me in the Council Chamber."

The Prince of Vanaheim looked at him, then bowed and disappeared out of the room. Odin sent his glare across the room and saw that everybody rushed out of it, he picked up his crown that had slipped off his head when he flew across the room and walked towards the council chamber. If someone wanted to play hard he was all for it and he would made whoever it was pay for injuring his grandson.

o-0-o

"What the hell was that?" Wanda asked as a massive wave of energy washed over the wards of the Sanctum Sanctorum.

"I would say a godling being forced to awake his latent powers," Strange said, glancing at the cloud covered sky. "A powerful one and in a kind of dangerous situation."

She growled and reached out to the spells she had left on Harry. Her eyes widened when she felt none of them, she knew that distance or dimension didn't matter when it came to those spells. "He was kidnapped," she flatly said and Strange nodded.

"Indeed, he was kidnapped, by Weapon X if I'm not mistaken," he said calmly and looked at her and her fists covered in energy. "He is fine and it is a catalyst for a certain thing to happen."

She growled and bolts of energy flew from her and slammed into the room's walls. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because there is no need for you to know," Strange said and smirked. "Besides, Loki and Fury are handling the mess and will rip apart those that did it so there was no need for us to get involved and we have our own issues."

She didn't say a word and stormed out of the room, crackling energy surrounding her as she walked to the sparring room, she needed to relax and release as much of it as possible, otherwise bad things could happen. Besides, magic was already going haywire thanks to the damage done to the Nevernever.

o-0-o

Mab sat on her icy throne in Arctis Tor when the scream came, it rattled her every bone and as she looked around she saw that Sidhe nobles were as shaken as she was. However that was nothing compared to what followed the scream, a wave of pure power filled with rage and anguish, a wave so destructive and powerful that even she, one of the most powerful beings in existence was damaged by it. She was thrown off her throne and into the wall behind it, however she managed to call upon her magic and she cushioned her fall, but she saw that many of her nobles were less lucky and ended up with broken bones and various cuts.

"Who did it?" she asked, her green cat-like eyes looking around. "Who dared to assault the Winter Court?"

She saw a portal open in the middle of a room and she walked towards it, holding a sword and in second hand spell ready to be unleashed on whoever it was. She stopped when she saw that it was Loki who stepped out of the portal.

"Queen of Air and Darkness," he said with a light bow. "You look truly charming when angry."

"Prince of Lies," she said in reply. "Can you tell me what or who was responsible for this attack?"

"My nephew had his latent power awoken under stressful conditions," Loki said smoothly. "I'm sure that he didn't want to cause this damage, but the power was forced to wake up and this outburst was fueled by his rage and anguish."

She looked at him, trying to see if he was telling the truth. "I can tell you that you do not lie about this, but I can also tell that you have something more in mind."

"Indeed," Loki smiled. "Your Majesty, would it be possible for the warriors of Asgard to use the Ways through the Nevernever, the Ways through your realm, those that allow safe passage to any point in the mortal world."

"What will I get in return?" she asked. "Every deed has its price and the one you just named is a rare gift I don't give frivolously."

"Your Majesty, you owe my family so many favors that half of them would be an appropriate payment for your assistance."

She looked at him and nodded. "It will be done, you will have unlimited access to those paths for as long as it will take to do whatever you want."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace and generosity," Loki said with a mock bow and disappeared in a portal he opened for himself.

Mab stood in the Throne Room, watching the spot in space where Loki was a few moments ago. It seemed as if the universe was getting interesting.

o-0-o

Deadpool scanned the area of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, from one or the highest points in its neighborhood, looking for any potential assassins or troublemakers that thought that taking out Warren Worthington III while he was injured was a bright idea. His gaze swept over the grounds and stopped when he saw a person with a mane of untidy hair and an aura of a predator move towards the gate leading onto the campus.

"Well, we have our prey," he whispered to himself. "Sabertooth wants to play with us."

He carefully picked up his Anzio 20mm portable cannon and slipping into firing position he aimed at his target's leg. Steadying his breath and controlling his heartbeat he slowly squeezed the trigger and felt as if his whole arm had slammed into a steel wall. The rifle had a powerful kick, but as he looked through the telescopic sight he saw that Sabertooth now was missing half of his leg and was unable to move.

Leaving the gun behind him, Deadpool ran across the few hundred yards that were between him and Sabertooth and caught the assassin to be before he had a chance to do anything. "Remember not to leave assassins alive or free," he said, as he tied Sabertooth and made sure that he didn't have a chance of escaping. "They still have teeth and know how to bite."

"To whom are you speaking?" Sabertooth asked

"To our readers," Deadpool said before slamming his fist into Sabertooth's solar plexus and knocking him out. "But you aren't important enough, so shut up."

He smiled as he dragged his prey behind him, works for SHIELD were certainly profitable as this furball just got him two million dollars by just being stupid and getting caught.

o-0-o

Fury looked around the room and wondered when the proverbial storm would strike, the atmosphere was... _tense_ and nothing would change it. "So Director Fury, how are the preparations for Adamantium Cutlass going ?" General Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff asked.

"We should be ready in two days time, the last deliveries are being made and our people are ready to storm that base."

"What is the official reason for our operation there?" Robby asked. "Russia is touchy when it comes to their sphere of influence and they don't like people doing something like that so close to it."

"Unannounced military exercises, terrorist activity and kidnapping of an important businessman," Fury said with a thin smile.

"Did they believe it?" Jack asked. "As for me it sounds like a lot of crap, excuse my words."

"They cannot prove that we are lying and they cannot prove that we are not lying, so it is good enough."

"Also they know that they can't afford a confrontation," Robby added. "They had manpower and teeth when they were the Soviet Union and had the Warsaw Pact backing them up. Now we have most of it and we can beat them so badly that they won't recover for ages."

"But they have nukes," Fury pointed out. "A good question is their quality, but in quantity they beat us, no matter how hard we try to get more."

"Which won't be used," Jack said. "Unless they want to go to the grave with us and the rest of the world as we have more than enough of them to blast them and do it for good."

"Jack, I spent something like twenty years trying to understand Russia and the way they think, I can tell you that everything can happen, no matter how crazy it is for us. They know no reason and logic when their feelings and emotions are stomped on."

"Lovely," Robby muttered. "So we can expect anything and everything from them and we might end with nukes flying towards our assets. So what do you suggest?"

"Tell them to back off and leave us alone," Fury said and smiled. "The 'I have a bigger stick than yours' mentality works on them, it is one of the few things they understand well."

"If that what works on them, I should have a proper stick," Jack said and smirked. "I will get it ready as soon as I can, meanwhile you have my blessing to carry out the plan."

"Thank you, Your Holiness," Fury said with a mock bow and left the room. If he had the green light to go he needed to do some things.

o-0-o

Odin fought the urge to smirk when Hera was ushered into his study, she seemed uneasy and confused and unsure of what was going on. He indicated for her to take the free seat on the other side of the table and watched as a servant poured her a goblet of wine and disappeared.

She smiled, her smile thin and venomous, as she sipped the wine and regarded him with a calculative look. "Your Majesty, can you explain why you had the audacity to summon me here?"

"Audacity, Your Grace?" He asked. "I am merely taking care of some business that should have been done long ago, it pertains to your granddaughter and my niece."

"She isn't my granddaughter," she spat. "Don't even use that title when referring to her."

The whole room shook as a thunder rumbled above the Citadel. "Your Grace, you are in my house and you have just insulted one of my wards, do you want to be bodily thrown out of it and into the dungeons below?"

Hera's eyes widened as she looked at him.

"I thought so," Odin nodded. "So I would like you to behave with the decorum expected from the Queen of Olympus."

She remained silent and only looked at him.

"Your Grace, you can remain silent for as long as you wish, it doesn't matter to me. Atalanta is your granddaughter, even if you are not going to accept it, that is a fact. You will stop any attempt to kill, injure or kidnap her, or any of her lovers, spouses or offsprings, I spoke with the rest of the Council and all of us have had enough of you and your behavior," Odin said and pinned Hera with his gaze. "You have the choice to either accept this or the Olympus will be isolated and the moment when an assassin gets close to my ward you will see my wrath."

"I understand," Hera said, her gaze hard and her face impossible to read.

"Swear it on the honor of Olympus and your power."

She looked at him, but after a few moments diverted her gaze. "I, Hera, the Queen of Olympus, Goddess of Family, swear not to kidnap, injure or kill Atalanta Herculeia or any of her lovers, spouses or offsprings, directly or through proxies. I swear on my life and power."

"Good," Odin said with a thin, cold smile. "Thank you for your kindness, Your Grace, it will hell our relations in the future, but for today this is all I wanted to negotiate."

Hera glared at him and stormed out of the room, leaving him alone in it.

"Good work, Your Majesty," said a man that appeared in the corner of the room.

The newcomer was a tall and bulky man with long black hair, striking blue eyes, a neatly trimmed short black beard and tanned skin. He was wearing a red tunic covered in golden embroidery and brown leather pants tied with a belt, on which he had a sword.

"It should have been done sooner," Odin said. "It doesn't take a lot to see that your daughter set her eyes on my grandson, even if they don't admit it, it is still visible for those that can think and watch."

"Wise words," Hercules said and indicated to doors. "How good of a chance is there that she behaves?"

"She will or she will get killed."

"Fair enough," he said and poured himself some mead. "I made a good decision when I decided to entrust her to your care."

Odin nodded and slowly sipped his mead. "Speaking about her and my grandson, will you mind if they date each other?"

"No," Hercules said and laughed loudly. "They will date and see each no matter what we do or say, so they can date and see whoever they want to."

"Hera will have a heart attack or two when she sees them together," Odin laughed. "Not that I really care about her."

"She never was my mother," Hercules said and finished his mead. "I bid you a good day and leave you to deal with the paperwork."

Odin growled at those words and heard Hercules laugh, he wanted to curse his relative, but he knew he was right. He looked at the piles of scrolls, letters and hundreds of other things that needed to be done laying on his desk. After five thousand years of wearing the crown he had started to feel its burden, dozens of civilizations destroyed, turned into slavery or conquered by Asgard. Thousands of death sentences and hundreds of other deeds that left their imprint on him, each left a small one, combined it was capable of destroying a weaker being.

Even if he felt that way, he knew that none of his family members was ready to take the burden and he knew that he could rule for a really long time without burning himself out. He pushed those thoughts away and focused on the work in front of him.

o-0-o

Gambit looked at the piece of paper on which he had deciphered the message from Fury and smirked, the time to have fun would soon be upon him, he would just need to get Blob out of the way and somewhere where it could get removed out of the equation.

He lit a cigarette and slowly exhaling the smoke he looked at the display of his laptop, thinking how to do it. The key would be X-23, he knew that she was unpredictable and if she was convinced to follow him, she could be both saved and wouldn't cause injuries to them. If not, then it could get tough and dangerous.

He picked up the piece of paper on which he had written Fury's message and holding it above the ashtray, lit it with his lighter. The fire burned it quickly, consuming the sole piece of evidence that could prove his treason. He could tell that the situation was tense as the guards that patrolled outside were getting grumpy and were even less talkative than normal.

He finished his cigarette and putting his trench coat on he snuck out of the room, he needed to make some preparations to get things ready.

o-0-o

Amelia Bones muttered a curse under her breath as she looked at the note that made its way onto her desk, this was bad, really bad. She grabbed the note and a report that until now didn't make sense and quickly walked towards Director's Wisdom office, if someone had power to at least reduce the fallout of this, it was him.

She stormed into his office, the doors slamming in her wake, he looked up at her and she could see a stormy expression on his face. "We have a problem," she said flatly and dropped the note and the report on his desk. "These two are bad."

"Can you clarify?"

"A goon squad of Russian wizards is gone from their base," she said. "That on its own is bad, but the last few satellites passes also suggest that they are moving troops out of their bases and radio traffic has dropped to almost zero."

"They are either preparing for very realistic exercises or war," Wisdom said and walked to the window. "I don't know what kind of game they are playing on Kremlin, but they won't survive such a war, especially if Asgard is in."

"What are we going to do?"

"Play a game of chess with them," Wisdom smiled. "They want to play by the Cold War playbook, so we will as well. Exercise REFORPOL should keep them occupied and cause so much shock that they won't know what happened to them."

"Is it wise to increase the stakes so much?"

Wisdom smiled and looked at her. "Russia understands fear and power, if we don't play hard they will see us as weak and they might do something incredibly stupid, stupid and irrational so we better play hard."

"Or we might cause a war," she said carefully. "And if we do that, we will be the very first to get hanged."

"We shouldn't," Wisdom said. "Russia understands only those that can tell her to watch out and be careful, so if we show her our power and do so close to her borders she should back off. And even if she doesn't, she should calm down substantially."

"You know the way they think better than I do, but can we launch this exercise without any forewarning?"

Wisdom only smiled. "That's the beauty of this exercise, it is the only exercise with already drawn plans and everything ready. After all it is also one of the plans in case of a war in Europe, REFORPOL, REFORHUN, REFORROM, REFORBAL, REFORTUR are five plans kept up to date at all times. We just change the name from Operation to Exercise and launch it."

She nodded and looked out of the window and at the peaceful hustle and bustle of any large city, in London it was maybe even bigger than in any other city in this part of Europe. Billions of dollars, pounds and euros changed hands, transactions were being made and things sold or bought. She finally sighed and looked at him. "I don't like this idea, but I see your point."

"Yes," he said. "It is the best course of action available to us. I will make some calls and it should start in a couple of moments."

"I will get our wizards ready for deployment," she said and walked out of the room.

o-0-o

Fury nodded to the agents as he was ushered into the Oval Office, he has been here so many times, first as an Agent, then a Regional Commander, then a Deputy Director and now as the Director of SHIELD who everybody recognized. He walked across the room and took one of the seats in front of the desk. "Mr President," he said, with a nod.

"Director Fury," President Henry Hayes said in reply. "What is so urgent that you needed to see me this soon?"

"SHIELD is preparing to rescue several dozens of our citizens kidnapped from our country and trafficked across the border to Romania. They were kidnapped by Weapon X or the Red Room, we are unsure of which one did it, but it doesn't matter for the operation. They are being used as test subjects for illegal experiments. However it seems that someone or something doesn't want this operation to happen as there are some obstacles that SHIELD on its own is unable remove."

"So what are those obstacles you cannot remove on your own?"

"Russia is moving their troops closer to the border and entered radio silence, several of their special forces units are missing from their bases and we suspect that they will attack the moment the operation is launched."

President Hayes nodded and Fury could see his technical superior think over what he had just been told. "So what would be necessary for the operation to succeed?"

"A distraction that would keep them on their toes and if they decided to attack they would be unable to succeed," Fury said and opened one of the folders he had brought with himself. "Exercise REFORPOL," he said handing the folder.

President nodded and quickly scanned it. "Isn't it too much? It looks to me like preparations for a war in Europe."

"Mr President, may I speak candidly?"

"You may."

"Russia understands a show of power and might, if we don't do something on a scale similar to theirs, they will see us as weak and attack. If we do this, they might still attack, but the chance is smaller and we might save a lot of lives with the units prepared."

"I understand," President Hayes said and winced. "I don't like the decision that needs to be made, but I see the reasoning behind it. It will be done."

"Thank you, Mr President."

"Just free those kidnapped and make sure that this group is punished appropriately."

Fury smiled at those words and walking out of the room started to plan how to do this and keep the Russians occupied and out of the way. This could be the operation that would show the power and might of SHIELD, and their good face or the one that would drag the whole world into a war. There was also a third option, one that seemed impossible for him, that there would be an outbreak of violence, but it would be a short one and they would be able to survive it.

o-0-o

At first nobody noticed that there was something big happening, but once the orders were given and it started to happen, people had trouble not noticing it. Soldiers were being called to their units and units began to prepare for their deployment. Some were slated to fly to Europe with equipment already awaiting them on the Old Continent. From there they would travel by road or by rail to their deployment zones and would perform various drills or if the war happened, be in place to stop the attack.

At the same time millions of tonnes of cargo were being loaded onto trains that would take them to ports located on the East Coast, from there they would travel by sea to Europe. On board of those ships hundreds, if not thousand pieces of equipment, millions of pieces of ammunition and millions of pieces of other equipment necessary to keep an army working at its full capacity would travel. The purpose of these exercises was always twofold, one was to test the ability to move troops, but the second was even more important, to test how well they could be equipped and supplied.

However movements of military units would happen not only in the USA, but also on the Old Continent, units would be moved east towards the border countries of NATO. At first the sudden announcement of this exercise caused chaos and shock among the governments and militaries of the European NATO countries, but soon it was gone and the units were being moved.

It was a large and visible exercise, impossible to hide, thus soon the various media outlets published photos of military equipment moving in columns through highways and whole trains loaded with tanks and military equipment moving towards the east. But that was the whole point of it, it was supposed to be seen and commented about.

o-0-o

Freyr put on his golden helmet with a pair of massive elk antlers made out of silver, fastened it and looked at the group of warriors that had gathered around him. All of them were drawn from the very best formations Asgard had to offer, they had seen thousands of battles and hundreds of conflicts. Behind them were a few antigravity carts loaded up with shackles, chains and ropes to tie those that would be brought to Asgard.

His gaze swept over their forms for one last time and he pulled out a knife inscribed with hundreds of runes, its blade pulsing with power. He cut the fabric of space in front of himself and a ripple opened in it, he was the first one to step through. The moment he passed through it, he moved to a land of frost, ice and everlasting winter. It was the Nevernever, the realm hidden under the surface of the world and home of magic, fae, demons, angels, gods and hundreds of other creatures and beings. Many of the things inhabiting it were good, but just as many were malevolent and dangerous. Snow and crystals of ice swirled around and when they dispersed they revealed a being of power and beauty.

She was tall, graceful, with hair white as the purest snow, emerald green cat-like eyes, pale skin and lips the color of frozen mulberries. Freyr needed to remind himself that even if she was beautiful, she was also deadly and angering her, especially here was a bad thing. Bowing his head he looked at her. "Your Majesty, in the name of my liege King Odin I thank you for allowing us to pass through the land of the fae."

"Asgard is a powerful realm and one known for staying true to its values as well as one of our most precious allies," she said. "A passage through my realm will take you to your destination and if need be allow you to return safely to Asgard with whatever you bring back."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Freyr said with one last bow, he looked back and saw his warriors form into even ranks, the carts placed in the middle.

When he saw that they were ready he started to slowly walk forward, making sure not to fall into one of the hundreds of traps awaiting for the careless that stomped onto a wrong piece of ice or frozen snow. He had seen similar things on Jotunheim and he didn't want to get killed by them. It would be an hour or two of walk, but they would emerge in the middle of their target in the place of their choosing.

o-0-o

Rhodes watched as the last preparations were being made and his staff was preparing for the mission to come. He looked at Banshee who stood to his side and nodded. "We are ready."

"We still have thirty minutes before the attack happens," Banshee pointed out. "The bigger question is what the Russians will do since now they are silent. Maybe our preparations rattled them a bit and made them think once again if dying for this is a good idea."

"We will see," Rhodes said and looked at the staff. "Helm, ahead full, take us to the operation's launch point."

He acknowledged the confirmation of his order and looked at the cloud covered night sky, even at their cruising altitude of five kilometers there were not many stars visible, instead there was only a sea of dark steel clouds. Clouds from which waves of rain poured, which made aircraft operations tricky, since everything was wet and slick which was bad when you tried to keep things where they were supposed to be.

His eyes swept over to the right and left and he could see pairs of F-22 Raptor fly close to the helicarrier, the lights at the tips of their wings blinking and showing their exact position. While _Valiant_ had her own defenses, ones that would swat away almost any threat, their activation would tell everybody where to find her, while those planes could do the same job and stay undetected.

"Play smart," Banshee said. "I won't intrude and command for you, but be careful and don't rush, Russia is a very unpredictable customer and even if Ukraine is between them and us, they have bases closer and they can do weird things."

"I know," Rhodes said. "I know and I hope that they will stay put as it might turn ugly really soon. We both know how high tensions are and we have over four hundred thousand troops on the border but Russia has probably even more. One shot and we will have a war."

"We shouldn't have, especially if we avoid any confrontations," Banshee said and shook his head. "But weirder things have happened and will happen, so we might have a skirmish somewhere but just that or a even a single shot is enough for a total war to break out."

"We will see," Rhodes said, looking at the displays. "But we better prepare, the show will start soon."

Banshee nodded and both of them turned to look at a timer that was getting closer and closer to zero and the moment of the attack. Rhodes' eyes swept over the bridge for one last time, feeling the tension in the air, then finally settling back on the timer.

o-0-o

Gambit picked up a deck of cards and slipped it into one of the uncountable pockets of his trench coat, he slipped a few more into them, followed by his telescopic bo staff. He knew that it would get bad and goons would be over them the moment the alarm was activated. Putting on his trench coat he walked out of his room towards the cells where the mutants were and glanced at his watch, just fifteen minutes more and he would be able to stop playing this game.

As he walked through the corridors, passing Weapon X's goons, he controlled his expression to not show his complete loathing of them and their ways. They were good only for mistreating other beings, fighting with numerical superiority and torture, other than that they were complete idiots.

 _I guess that they are not chosen for their brains,_ he thought, _SHIELD will turn them into bloody spots on the floor._ _The q_ _uestion is just how many lives will be taken with them._ He corrected his coat and played with his access card, he would need to lock the cells from the rest of the base and lead them onto the surface. He shook his head and leaned against the wall, waiting for the attack to come.

o-0-o

A flight of four B-2 briefly emerged from the clouds that covered the night sky above Durmstrang, their matte hulls slicing the air as they entered the valley. They split and the leading trio started to drop altitude, their bomb bay doors of the leading trio opened and six dart-like shapes left them, falling towards the ground, their rocket engines fired and Ward Busters charged towards their target and death.

All of those bombs slammed into the ward system and were immediately followed by a chain of explosions as the defenses around the school shattered, revealing it to the world and making it vulnerable to normal attacks.

The last one, that lingered behind opened its bomb bay doors and started to deploy its cargo, dozens of bombs, whose targets were the defense positions around the castle, dropped. Slamming into their targets they exploded, taking with themselves their targets and ensuring they were destroyed.

The attack on Durmstrang had started…

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

 **Those that watched Stargate recognized one name, Jonathan 'Jack' O'Neill, I won't be using whole series, just most of military personnel, scientists and some politicians as I'm fond of them and whatever is being said about some, they are fun.**

 **The Dresden Files are going to be used as rules that govern the magic in that universum help to keep more crazy spells on a leash and everybody that read them will see that the Merlin meeting with Dumbledore will be an interesting sight. Lore and bending of canon will be explained later as some might scream about Seven Laws of Magic and the fact that half of the wizarding world should be executed. All of it will be explained in due time by certain characters that might surprise some.**

 **For time-line continuity, it is set two years after Skin Games which means - SPOILERS! - that Dresden is Winter Knight, a Warden, Warden of Demonreach, has four of the five artifacts stolen out of the vault belonging to Hades, Red Court is no more and geopolitical world is a giant mess, which will be explained by few characters as there are even more players wanting to get something.**

 **Odin, in the books he is known as Kringle or Donar Vadderung, but it is also said that those are also Mantles, capital M intended, and in book fourteen it was stated that one person can have many of them. So to keep them as one person, Vadderung, Kringle are his persona when he doesn't want to cause a lot of noise. As if a former god shows up, not many will care, if a Skyfather, well many will need fresh pants and calming potions. Power levels, with age comes control over magic and after five millennia, you get pretty darn good at what you do, so keeping your power on the level that won't raise too alarms is achievable.**

Explanation of terms from the Dresden Files:

The Nevernever - alternate version of our world, inhabited by supernatural things, laws of physics usually apply, but powerful beings can alter them and for example in hour in the Nevernever is equal to days here or the other way around. Asgard is not in the Nevernever, but is extremely close to it and border between the two is as thin as a sheet of paper. Wizards can open portals that lead into it and as a rule a spooky and a dark place in our world will give a very similar place in the Nevernever, a vault in a bank will lead as to a vault of some being in the Nevernever.

It is also attuned to magic and if something big enough has a tantrum it gets ugly, that wave of force that washed over Mab and almost took her by surprise was an effect of powers that normally would take centuries to show, being forcibly awoken. If it was done to a wizard, no such thing would happen, but to a being that is attuned to magic and has a far bigger ease when wielding it? You get a reaction that is equally proportionate to the action. Take one furious demigod, forcibly awake his powers and you get a lot of chaos and destruction. He had a bracelet that should disable his powers, yet he used them with no issue, that means that he has a lot of power.

Faerie/Fae - there are two courts and a large number of unaligned ones, some are nothing more than pixies, while some are a dangerous foe for Odin, they inhabit the part of the Nevernever that is the closest to our world.

Ways - think of them as highways of the Nevernever, paths through it that allow for quick movement and a kilometer down such path can take us from Chicago to Tokyo. Distance from Asgard to Midgard by Ways is a much longer one, but compared to Bifrost it is a stealthy way and Mab has control over the area through which pass those ways, so she can make it pass quicker.

Mab - the best comparison is think about her as Fury of Fae, cold, ruthless, patient, extremely dangerous and powerful magically, if you cross her, you suffer badly. If you think that Asgard is cruel, she is way above this, she tortured her servant for betraying her secrets for ten years.

Other terms and certain behaviors:

REFORGER - was a codename of a series of exercises whose goal was to test readiness of NATO forces to move whole divisions from the USA to Europe, here they do the same, but for the border countries of NATO and in case Russia feels that their pride was trampled and needs to attack, they are ready to stop any attack before it has time to pick up momentum.

Game played by Fury - he has two equally bad choices, pretend that nothing happens and have Russia jump, or flex muscles of NATO and also pray that Russia stays put. Even if on the maps border between NATO countries and Russia looks small - thin strip of Norway's border, three Baltic States, Poland and that's it. In reality it is longer as Belarus is a puppet of Russia and Ukraine can be overrun in a couple of hours. So in reality it is a really long line and without reinforcing it Russia could do whatever it wanted to. Launching an exercise that cannot be hidden or ignored (as seriously, you cannot hide hundreds of trains and convoys moving as quickly as possible, usually escorted by various law enforcement) he simply checks what Russia will do and limits their options. As when you expect the war to happen and that is assumption taken by everybody, you look for even the smallest thing, which means that clandestine operations are risky as hell and you better not do it as explaining what your soldiers were doing on the wrong side of the border is a challenge.

o-0-o

 **Reviews:**

 _GothicChevy_ \- yup, a lot of Blackhawks is incoming, some Ospreys and several others, but mostly Blackhawk, Hercules and Galaxy will do most of the work. SHIELD in general will use a lot of US equipment, but you will also find a lot of western in general and even some Russian, as while their planes are bad, their firearms are one of the best. Also some weapons are unique and nobody else developed them, one of examples is TOS-1 Buratino, an overgrown flamethrower mounted on a task chassis. If you have a lot of zombies or ghouls coming and have time to prepare…


	38. Dies Irae II

**A/N - Part thirty-eight, which means that in twelve more chapters we will have Hogwarts upon us as few more chapters will be taken by moping up and fallout of this mess and some more by holidays and stuff happening on Asgard.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Freyr cut open a passage into Durmstrang and stepped through it. When he stepped through it, the coldness and winter of the Nevernever was replaced with a strong odor of necromancy and Dark Arts. He held the portal open long enough for the last warrior to pass and once every single one of them was in Durmstrang he closed the way.

Securing the runic knife in a scabbard on his belt, he scanned the place where they had stepped into real world. He saw dark corridors, and high ceiling and Gothic windows with stained glass. "Split into twenty teams," he said, looking at his warriors. "One team will stay with me, I will put a powerful sleeping spell around us and knock out everybody."

The warriors nodded, their faces hidden behind masks and helmets, they moved away from him, forming a wide circle. He focused on his magic, calling the vast amounts of power available to him as a Prince of Vanaheim. It came to him like a green-gold river of power, answering his call and allowing him to use it. He said the incantation in his mind and green mist started to pour out from his body. It washed over his warriors, not affecting them and moved forward.

"Go, keep your masks on and it won't affect you," he said and saw them nod.

The warriors split into groups and disappeared into the castle, each group carrying with themselves shackles and chains to tie every single Durmstrang student and staff member. They were suspects and nobody would have mercy for them, at least not now. He watched them for a moment, but soon joined, helping to get the job done.

o-0-o

Natasha held her sniper rifle in a comfortable position, her right eye pressed against the telescopic sight as her eyes swept the grounds around the castle. She heard several explosions, one following the other. They didn't sound like a single explosion, but more like a chain of them, as if the previous one triggered the next.

However she knew that they were independent explosions, those exploding were the anti-aircraft systems placed around the castle and the radar stations that could supply them with targets. When she saw the goons look around in shock and fear, she activated her microphone and whispered into it. "Take them down."

She squeezed the trigger, gun lurched against her shoulder, the recoil kicking her as the bullet left the barrel and flew through the air towards its target. She saw it slam into the target and she saw the goon drop onto the ground, dead. She moved the rifle to her next target and squeezed the trigger. The bullet flew through the air and killed the enemy. She did this two more times before all of the targets in her assigned zone were dead.

She left the rifle on the ground and rising she picked up an H&K G36 assault rifle, she released the safety and quickly ran towards the castle. She had over six hundred meters to run and it was a long distance, even for her, especially through the forest and with enemy grunts lurking around. She spotted one and without aiming carefully, fied a three round burst in his direction, he dropped onto the ground and she kept running. If he was alive, one of the soldiers following her would deal with him.

o-0-o

Gambit smiled when he felt and heard the explosions around the castle, he glanced at the watch on his hand and nodded. Fury was always on time and this time he was as precise as usual. A couple of grunts ran past his position and pulling out and extending his Bo staff he slammed it into the closest one. The first strike made him bent over and the next one slamming into his skull most likely killed him.

"What are you doing?" one of grunts asked, aiming his AK-47 at him.

"Helping my employer," Gambit said before he slammed the staff into the one that asked him and with the next strike knocked out the third one. "You three won't."

He stepped over their corpses and walked towards the cells. On his way there he closed and locked the armored blast doors whose purpose was to stop mutants from escaping, but in this case could also be used to prevent the grunts from getting inside. When they slammed shut he charged and threw a couple of his cards at its lock. They blew up and destroyed the lock, effectively cutting them off and preventing the opening of those doors which meant that goons would be unable to get inside.

Now he just needed to find if there were any grunts hiding in the corners, after that he could release the mutants and get them out of this hellhole and to freedom. As he walked he saw several specks of dust and small pieces of concrete fell from the roof. It meant that above them a furious battle raged or that just something heavy landed directly above him.

Swirling his staff lazily he walked forwards and casually, even carefree, slammed it into the grunt that hadn't seen him coming. He heard the sound of a neck snapping and saw a grunt fall onto the floor, his head bent in an unnatural angle.

o-0-o

Rhodes almost lost control of his jaw when he saw how massive the castle in front of them was. It was huge and he had trouble believing something like that could exist. He blinked a few times and diverting his gaze from the building in front of him, glanced at his staff. "Keep the course and start attacking the assigned targets."

"You want to test her," Banshee asked. "Or just show Stark that you have a better toy than he has?"

"Both," Rhodes said, keeping his eyes on the display in front of him.

o-0-o

When the command to fire was given, the railguns placed in the belly of _Valiant_ swivelled in their mounts, their barrels following directions from the computer targeting systems and once they were pointing in the correct direction, they fired. From each barrel a single shell was launched, they flew through the aid and slammed into their targets.

Once the accuracy of those shots was confirmed, the guns were switched to the automatic mode of firing and long, golden trails of shells left the barrels and flew towards the ground. Impacting it they struck their targets, throwing up chunks of rock, concrete and dirt into the air, adding even more chaos and confusion to that already existing.

It was also a signal for the attack planes to dive from above the cover of the clouds and attack their targets. Some targeted the remaining, still intact, bunkers, while the rest targeted very precisely chosen spots on the ground around the school. According to intelligence data those spots were spots where the net of tunnels was the weakest and the easiest to collapse. Those holes in the ground, punched by heavy bunker buster bombs and railgun shells would open access into the base for the strike teams and would make defending it even harder. However one part of the base was completely ignored during bombing, the part where the mutants were kept. Their lives were too precious and they were to be rescued, not killed.

o-0-o

Hawkeye holstered a pistol and grabbed his bow as the Blackhawk that was carrying them entered into hover mode above one of the holes in the ground. Ropes were thrown down and they used them to descend into the hole. The moment his feet touched the ground he dropped into a crouch and scanned the darkness behind and ahead of him.

He heard the ten agents of his squad land behind him, their heavy boots impacting the floor, they checked their weapons and when he saw that they were ready he started to move forward. His eyes scanning the darkness ahead of them and piercing it, looking for any traps, enemies, anything that could kill them, but also for any mutants that could be outside their holding cells.

He felt something heavy and large approach them from up ahead and he raised his hand to stop the whole team. "Something is coming," he said. "Reports indicate that they might have Giants or large mutants."

The thing that charged at them was massive, it was over eight feet tall, was a mountain of flesh and wore some kind of armor. It looked like a behemoth straight out of hell. It stopped for a moment and charged at them.

"Stop it," he barked as he drew his bow, launched the first arrow and saw it bounce off the armor. "Aim for the joints and weak spots ," he added.

He heard acknowledgements from his team and soon it was followed by the characteristic sound of rifles being fired. Bullets flew through the air and slammed into their target, not even making a dent in the armor.

"Retreat," Hawkeye commanded. "Keep firing and retreating."

Four agents nodded and stopped firing, they ran back towards the hole and found cover, once there they started to fire their weapons. Hawkeye and the rest of his group did the same and ran back, that thing still on their tail. He knew that it needed to be stopped or they were going to be get killed, but the issue was that their guns were doing nothing to it.

He crouched behind a piece of debri, notched onto his bow an armor piercing arrow and waited. The thing got closer to him and when he saw it get directly in front of him, he aimed it for its knee. The arrow pierced the armor and cut into the flesh and bone below, the thing let out a shrill cry, so pitched that it made his teeth rattle and made him realize that it couldn't be older than fifteen.

"Should be stopped for good now," he said looking at his agents.

"Or not," one of them said and indicated at the rising mountain of flesh. It growled and crawled towards them. "It seems to be alive."

"And furious," Hawkeye added as he moved away from it.

He was about to notch another arrow onto his bow when he felt a wave of coldness and death wash over them. He looked around, unsure of what or who was the reason for it, however he was not the only one affected by it and he saw that the thing coming towards them froze in fear.

Then a crack in the fabric of reality opened and out if it walked several of the ugliest creatures he had ever seen, they were roughly humanoid in shape with spikes growing from their arms, legs, heads and backs. If that was not enough to make someone afraid, then the rest of their look would. They were covered in an armor that created a shell over their bodies and under it was unhealthy pale skin. As he looked at the faces of those things, he realized they were dead, their eye sockets were empty and the flesh was visibly rotten in several places. They carried a wide assortment of weapons and shields with themselves which they used with ease.

He was about to fire an arrow at the nearest one when he saw a woman walk out of the portal, she was a tall and a graceful person, but her physical appearance made her even more interesting. She had hair as dark as night, skin as pale as milk, eyes a sickly shade of green and her body was that of a warrior. She wore a skimpy armor that consisted of a minimalistic chest plate that revealed her belly and a skirt made out of armor that ended above her knees. A diadem was on her head and a spiked whip was in her hand, while two scabbards of wicked knives were attached to her belt.

"Be at ease, mighty Hawkeye," she said. "My mistress sent me and some of her guards to capture the one responsible for her cousin's suffering."

"Who are you?" Hawkeye asked, lowering his bow, looking at those things and then at her.

"Leah," she said with a smirk. "Handmaiden and servant of Hela, my mistress asked me to drag that thing." She indicated the thing "To her realm as she has a fitting punishment for him in mind and she wants to do it personally."

"If you manage to catch him, he is yours," Hawkeye said and looked at his agents. "Hold fire and stay away."

The agents nodded and Leah smirked. She snapped her whip, walked towards the thing that had attacked them and conjured some chains made out of something black with her other hand. They ended with thin wicked spikes and without mercy she threw them at the thing and they lodged between armor plates. When Hawkeye was able to take a better look at them, he realized they also ended with loops that allowed for the easy transport what was captured.

The thing roared in pain each time the spike buried in its flesh, but Leah ignored its protests, instead walking around him and ensuring that they were properly secured. When she was content with that, she snapped something at the zombies that came with her and they walked forward to grab those chains and drag it with them back to their realm.

"Thank you for your assistance," she said before stepping through the portal which closed with a snap behind her.

Hawkeye nodded and shaking his head, looked around, it was scary and terrifying at the same time. However he was an agent and he had seen far worse than this, while he was not used to it, he knew how to get over it. He notched an arrow onto his bow and walked forward, focusing on his task and trying not to notice the smears of blood on the floor.

o-0-o

Fury stood in the command center of the first helicarrier and frowned, the operation was going as planned and his agents had secured the entrances into the maze, but he was worried. Russia and her games were a bloody mystery, for the time being they lay low, but the Bear was an unpredictable player and could attack whenever it wished to. He watched the map for a few more moments before nodding. "Start sending planes with support and prepare for landing."

"Sir, is it wise?" the executive officer asked.

"Wise?" He asked and shook his head. "No, but it is necessary as otherwise we will have problems later on. Besides, we need to evacuate the mutants and getting them here is the best choice, at least until we have a better place and a lot more equipment."

The executive officer nodded and started to give commands which brought her onto a lower altitude and towards the ground, at the same time shedding her speed and preparing for landing. As she was changing altitude and preparing to make a touchdown, a signal was passed to the dozens of C-130 that were waiting above Hungary, loaded up with medical supplies and medics, but also more special forces to help with searching the complex.

Fury walked back to his chair and activated a display which showed a very detailed map of Europe with the positions of their every unit marked in blue and Russians supposed units in red. It looked like a line running from the North Pole to the Black Sea, there were over a million soldiers deployed and dozens of thousands of pieces of equipment, waiting for a single order to launch an attack. Looking at this map he could tell that the tension were higher than at the hottest moment of the Cold War and it was only a matter of time before one side snapped. The only question was if the snap would take the form of attacking, no matter the cost or it could be a retreat, the future would only show.

o-0-o

Natasha jumped into the hole and was almost immediately forced to jump behind and take cover as a heavy gun rattled at the other end of the corridor and cut down the agent that came after her. She aimed her gun in its direction and squeezed the trigger, three round burst left the gun and slammed in the person holding that rifle.

The moment she heard a cry of pain she charged into the darkness and when she got to the downed goon, she brought her heel onto his throat, he would die soon and was a danger to those following her. She heard the sound of a fist flying through the air and barely moved out of the way as it came crashing upon her, and sent her own back.

Her enemy was certainly better than an average goon as he was able to stop a strike that worked on everybody that wasn't Russian trained. She blocked a couple of his strikes and sent a couple of her own before she was able to find a hole in his defense. Her strike slammed into his jugular and crushed it.

His body landed on the floor and she was able to take a better look at him, he was wearing a different uniform to that of the rest goons. If that was not enough, a bat shaped badge on his shoulder was more than enough to confirm whom he was. He was a member of Spetsnaz GRU, the deadliest part of Russia's special forces and it meant that Russia would protect this place, or at least pretend to do something.

o-0-o

Gambit stopped at the intersection and looked around, listening and looking for any goons, he heard a couple of cries, followed by a couple of shots and feminine cries of protest. He growled and his red eyes flashed dangerously for a moment. He broke into a run, his cloak flapping behind him as he charged through the corridor. He saw a pair of goons leave a cell, they stopped when they saw him.

"What did you do?" He asked coldly, an edge of steel coating his voice. "What did you do in that cell?"

"What we should have done long ago," one of them said and spat onto the floor. "Rid the world of two of those filthy things."

He growled and without a single warning his staff shot forward and slammed into the first one's belly, with his next move it crashed against the back of his head and in one fluid motion crashed into the side of the other one. When both of them were on the ground, just to be sure, he quickly tied their hands behind their backs.

The cries for help that he had heard were getting louder and more desperate, so he left them there and charged towards the place there. He charged into the cell and it didn't take him long to figure out what was going on, especially since the girl that was in it looked as if she was ready to rip his throat open with her teeth. The guard that had tried to get closer to her, told him the rest. Not thinking much, he slammed his staff against the back of the idiot's head and viciously stomped onto his neck.

"Are you alright?" He asked gently, looking at the girl.

"Yes," she said weakly. "Why are you helping me?"

"Because I'm going to free you out of here," he said to her honestly and picked up an access card from the corpse. "Can you free the rest? I'm going on a hunt," he said and paused for a moment, then it hit him and he threw a small key at her. "It will disable those bracelets that block your powers."

She caught the key and the card from him and smiled viciously, he left her and went on a hunt for any remaining and still alive guards. Those things needed to be culled before they could cause too much damage.

o-0-o

Rhodes stood on _Valiant_ 'sbridgeand looked at the radar display. He could see a large trail of cargo planes preparing for landing and while he could see the reason behind this, something else was more worrying for him. A couple dozen of unidentified contacts that ignored his attempts at communication and didn't seem to slow down.

"Target them," he said as he glanced at his executive officer. "They will retreat or we will shot them down."

"Sir?" she asked, surprised by his decision.

"We have cargo planes preparing to land and a few dozens of other easy targets," he said and indicated to the trail of incoming planes. "Those things are probably from Russia or one of their allies, and think that they can get close and take a few shots or scare us without any reaction. So if they see that they are targeted, they should retreat."

She nodded and walked away to get the defense systems activated, while he walked to the window and looked outside. It was still dark, but at least the rain was gone and they could see more than just a wave of rain that obscured everything. He looked towards the flat stretch of land marked with several burning flares and he could see the forms of the cargo planes getting closer and closer, cargo planes were the most vulnerable, especially now.

 _If they are reasonable they will back off when the radars target them,_ he thought, _if they are fanatics we will have trouble and probably a war. Also Russians love to tickle the line and check how far they can push before their hand is bitten off._

He shook his head and looked at the deck where he saw a F/A-18 ASH being prepared, he watched for a moment as the engines flared up and the catapult threw it into the air where it turned east and joined a flight of more F/A-18. Rhodes walked to the display and watched it, musing silently.

o-0-o

The first C-130 slowed down and its landing gear slammed onto the hard ground, its propellers spinning slower and slower as it moved down the temporary runway and turned right towards a spot marked with flares, freeing the landing strip for the next one. When it came to a complete halt, the cargo ramp lowered and allowed for the plane to be unloaded, it carried over a hundred soldiers and their equipment.

Many more were in the air and preparing for landing, they carried not just deadly equipment and soldiers, but also a lot of medical equipment and medics that knew how to use it. Nobody knew how good the state of the captives of Weapon X was, which meant that they needed to assume the most pessimistic option and be prepared for a large number of them, starved and needing immediate medical attention. Which forced them to drag equipment and medics there, so that they could get medical attention and, once sure that they wouldn't drop dead, could be send to the USA.

o-0-o

Freyr's lips curled up into a smile when he saw a giant column of flames charge towards him, it seemed that some of the Durmstrang inhabitants wanted to have a fight. He snapped his fingers and moisture from the air changed into water and formed a roaring boar, a wave of his hand and the boar charged at the column of flames.

The wizard that cast the spell looked at him in shock as the boar ate the flames as if they didn't exist. "How is it possible?" He managed to mutter before the boar slammed into him and threw him into the wall.

"I'm Prince of Vanaheim," Freyr said before snapping his fingers and summoning chains to tie and immobilize the wizard. "Whilst you are a mortal, so you don't stand a chance."

He walked forward and was forced to summon an actual shield when he felt magic being gathered, a roar of flames mixed in with several other explosions, and the moment he formed a shield in front of himself the magic slammed into it. His eyes widened when miniscule cracks appeared in its surface, no wizard should be able to do it, it was a weak shield, but still beyond what any wizard could destroy.

He watched magic create multi-colored splotches of energy on the shield before he pushed his hand forward and fired his own spell. If the wizards were going to fight as successfully as those, the whole operation would take a lot more to finish.

o-0-o

Robby Jackson sipped his coffee as he tried to remain focused on the map of Europe with marked positions of theirs and Russia's forces, it was now a matter of waiting, hoping that nobody would fire a single shot and that everything would be solved peacefully.

"Do you think they will attack?" Jack asked.

"They know as well as we do that we outnumber and outmatch them in every field, they also know that if we go for nukes we will send ourselves to the stone age."

"Fury thinks that they might do something weird and unpredictable."

"There is a reason why we do what we do," Jack pointed out. "Now we need to wait and see if they make a mistake."

"Or if they lose their nerves and do something incredibly and insanely stupid," Robby added and looked at the map. "They will probably try to tickle the line with a raid or two of their bombers."

"We have time they don't really have," Jack pointed out. "By the way, how is your niece doing?"

"Pissed off and angry, she is a lot like her grandmother."

Jack shuddered and looked at Robby. "She gave me most of my gray hair and that is before this took care of the rest of them. "

Robby smiled and looked at the map, this was going to be a couple of the longest hours in his life. Sure he had served in various conflicts, but none of them could be so dangerous as this one. Here one wrong decision and the whole world could be turned into a radioactive wasteland, thus killing everybody and everything, making it inhospitable for the next few centuries or so.

o-0-o

Natasha crouched behind a wall and reloaded her gun. She never expected it to be so hard and bloody, she lost count of fired magazines and the amount of enemies she had already killed. She only knew that there were a lot of them and that they didn't stop coming. While their number was more of an annoyance, their abilities and training were huge problems.

The rattling sound of firing a heavy machine gun broke the silence and she saw a trail of bullets cut through the space of the corridor, throwing up dust and chipped off pieces of concrete. It was keeping them effectively suppressed and unable to stick their heads from behind the cover as one hit would kill them, or at least make they die in the immediate future.

She wondered how to deal it when she heard the roar of a working rocket engine and saw a shape charge through the corridor towards the machine gun. It disappeared and slammed into it, where it exploded.

"Well, it can be done that way," she said as she emerged from behind the wall and charged down the corridor. She easily spotted the place where the machine gun used to be, now it was a twisted piece of metal and besides it were the remains of those firing it. Ripped into pieces and impossible to recognize who they were in the past.

She stepped over their corpses and kicked open the doors on the other end of the corridor. When she stepped inside, her nostrils were almost immediately assaulted by the strong stench of antiseptics. The decor had changed as well, gone were the bare concrete walls with pipes and wires running over them, instead it looked like she was inside of some lab or hospital.

"I've found something that looks like a lab," she whispered into her radio. "Be careful with weapon fire, we don't know what or who is here."

She heard an acknowledgement and looked around. She saw tables and cupboards scattered across the whole room, hundreds of pieces of lab equipment were placed on them, many vials with various things in them, some looked like blood and every single one of them was marked and signed. She walked past them and into the next room, inside she found even more equipment and vials.

 _It was set up a long time ago,_ she thought, _it looks too professional to be done overnight and God only knows how many people were killed thanks to this. Question is where is Harry, Demon said that he was not in the cells and was taken from there._

She felt a ball of ice form in her stomach as she realized where he could be, if it was true then it was rather obvious where they had taken him. She shook her head, went through the training she was taught and walked to the doors on the other side of the room. When she pushed them open, the same smell of antiseptics slammed into her, but also mixed with the stench of blood. She quickly saw the medical equipment in the room and a group of surgeons focused on an object placed on the table in the middle. She was able to take a quick look and easily spotted a pair of black wings and a mop of a black hair, it was impossible to miss that combination of traits.

She carefully aimed and squeezed the trigger, her gun barked and the bullet almost immediately slammed into the head of the one holding the scalpel. His body was thrown sideways and backwards and immediately gone limp, releasing the blade, which clattered on the floor. She didn't give the rest of them any chance to react and killed all of them, watching not to hit any of the equipment, it could be keeping Harry alive and killing the one they were supposed to rescue would be a very fast and abrupt end for her career.

"Send medics here, ASAP," she said into her radio.

The reply that came made her growl. "It's too dangerous for them."

"I have our target and he is injured, heavily," she snarled. "So if he dies, you will explain yourself to his father and he will probably kill you."

This time she didn't get any reply, but she knew that they were on their way here and probably with a lot of nasty guards with them. Just in case there was a large fight on their way. She walked around the room, looking for any entrances which could be used by enemies to get in and saw only the one she used. As she circled it, she also looked at Harry and saw a couple of cuts on his chest and a couple of fresh scars done by a surgical tool. She didn't want to think about what they had done to him or how bad of a state he was in.

o-0-o

Hawkeye fired an arrow and ducked behind to cover as a trail of bullets almost cut him down. The opposition was getting tougher and more determined with each secured hallway. He didn't know how many of them were still left and how many more of his agents would be killed, but it looked like if both of those numbers would be high even extremely so.

"How many more?" He asked as he saw more enemies join the already sizeable group.

"God only knows," someone said and fired his gun. "But I have dealt with a larger amount of them in Ireland."

Hawkeye looked to the side and saw Banshee. "What news do you bring other than that comment?"

"Widow has found their labs and Black Eagle, she secured both and called for medics to get him out of that mess," Banshee said and paused. " _Valiant_ and her air group are dealing with a curious flight of Russian planes that wandered too close. Fury is getting more troops on the ground, so we should be happy."

"How many more?"

"Something like two thousand of them and a lot of supplies, so you can shoot as much ammo as you want to and you will have more coming to you."

Hawkeye nodded and looked backwards where were the bodies of a couple injured ones and a corpse or two laid. "I have a feeling that we will run out of men sooner, than they will."

"We shouldn't," Banshee said and moved forward, firing his gun as he walked. "We can't let them catch a breath and we need to push them so that they are distracted and unable to mount any resistance."

Hawkeye nodded and grabbing a fresh quiver from an operative that ran to him started to fire them towards the enemies, forcing them to keep their heads hidden, thus making firing any weapon an impossible task, or at least diminished accuracy to a point where it was blind luck.

o-0-o

Rhodes thumbed his fingers on the armrest of his chair as he looked at the display which showed a flight of planes that kept flying towards his helicarrier, even with the targeting systems following their every move. It was either total bravery or stupidity, there was a third possibility that it was a mix of them and actually there was a highly unlikely mix of bravery and stupidity that could work.

"Should we fire at them?" his executive officer asked, she was a tall, stocky woman that knew her job and didn't ask stupid questions.

He looked at her, later at the display and sighed. "In an ideal world, I would order shooting them down, but here, with Russia being primed for a war, I don't fancy being named the one that started the third world war."

"So what are they hoping to achieve?"

"Scare us and make us retreat from the castle," he said and frowned. "Or to just show that Russia cares about its allies, but is too weak to help them."

"It doesn't make any sense, if I were honest sir, I would have called it the most insane game I have ever seen."

"Welcome to the world of politics mixing with military," he said with a smile. "That's how it happens, especially in Russia, they don't like someone, they use their two sticks oil or army. But this time none of them will work."

He looked at the display, made some math and brought up a holographic plot. He looked at their position and later at the position of the flying formation, smiled and looked towards where the helm was. "Helm, take us fifteen degrees to the starboard and plot a course to intercept those planes. Weapons bring online all of our point defense armament and Communication get our escort to follow us."

His orders caused a burst of activity among the crew of the bridge and he could actually feel the engines of the ship work and propel her forward. From hidden positions below the deck turrets with point defense systems in them emerged, they swiveled and pointed in the direction of the incoming flight.

Seconds ticked slowly on a clock as he watched them get closer to those planes' fight, it didn't take long however for them to be heard. A dull, droning noise that got through everything and even the soundproof walls couldn't stop it from getting inside. It was also a noise which was unmistakable and hard to forget once heard.

He walked to one of the windows and looked towards the east, even with the cover of the clouds below them and a dark sky above, he was able to spot the reason for this noise. A flight of Tu-95 Bear, their turboprops pushing them forward and causing an unearthly noise, a noise that shook everything and everybody. He also spotted a couple of smaller planes around the flight of those bombers, but they were far less dangerous and far less important.

If one Bear had a chance to fire at them, the mission would be a failure. If a whole flight of them did, it would be a disaster and if just their escorts did, it would be a minor and very shallow cut. He stood there for a long moment that seemed to be an eternity before walking back to his chair and sitting down. "Pass them a message to change course, if they ignore fire from the railguns in front of them. They will understand the meaning of it well enough."

"Sir?" Exec asked.

"They need to be reminded of their place and the fact that there are some rules that are widely understood and accepted in certain circles. If they behave like thugs, they need a pointed lesson on how far they can push," he said and waited.

The lead Bear turned, changing the course and was soon followed by the rest of its flight and their escorts. He watched them fly away for a couple of long moments. When he was finally sure that they were true about backing off, he breathed out in relief. Whoever was there in command was reasonable and didn't want a battle that would start a war.

o-0-o

Gambit slammed his staff into the last grunt that was on his path and looked around, trying to see if more of them were coming out of their hiding spots. He folded his staff and walked down the corridor, unlocking cells as he passed them by, he would have done it sooner, but it was too dangerous for them, while now there were no goons and nobody would pose a threat.

He saw mutants emerge from their cells, many looking scared and afraid of what was going on, but he was not surprised. If he was in their place, he would have been as scared as they were, if not more. Only one person was as calm as she used to be, but that surprised him even less as he knew who she was and her personality was, to put it bluntly, destroyed, her name was Laura Kinney or better known as X-23.

"You are free," he said. "Weapon X is no more and SHIELD is storming the place."

"Why should we trust you?" A teen with unsettling gray eyes and brown hair asked. "You worked with them, didn't you?"

"I did that because I was forced to," Gambit nodded. "I could have run away easily enough, but SHIELD asked me to be a mole and help get the organisation destroyed. So trust me and you can get out of here alive and in one piece."

The mutants looked between each other, then looked at him and they nodded.

"Good," he said and smirked. "Can any of you control the ground as other than through the ceiling we won't get out of here easily."

"I can," the same teen said and moved hand with a bracelet on it. "But this bracelet locks my ability."

"Open it," Gambit said, throwing him a key.

The teen nodded and unlocked the bracelet. Once it was off his hand he looked around and walked towards a clear part of the corridor. He spread his hands in front of himself and the whole ceiling shook, sending dust and pieces of concrete flying through the room. He did that once more and it crashed into the room, revealing the sky above them.

It was still a halfway solution, since they still needed to get onto the surface and now it was hard, though impossible would be a better word. Gambit glanced at the person that made the hole. "Can you make a ramp or something?"

He closed his eyes for a second and a ramp that connected with the ceiling rose. Gambit stepped onto it and testing its hardness nodded approvingly. He looked at the mutants and indicated the ramp, most of them charged up the ramp and onto the surface. The rest did it with a more dignified pace and more calmly.

o-0-o

Natasha breathed in relief when she saw a large group of soldiers approach her with a couple medics following them. "He is inside," she said, pointing behind. "They tried to do some kind of surgery on him before I killed all of them."

The medics nodded and she joined them. They walked inside and she saw them look around the labs, she could see looks of shock, barely hidden disgust and several other emotions on their faces. As if they couldn't believe that something like that could happen. However that was nothing compared to the looks and gasps of shock when they entered the room Harry was.

"He needs to have those incisions closed and needs to get checked for every single thing they could have used on him," one of medics said and looked at her. "Do you have contact with Director Fury?"

"Yes."

"Good," Medic said and took a moment to look at Harry. "He needs to be delivered to the hospital as soon as possible and I don't mean the medical bay on the Helicarrier, but an actual one. We can patch up his wounds, but God only knows what they did to him and if they were good, it is hidden inside his body."

"I know," she said and added with a hint of disgust. "I worked for the Red Room in the past and if nothing changed, they are as bad as they used to be." She activated her radio. "They say he needs to be taken to the hospital, ASAP."

"One of Hercules' is on standby," came the reply from Fury. "The pilot knows that they might be ordered to start at a moments notice and he is ready."

"You heard him," she said and reloaded her gun, ejecting the clip and slamming a fresh one in its place.

The medics didn't say a word. Instead they quickly dressed the incisions on Harry's torso and placed him onto the stretchers they had brought with them. When she saw that they were ready she waved her hand at the operatives and they formed a protective circle around the stretchers. They almost ran through the complex and when they got onto the surface she easily saw a cargo plane waiting, its propellers slowly turning. She watched medics load the stretchers on board and two of them stayed with them. Once the cargo ramp was closed the plane moved towards the temporary runway and started to accelerate, starting the couple of hours journey to USA.

o-0-o

Gambit winced when he felt the strong light of a searchlight hit him straight in the face, even if he disliked it, he knew why SHIELD was so careful, they couldn't risk making a mistake. As soon as it appeared it moved away and a group of agents walked towards them.

"Remy LeBeau?" one of them asked.

"Yes," he said and indicated to mutants around him. "Those are all of the mutants that were in the facility."

"There is a lot of them," one agent noticed. "Director Fury said that we can expect many, but not that many."

"We can talk later," Gambit said. "Now they need medical attention and something warm to eat, I wouldn't mind a meal as well."

The agents looked between each other, Gambit saw that the mutants visibly relaxed the moment their weapons were pointed at the ground and they stopped looking so dangerous. They followed their guides towards the helicarrier around which a small collection of smaller and bigger tents was growing. They were ushered into one of them where they were met by medics who would have a difficult task of fixing all of the things Weapon X had done.

o-0-o

Fury smiled when he saw the mutants emerge from the ground, one more problem was out of the way and now he could unleash all the fury he wanted to. Previously he had restrained himself as he didn't want to injure them, but now he had none of those restrains. Now it was just a matter of getting the job done. The complex cleared and completely and utterly destroyed so that nobody would be able to recreate what was done here.

"Agent Psylocke, take every agent and operative you need and enter the base through the entryway created by the mutants," he said as he turned and looked at Psylocke.

She nodded and walked out of the room without a word, leaving him to his own musings and thoughts about the future.

o-0-o

Umbridge smiled when she read a report about MI-13, it seemed that it was focused on some issue in the Muggle world and didn't have a single agent in the UK. She opened one of the drawers and pulled out a thick stack of rolls of parchment. She unrolled the first one and smiled when she read _High Inquisitor of Hogwarts_ , it would give the Ministry a measure of control over the school. Other acts she had ready would only increase the purity of the Ministry and the society, by banning every kind of half-breeds from having any power in it and would make life for wizards not of pure blood a difficult challenge.

She picked up all of those rolls of parchment and walked to Fudge's office to get them passed and accepted as a new law before MI-13 had a chance to react and make any attempt to stop them. Not that any of those attempts would succeed.

o-0-o

Freyr walked into the entry hall of Durmstrang and saw every single student and staff member of the school tied and chained with each other, making their escape almost impossible. All of their wands were away from them and no other weapon was close enough for them to use. Besides, along each row of them, a row of his own warriors stood. Warriors that didn't have a single issue with stopping any attempt of rebellion.

"Everything is done, Your Highness," one of the commanders said, approaching him. "We have caught everybody and double-checked to ensure that we didn't miss a single person, there are thirteen thousand of them."

"Thank you," he said and pulled out his runic knife and slashed fabric of space in front of himself. "Get them through the gate and once everybody is in the Nevernever I will join you."

The commander nodded and started to give orders to the warriors who nudged their captives to walk. Freyr stood by the gate and watched as everybody, one by one, disappeared inside of it. He waited for the last row to get inside before he did so after them and the gate snapped shut behind him. Now it was a long trek for them through the Nevernever and into the realm of Asgard, where it would be decided if they were innocent or guilty of the crimes against the Realm.

o-0-o

A/N:

Russia's behavior part two, as I said earlier they need to flex their muscles and show that they are important, also if possible save Weapon X, they have forces on the border, but an offensive would be a very, very bad idea. One, if they do it everybody will label them as aggressors and that is bad for international relations. Two, NATO has their own forces ready and expects an attack, so if they attack, they run into an enemy that had time to dug in, prepare positions and just waits for someone to attack, which is bad as surprise is a very important factor. Three, Russia lacks resources and manpower for a longer war, not to mention that uses mostly equipment that remembers times of the USSR, which means that it looks bleak compared to what an average NATO country has. So their only hope would be to make a quick rush, catch as much as possible, preferably get to Vistula or Oder River and then negotiate. Which with prepared and ready NATO is nearly impossible, sure, they would probably get to Oder, but they would also most likely land in a trap - powerful thrust from Slovakia, along Vistula, while blowing up bridges and assault from the sea, which would leave them surrounded in a very unfriendly territory, with enemy behind, in front and to the sides, while at the same time having very unhappy and angry locals that will happily explain what they think about presence of those troops, not to mention that their logistics would be in shreds. Food isn't a problem, but spare parts, ammunition or reinforcements and new weaponry? Good luck with trying to deliver them with enemy air patrols hunting for even the slightest sign of activity and bridges blown up. This is an assumption with not taking airforce into equation, taking it, well, Russian armored columns would be smoking columns of wrecks.

So they made a gamble, take a shot with Bears and hope that they can launch missiles and cause damage before fleeing the hell away, helicarriers are easy to make worthless, you don't need much, destroy part of deck, one engine or bridge and it's over for the ship. If they show that they tried to do something, it is enough for their allies, if they achieved it would be perfect, but trying is equally good, sure they could have done more, but any open support and they get accused of supporting a dangerous group. Which gives SHIELD blessing to deal with them however they wish and that is just a thing for which Fury is waiting, also it would be a political suicide, not many are willing to speak with a criminal, especially if one of bigger players is labeled as criminal it is bad. Every single second league country will be more than happy to replace it and there is a lot of such countries in our world.

Game played by the USA, for those that know international relations and how they work, it is an obvious one, but for those that don't, here is an explanation. They want this whole thing done, as soon as possible and with as little noise possible, preferably without causing an international scandal. They also don't want Russia doing what Soviet Union wanted that is to conquer Europe so they move troops to Europe behind the veil of exercises, which is a lie and everybody knows it, yet cannot prove it, and wait. If Russia attacks, blame is on Russia, but if it doesn't attack, everybody is happy and there is a lot of awards to be given.

There is also Asgard meddling in the whole affair, but its goals are simple, get their Prince for the lowest price and earn as much as possible, so they will happy get slaves, loot and so on, but unless forced to won't take part in battles. Sure, they have means of doing it, but there is no point in it, their gain would be a much smaller one, besides, if you have an ally, why would you waste your resources.

Why thirteen thousand? Rowling stated that Hogwarts is supposed to have circa thousand students, which gives roughly 150-160 students per year in the UK, but there is also small amount of homeschooled and those that are unable to attend the school. So we can safely assume that the number of children born per year is closer to two hundred in a country that has something like eighty million people, now we take that for former Warsaw Pact, the Balkans and Scandinavia and get a lot of people (143 millions + 45 millions + 39 millions + 20 millions + 11 millions + 10 millions + 10 millions + 10 millions + 9 millions + 7 millions + 6 millions + 6 millions + 6 millions + 6 millions + 4 millions + 4 millions + 4 millions + 3 millions + 3 millions + 2 millions + 2 millions + 2 millions + 1 million = 353 millions for Europe only and for those that don't remembered when Soviet Union fell, it created a dozen or so countries in Asia - 31 millions + 18 millions + 10 millions + 9 millions + 6 millions + 5 millions + 4 millions + 3 millions = 86 millions, which gives 439 millions people which is a lot).

In the UK we have roughly eighty million people, so out of 439 millions we get around eleven hundred children per year, but that is assuming sane birthrate as in the UK which is a wrong assumption. Excluding nordic countries, everywhere else common is large family with a lot of children, so we get closer to seventeen if not eighteen hundred children. So eighteen multiplied by seven gives us 13600.

What Asgard did is the best move from their point of view as in one fell swoop they achieved few goals:

Population of wizards in a better chunk of a world is under some form of control as even if small percentage of those caught is guilty, it still hurts and it can be fixed with time, but not immediately so for a generation or two there will be a smaller amount of wizards.

Fear, shock and terror, three things any decent ruler doesn't mind, you want your enemies to respect and fear you and your wrath as there is a smaller chance they will do something crazy. So by showing that there are no limits, they show that they will play seriously in a very crude manner which is also blunt and direct which works for a lot of people.

Economic gain, there is no such thing as too many workers or slaves, more workers or slaves means more production and that means growth of economy which means more taxes and more taxes mean more money to spend. You get it. They could go and raid some other place, but economically wise, it would be a lot worse than Durmstrang as here they have relatively young workers that can work for a really long time, are almost defenseless and can be easily caught as seriously, an average human doesn't stand a chance against an Æsir when it comes to physical activities.

Happy SHIELD, Durmstrang taken care of means a lot less bodies that can get into the way and a lot less time spent destroying the whole thing. Granted, SHIELD has almost all of the aces, but Durmstrang is the size of a small town and it would be a nightmare to conquer. Sure, they don't lack bodies, but lack time and want it done silently and quickly. Regular siege is neither silent nor fast, they would spend days, if not weeks dealing with the thing. And it gives Russia a lot of time to make its moves and that is even worse as it could force some kind of ceasefire and nothing would be gained.


	39. End of Weapon X

Hawkeye looked around and for the first time he had troubles believing the fact that there were no more enemies to be killed, no more people shooting at him and trying to kill him. It felt like something crazy, something that was impossible to happen.

"It is over," he finally said, shouldering his bow. "All of them are dead."

"Not all," Banshee said. "Just most of them, the rest is probably hiding and probably quite well, so we will need to search it, room by room and find every single one of them."

"Which means weeks more of clearing the thing and catching everybody."

"Yes," Banshee said with a wince. "They will hide in various places and we can expect them to jump at us without any warning and we need to check it room by room."

Hawkeye nodded and picked up a spare quiver full of arrows and walked into the darkness. "We can start it now, we will do it sooner."

He heard Banshee grumble something, but then join him.

o-0-o

Rhodes watched as the form of Durmstrang grew in size as they returned from their mission of chasing away those few planes that wanted to have fun. He was happy by the performance of his new toy, it was working as promised or even better.

"We have new orders," his exec said. "Director Fury wants us to land and prepare for taking in mutants that require medical attention. They are setting up a field hospital, but it will take them an hour or two."

"I understand," he said. "Did he suggested a spot or should I choose it?"

"He suggested," she said and he nodded. "It is besides the first helicarrier."

"Helm, take us there."

He heard the acknowledgement of his order and almost immediately helicarrier started to slow down and shed her altitude as it got closer to the ground. From her underbelly extended massive landing legs and the moment she slammed into the ground, through the whole ship passed a light tremor that shook everything.

o-0-o

Freyr cut open the fabric of reality and stepped out of the Nevernever and into the land of Asgard, he was immediately met by the gray walls and gray buildings with tall towers spaced every few dozens of meters. On top of those towers were walking guards with massive rifles, ready to hit and kill any target they were asked to kill.

It was the main slave camp in Asgard, one where slaves were brought in before being distributed to the businesses and owners that bought them. It was also the biggest prison outside of the Capitol and one of the best defended places on Asgard, escape out of it was almost impossible and even if someone escaped, he landed in the middle of the deadliest forests of Asgard, one that would kill an unprepared person in a nick of a moment.

o-0-o

Mikhail Sokolov was scared, scared of everything. In his whole fifteen years of life he never ever felt so much fear as now when he was cuffed and on Asgard. He could see other people as scared as he was, even staff members were pale. Around them he could see Æsir warriors standing tall in their pitch black armors and spears in hands. They looked tall and imposing, as well as dangerous with their faces hidden behind helmets and masks that revealed only eyes.

They were formed into columns and led to a large building that seemed to be made out of rough stone, as he entered it he could see that staff members and girls were led somewhere else. They entered into a large rectangular room with eighty doors on the other end of it, in front of those doors stood guards with spears and shields.

"Form into eighty lines, each in front of one door," one of guards said.

Mikhail looked at his peers, who just shrugged and did it. He walked forward to the outermost doors to the left and as he faced them he felt dread spread over his body, dread and fear. Dread and fear of the future.

"You, come inside," one of guards said in his direction.

He walked forward and stepped into a small square room, in the middle of which was a desk with an Æsir behind it and two more standing guard.

"Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sokolov?" Æsir asked

"Yes."

"Sit down," Æsir said and handed him a small vial. "Drink it."

He looked at them, questions in his eyes.

"Truth serum," Æsir explained. "You will be unable to lie when answering questions."

He looked at the vial and later at the Æsir. "No."

"If you have nothing to hide, you won't have issues with drinking it."

He looked at it and with a nod drunk it, the moment it touched his skin he felt the need to speak truth.

"Did you participate willingly in an organization named Weapon X?"

"N… Yes," he said and Æsir nodded.

"Than I, Leif Ragnarson, in the name of the Allfather Odin Børson sentence you to a lifetime of slavery on Asgard," Æsir said and motioned for two guards to grab Mikhail. "You know what to do with them."

Mikhail tried to protest, but guards lifted him by his shoulders and not caring about the protests carried across the room and threw through the doors. He flew through them and landed in the next next room. It was an elongated concrete room with a set of eighty tables bolted to the floor across it and eighty doors leading into and out of the room. Around each table stood three Æsir, dressed completely black and looking dangerous.

He landed on the floor and almost immediately felt strong hands grabbing him from the ground and lifting into the air. He was forced to stand straight and his shackles were removed.

"Undress or we will do it," one of them said. "Choice is yours."

He looked at him and later at two more that held him, he could tell that he didn't have a chance against them and they could force him to do whatever they wanted him to do, so he nodded. "I will do it."

Æsir smiled thinly and those holding him released their hold on his arms and allowed him freedom of moves. He undressed slowly, taking as much time as possible.

"Underwear too," Æsir barked indicating his boxer briefs.

"No," Mikhail said in defiance.

Guards grabbed him by his shoulders, while one in front of him pulled down his underwear in one move. Then one of them pulled out a long knife and grabbed a handful of his hair. Mikhail tried to kick the guard behind to set himself free, yet achieved nothing and one shaving him didn't care about it. Locks of his precious golden hair fell onto the floor around him. He tried to struggle, yet the only thing he got was guards not paying any attention to him or his attempts to escape them. After a moment they stopped and moved him onto a table bolted down to the floor.

He heard noise and saw three of his peers being thrown into the room, they were immediately grabbed by the Æsir who started to do the same things as they did to him. Yet with much more struggle as they saw his fate.

He felt cuffs closing around his wrists and ankles and the next moment he was completely immobilized and unable to move.

"How old are you?" Guard asked

"Fifteen."

Guard didn't say a word, only wrote a thing on a tablet he was holding and looked at the one standing to his other side. Mikhail followed the gaze and screamed in fear when he saw the Æsir hold branding iron that was glowing hot. Guard caught his head, immobilized it between his hands and at the same time iron got closer to Mikhail's face.

Mikhail watched in fear as it moved closer and closer to him, he gulped in fear as it stopped above his face. Then it moved sharply and the next thing he remembered was pain, burning, searing pain like no other he ever felt. He roared in pain as the sign burned out in his cheek, marking him as someone's possession and no longer a free being.

He felt the pain go away, but it did it only for the briefest moment, as the branding iron slammed into his forearm, burning out another sign in his skin. When it was done guards unchained him from the table and threw into the next room, as if he wasn't a living breathing being, but a thing that could be thrown around. He landed on a rough stone floor, sitting up he looked at his forearm and saw a triskelion burned out in his skin, triskelion that stood out against the pale skin of his arm. He touched his cheek and felt one more shape burned in his skin, he hissed when his fingers touched it, it hurt. Shaking his head to get over the pain he looked around and saw that it was a large rectangular room. In the middle there were several dozens of low tables and desks, purpose of which was completely unknown to him and if he was going to be honest with himself, he didn't want to know what was it.

He tried to walk forward, but almost momentarily stopped as he slammed into a force field and was unable to move any further. Unable to walk around the room, he tried to look at it as closely as he could, watching out for any details he could find. He discovered that his pen, was a simple rectangle inside of a room marked with runes and with several drains placed in the floor, it was roughly ten by ten meters and he could see several more around it.

For the next two hours he sat in it, watching as more people were thrown into the room, completely naked, all of them male with brands on their cheeks and forearms and hair cut short. He was shocked the most by the youngest students that for the most part curled into balls and sobbed quietly.

His body couldn't control itself for any longer and he was forced to relieve himself, he got to the closest drain and holding his willy with one hand, he pointed it in the direction of a drain and sighed in relief as a large stream of piss left him and flowed into the drain. Normally he wouldn't do it in front of others and in such place, but he needed it badly. It seemed that his was the one that broke the rest from their stupor as they also followed him and soon there was heard a sound of piss flowing down the pipes. As he finished relieving himself a group of warriors of Asgard entered the room, he looked at them and saw that ones walking in the middle of the group looked less like warriors, but more like Healers. They were still dressed in blacks, but instead of shields and spears they carried bags and he saw Healers at Durmstrang carry similar ones.

He watched as they unpacked their bags and finally sat down behind their desks before one of them, one with a red band around his arm stood up and walked closer to the pens. "All of you are slaves and you took part in torturing our prince. As such you don't deserve to have ability to breed or even to be free." healer said and paused for a moment. "You will be sorted and depending on where you will be sorted you might be sterilized, attempts at fighting are futile and you will achieve nothing excluding more pain for you."

Mikhail gulped and looked around, he could see that most of other students were as scared as he was, yet he could see some that seemed ready to fight for their freedom, even if they were unable to get out of the pen and all around were armed and armored guards. Guards that didn't care about them or their lives too much.

Healer snapped his fingers and guards rushed towards pens.

o-0-o

Ilya Karpov was a sixteen years old student of Durmstrang, he tried to back away from the border of the pen and get away from the warriors that were walking towards them. He pushed few younger students into their path, but the only thing he achieved was giving himself just few more seconds as they were dragged out of it, one by one, guards not paying attention to their attempts of fighting back or protests. He tried to get away from guards when he felt strong hands clamp down on his arms and carry him out of the pen and towards those low tables and desks where were healers. Guards placed him on the table and with ruthless and silent efficiency chained him to it, not letting him make any moves.

Healer got up from the desk and looked at him. "Six feet and few inches, a lot of muscles, sixteen years of age," he said, trailing his fingers along Ilya's arms and legs. "Healthy and no illnesses, will do quite well in the mines or on the fields, yes, that will do, sterilization and not much else." Healer said before reaching for a marker that was laying on his desk and leaving a chain of letters on Ilya's chest. "Unchain him and throw into the next room."

Guards nodded and before Ilya could say a single word they freed him from his shackles, grasped by his shoulders and carried across the room, before throwing through the doors. When he passed them he was almost immediately grasped by a pair of warriors that dragged him with them and tied to a low table, before doing it they forced him to spread his legs. However before they did it, he had a second to look around and he noticed a small pen in the corner of the room and some dried blood on the low table and around it. When it was done the Healer walked towards him and glanced at the marks that were on his chest.

"Vasectomy," healer said after a glance at those marks. "Should be done quite quickly and easily."

Ilya tried to struggle against the chains, but the only thing he got was an annoyed look from the healer who reached out for a small syringe and the next thing that he felt was a short flare of a stinging pain when the needle pierced his skin, followed by the numbness around his crotch. Healer looked at him and muttered something under his breath, so quietly that Ilya had issues understanding what was said, then he reached to a small tray laying to the side and picked up a short scalpel, it's blade dull silver and gleaming lightly.

Ilya watched in horror as healer grasped his crotch and quickly made two shallow cuts in it, cuts that gave access to the things hidden inside of it. He could only be the witness to the healer swiftly cutting the cord that allowed semen to leave his balls, in its place went an artificial connection that would only allow testosterone to enter the body and let it develop muscles and bones. Once it was done healer quickly stitched back the wounds and placed his hand on them, before whispering a word and making them heal on their own.

"He is done," Healer said and snapped his fingers at the warriors that in the meantime were catching other students thrown into the room and were quickly herding them into the pen where they waited for their turn. While watching what would be their fate.

Warriors unchained Ilya and threw him into the next room.

o-0-o

 _!Jump in time to the point when they were brought to Asgard.!_

o-0-o

Ilse Koch looked around, scared and unsure of what was going around her, at Durmstrang she was used to being on top and having everybody follow her orders as if they were words from God or more proper would be Marx and Lenin. While she preferred to think about herself as a queen, she was also aware how her rivals called her, Bitch of Durmstrang, title that made her laugh whenever she heard it. However now she was thrown out of balance as in her seventeen years of life never experienced something like that, she was pushed by guards and forced to walk faster. She glared at them, but their faces were covered by masks that only revealed eyes, cold and lacking any empathy for her or her situation.

"Move faster," one of them barked and moments later she felt shaft of his spear slam into her back.

"Fuck you!" she spat at him as she tried to walk, chains kept her standing, but the pain was still there.

The guard just ignored her and turned his attention to other girls that were slow in his opinion. When they entered the building chains connecting them were removed, but their individual shackles were still in place. She took a quick look around and saw that they were in a simple, rectangular room with a dim light provided by a couple of small lamps. Everything was purely utilitarian, there were no fancy decorations or expensive materials. Just plain metals and stones. On the other side of the room she could see outlines of dozens of doors, in front of them guards with shields and spears.

"Form into lines, one in front of each door," guard with a plume of hair at the top of his helmet said, there were also several silver and gold elements on his armor.

"You don't have a right to force us," she snarled, firmly planting her feet on the ground.

Guard just moved and the next thing she remembered was pain that spread all over her back, previously she was tied with others that supported her. Here she was alone and she fell onto the floor like a sack of potatoes. "Get up," he said, grasping her by the shoulders and hauling her.

She spat at him, but he didn't even notice it and walked her to one of multiple doors and briefly stopped, to look at the rest of girls. "You see," he said. "You move on your own or we will move you, choice is yours, but I suggest that you make a decision, quickly."

Then he opened the door and pushed her inside, she landed on her knees in front of a desk with a sole Æsir sitting behind it and a pair of warriors standing behind him like a pair of guardian statues. She got up and looked at him.

"Ilse Koch?" He asked.

"Yes," she spat.

"Sit down," he said, indicating the chair in front of his desk.

"No," she said and made him smirk.

"Fine," he said and looked at one of his guards who walked to her and dragged to the chair, his gauntleted hands not allowing her to get away. One that was on the other side of the desk pulled out a small vial, opened it, looked inside and looked at the guard that stood behind her. Guard pressed his fingers against sides of her face and with second hand reached for the vial before pouring all of it down her throat. She almost immediately felt a desire to speak truth and truth only. "Did you willingly participate in the organization known as Weapon X?"

"Yes, I did."

"Than I, Bjarni Erikson, in the name of the Allfather Odin Børson, sentence you to a lifetime of slavery on Asgard," he said and looked at the warriors. "You know what to do with them."

They brutally lifted her by the shoulders and threw through the door, when she landed on the other side. Looking around she saw dozen or so of girls tied to the tables that were in the room, they were naked and around them were walking Æsir.

She tried to get away from it when she felt hands clamp down on her arms and haul her up, at the same time her shackles were removed. One of them grasped both of her hands, while the other reached out for a knife and started to rip open her clothes, quickly cutting through the material. Once she was out of clothes she felt someone grasp her precious black hair that soon started to fall onto the ground around her. As soon as her hair were cut she was hauled by guards onto the table and swiftly chained to it.

"Your age?" one of them asked.

"Seventeen," she said, potion still having an effect on her.

He nodded and wrote a thing on a tablet he was holding before looking at one of other Æsir in the room, one that was holding a branding iron. She felt hands grasp her head and immobilize it, while person with branding iron walked to her. She screamed in fear as she watched the iron stop above her face before being pressed into her cheek. Her previous scream of fear and terror turned into one of pain as her skin sizzled and a mark was being burnt out in it. She thought that it was over when it was removed from her cheek, but she was wrong as moments later it slammed into her forearm and left another mark.

She was unchained from the table, lifted by the guards and thrown through the door on the other side of it. When she landed on the ground she could see that she was in a large room, with several dozens of low tables and desks. Close to her were several of her followers who looked even worse than she did, few had large bruises and one even had a shallow cut on her arm.

She didn't have much time to think as soon into the room filled in dozens of warriors of Asgard and healers. Their forms clad in blacks and only their eyes visible from beyond their masks that covered rest of their faces. For a moment they unpacked their gear before one of them stood up and looked over the girls. "All of you are slaves and you took part in torturing our prince. As such you don't deserve to have ability to breed or even to be free." healer said and paused for a moment. "You will be sorted and you will be sterilized, attempts at fighting are futile and you will achieve nothing excluding more pain for you."

She paled and pushed her followers to the front, they could be sacrificed to give her a chance to escape and live. However it didn't give her much as warriors dragged them one by one and she only bought herself a couple of minutes as soon it was her turn.

She felt a pair of hands grasp her by her arms and haul with themselves, not caring about her protests or attempts to fight. Without any ceremonies she was placed on the table and soon shackles were keeping her in place. Æsir that looked like a Healer walked to her and looked at her. "Seventeen years old," he said, looking at her. "A lot of muscle mass for a girl, almost six feet tall and body too bulky for work in entertainment," he said, his hands trailing along her arms and legs, briefly going over her breasts. "Farming or work in one of estates will be the best, yes, estates it is." He reached for a marker and quickly scribbled a chain of letters and signs on her chest and abdomen. "Sterilization is all she needs and should be a decent worker for farming and as a servant." He snapped his fingers, shackles were removed and she was once more grasped by warriors who carried her to one of many doors at the other end of the room

She flew through the doors and landed on the other side of them, strong hands grasped her and hauled her up. It also gave her a view of the whole room and she wished she didn't see it. To the bloodied table placed in a depression in the middle of the room was chained one of her followers, she was unconscious and two healers were working on her. Ilse wanted to throw up when she saw one of healers reach into the incision made on her follower's body and pull out an egg-shaped object covered in blood, she recognised it as one of ovaries, she watched with some sick fascination as the second healer pulled out second ovary. They talked briefly between each other before one of them reached for a scalpel and severed the ovary from the rest of the body. At that moment she threw up as guards dragged her into a pen where few more girls were kept. Time for her dragged out excruciatingly slowly as she watched her companions being sterilized one by one. When it was her turn to be sterilized she didn't feel a single thing, she was simply numb and devoid of emotions, she had seen her share of cruelties when she helped Weapon X, but causing someone pain was so much different to being on the receiving end of it.

She let them tie her to the table and didn't fight back, one of healers looked at the signs covering her and nodded. "So remove ovaries and don't care about scars," he said and she gulped as she felt him touch her by her pussy and trail his finger up. "Should be straightforward enough," he said.

She didn't say a single word as they injected her with anesthesia and she was barely aware of what was going on when she felt scalpels piercing her skin and digging into the flesh below. When she woke up she felt a faint pain around her abdomen and when she looked there she saw a couple of fresh scars.

o-0-o

Mikhail felt hands of a guard grasp him and drag to one of the tables, he was quickly chained to it and a Healer walked to him. "Fifteen years old," he said and trailed his fingers across Mikhail's body. "Young, perfectly proportional body and no blemishes or scars. Could be send anywhere, but mines will destroy the body and it is too good for it," he said and paused. "Farming for a year or two and then one of resorts could get him, not good enough body to send him outright to one of them. Yes, that works."

Healer reached for a marker and quickly scribbled chain of letters on Mikhail's chest and looked at the guards who removed his shackles and dragged across the room. He landed in a small room with a pen in the corner, table in the middle and a Healer and a pair of warriors waiting for him. Before he had a chance to say a word he was placed on the table, tied to it and he felt a scalpel piercing the skin. Once the healer was done, Mikhail was removed from the table and thrown into the next room.

o-0-o

Victor Krum looked in worry at the Æsir which handed him a vial of truth serum, he drunk it quickly and the extremely familiar compelling to speak truth washed over him. He took a lot of this serum during various international Quidditch competitions where it was used to check for cheating, taking drugs and other unfair moves and everybody was forced to pass it, no matter their age. Many protested against it, but the ICQ lost their patience after *famous* Quidditch Cups of 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986 and 1990 during which most of eastern teams were full of drugs, potions and any other thing that could help them win.

"Did you willingly participate in the organization known as Weapon X?" Æsir asked.

"No, I didn't," Victor said, truth forced out of his lips.

"Did you know about its existence?"

"Everybody in Durmstrang knew about it, Headmaster was one of its leaders and everybody was encouraged to help them and to do whatever they wanted us to do."

"Why did you decide to stay out of it?"

"Because it would be caught by the routine checks done during sports matches and before them," he said with a shrug. "So I wanted to stay as far from it as possible."

Æsir nodded and glanced at his guards, one of which walked to Victor and removed his shackles. "You are free to go, you won't be able to leave Asgard for few more days, but inside of it you can do and go wherever you want."

"Why can't I leave it now?" Victor asked, rubbing his wrists to get the blood flowing.

"Because Durmstrang will be no more. We made sure not to leave a single thing behind," Æsir said. "Your personal possessions will be given to you as that's your right to have them, but the rest will get obliterated."

"What about my education?"

"His Highness Prince Loki is making arrangements to accommodate the needs of those that are innocent," Æsir said, pulled out a small piece of paper and wrote several lines of text on it. "Give it to any guards outside, they will show you to quarters that you can use."

"Thank you," Victor said and took the paper from the hand of the Æsir on the other side of the table.

With the paper in hand, he walked out of the room and out of the building, at the entrance he talked with one of guards who showed him to a place where his new quarters were, away from the prison complex, in a small town that grew in the vicinity of the prison.

o-0-o

 _!Jump back in time to the moment when we left Ilya!_

o-0-o

Ilya flew through the doors and landed on a hard, unforgiving floor. He looked around and saw that once again he was in a small room, inside of it yet another table and a trio of Æsir. Two of them grabbed him and tied to the table, while the third one prepared something that looked like a tool to make tattoos. Ilya watched as the tool was placed over inside of his wrist, he felt a bit of stinging pain when it dig into his skin, leaving miniscule amounts of ink behind. The moment it was done he could see a line of numbers on his wrist.

"That's your identification number," Æsir said. "Your name doesn't matter here, nor does the surname, just this."

Ilya dumbly nodded, recent experiences being too much for his mind that didn't want to cooperate and wanted to forget all of this.

Guards released him from his shackles and threw into the next room. It was a spacious hall, with dozens, if not hundreds of crude cots and gray bundles at the end of each. Some of them were already occupied, however the majority was still free. Around the room were circling several Æsir with a large cauldron full of something and an even larger basket of bread.

"Choose your cot and wait for your meal," one of Æsir that stood on guard said.

He nodded and walked to one of cots, grateful that he wasn't thrown or hauled across the room, his body suffered enough and probably would suffer even more. He plopped down on it and grabbed the bundle, inside he found quite a thick woolen blanket, a tank top and a very loose and simple set of plain shorts. He put them on, in an attempt to regain some dignity and honor, it was bruised enough by being thrown around and sterilized. As he sat there he could see more and more people being thrown into the room, most of them as disorientated as he was, if not more. He was grateful when food made its way to him and his position, in his eyes appeared hunger as he watched an Æsir pour him a bowl full of thick soup and later hand him a loaf of bread.

o-0-o

Loki stood on one of the uncountable terraces of the Citadel, a goblet of mead in his hand, he nodded when he saw Holler approach him, he knew that this Æsir would need to talk with him, sooner rather than later. "From what I saw, my cousin brought the cargo with him," Loki said and Holler nodded.

"Indeed, he did," Holler said. "It took a bit of time, but those that took part in that vile group are now slaves, the rest were given the quarters you chose for them."

"So how many were innocent?"

"Five thousands, mostly younger ones."

"So eight thousand slaves from the students and thirteen hundred from the staff, in total ninety-three hundred," Loki mused. "Not the worst raid, probably one of better ones excluding all out invasions of civilizations that decided to ignore agreements and deals they made with us."

"Indeed," Holler nodded. "How soon should the auction be held?"

"The usual time is in a week," Loki mused and looked at Holler. "Normally I would wait, but since they took part in the kidnapping of my nephew and tortured other beings I will say, go ahead and on the day after tomorrow will be a good day."

"What about prices?"

"Usually they go for something like fifty queens for a male, forty for a female and twenty for children," Loki said and thought for a moment. "They are a bit younger than the average slaves we catch, but they aren't children under our law."

"Seventy and sixty?" Holler suggested. "Many will attempt to get them, so we can push for a higher price."

"Indeed," Loki nodded and looked at Holler. "You did good and once a free estate shows up, you will receive it with all of the things that come with it."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Holler said with a bow of his head and walked away, thus leaving Loki to his musings.

Loki looked at the goblet he was holding as an idea crawled into his mind. "Harry's estate," he said softly. "It needs to be checked as nobody really paid attention to it once he got Tyr's lands, which was over six years ago."

He finished the mead and walked into the palace to get his hands on the supposed governor of Harry's estates, one that should govern them and if they were doing a sloppy work, well, they would no longer be a governor. Finding the governor proved to be a far tougher task than he imagine, but after several long moments he managed to track down the governor. The governor was a quite tall man with a decent musculature, fair hair and unnerving red eyes, he went by the name of Forseti Ulfson.

"How may I help you, Your Highness," he asked, the moment Loki approached him.

"I would like to discuss with you the state in which are estates of my nephew, Prince Harald," Loki said

"Then perhaps we will go to my study, here at the Citadel? I have all the ledgers and data there, so I will give you confirmed data" Forseti suggested.

Loki nodded and followed Forseti into latter's study, a once spacious room, now mostly filled with hundred of shelves full of paper copies of documents and ledgers. However that was only the first impression and greatly misleading one, even if there was a lot of them and they filled a fair amount of space, there was just enough space for comfortable work. There was a large desk, covered in stacks of papers and a large holographic display in one of its corners, a coffee table and a couple of comfortable armchairs around it, all of it was made out of perfectly polished wood and even if simple in its design it was obvious that it wasn't cheap.

"I apologize for the chaos, but harvests just ended and I didn't have time to go over all of the reports," Forseti said apologetically as with a wave of his hand three stacks of papers formed into a single, much taller one and flew across the room onto one of shelves.

"No need to apologize," Loki said, taking one of seats around the desk. "I know how demanding this can be and I'm sure that my visit doesn't help too much."

Forseti chuckled under his breath before snapping his fingers and summoning one of servants, one that appeared without a single sound, placed a tray with several glasses and a large carafe of ale on the desk, poured them ale into those glasses and disappeared. "So estates of your nephew, Prince Harald," Forseti said and reached for one of papers, he took a quick look at it and focused on Loki. "He received Lordship of the West March, Jarldom of Södermars and Black Forest. Two titles that are both important strategically, but also generate a hefty income."

"Indeed," Loki said. "While the jarldom was governed by one of my father's intendant, West March was owned by my not sorely missed uncle, Tyr."

"As always you are right, Your Highness," Forseti said and yet again consulted the piece of paper he was holding. "While the jarldom generates over three thousands crown of income per year, his lordship manages to get just under five hundred."

Loki hissed and looked at Forseti. "Please tell me that it is thanks to my idiotic uncle."

"It is. He was one that believed in getting as much money as quickly as possible, not caring about the future. Slaves were overworked, no new investments were being made and capital town of Stenhus looked worse than a city after a serious battle. I fixed what could be fixed with the resources I had," Forseti said and looked at Loki. "However without a lot of new slaves and even more extensive investments it will not be able to generate more than a thousand."

"How many slaves will be sufficient to deal with the most imminent issue?"

"Three hundred will get that done, seven hundred will be enough for minor expansion, fifteen hundred would be able to cover our needs and start on repairing the infrastructure that fell into the state of disrepair."

"You should be able to get what you need," Loki said and Forseti looked at him. "On the day after tomorrow there will be a large auction of fresh stock, so you should be able to get what you need, all of them are of the best quality and are physically fit."

"I might even personally visit the auction," Forseti said. "However this will solve just one of issues, second will take much more to get fixed."

"How long?"

"Few dozens of years," Forseti said with a shrug. "I can get slaves or money right away, but I need to rebuild the whole damn place from the ground and people aren't that willing to settle in the lands that belonged to your uncle. However that's not a surprise, taxes far higher than the suggested level and no visible improvements that would justify them."

"My uncle was an idiot," Loki said with a shake of his head. "An arrogant idiot that thought that he was the best and that everybody should kneel in front of him. Everybody knew that he would have a spectacular fall, sooner rather than later and he had bravery to challenge my father in front of the whole court."

"Maybe he was an idiot," Forseti quietly said and Loki looked at him. "However he was not a total dunderhead, he managed to hoard away large amounts of money, money that now is extremely useful as I attempt to fix the mess."

"How much?"

"Five millions crowns."

Loki's jaw almost dropped at those words, it was enough to buy a battleship and maybe even her escorts. Nobles usually kept most of their money flowing, but some wanted to hoard it and those were the results. It also explained why uprooting the whole damned network of agents, contacts and spies was so hard, they had time, money and protection that let them get good covers. "Did you check every single hole where money could be squeezed? If he hoarded that much, more is also a possibility."

"I'm in the process of doing it, but the administrative center is a maze and finding things inside of it is tough," Forseti said and looked at Loki. "However that can wait, so Your Highness, could we return to the topic of his estates?"

"Naturally."

Forseti was silent for a moment as he sorted through the papers. "Here is it," he said as he pulled out a ledger from below the stacks of other papers. "His Highness' estates are quite large and they consist of five hundred centuria, giving in total one hundred thousand of jugera. Södermars and Black Forests take an area of hundred centuria and there are five thousand slaves working on the fields and maintaining the infrastructure."

"Five thousand slaves?" Loki mused "That's a lot and there is rarely so many on much bigger estates."

"Indeed, but this region is a bit unique," Forseti said. "Your Highness, you should know why it is kept inside of the royal family, massive plantations of mulberry trees and production of silk, which is worker intense. There are also several vineyards and orchards that also require a lot of labor, not to mention wineries and whole infrastructure that supports it."

"Which makes it a rather profitable place to own," Loki said and Forseti nodded.

"A very profitable, but also dependant on the market," he said and consulted the ledger. "West March can get a much bigger profit for a much smaller amount of work. According to surveys it is a prime place to farm corn, wheat and establish pastures, not that it is bad for any other crops or plants."

"How much investments would be needed to get it started and generating money?" Loki asked.

"Machinery is being bought as we speak, I have survey teams look for spots to establish new estates and once I have more slaves I should be able to get most of the work done in twelve months or so, maybe even less."

"Good, so how big of a profit we are talking about?"

"There are around thirty to forty thousand jugera that can be farmed," Forseti said and paused. "Now we will use around two or three thousand, so perhaps ten, twenty electrum queens per each, maybe thirty, but not much more. Taxes and fees are lowered as much as possible, so perhaps three or four hundred crowns out of them. It should be better with the next year, but this one will be a bad one."

"Why didn't you start fixing the issue sooner?" Loki asked. "Harald was granted that lordship over five years ago and that is plenty of time to start fixing it."

"I spent over three years removing intendants placed by the previous owner and two more trying to make some sense out of his records that didn't really existed so I needed to start from scratch. I also wanted to stabilize the whole thing before making new investments."

"Fair enough," Loki said and finished his ale. "Thank you for your answers," he said and walked towards door out of the room. "I would have liked some more, but those were satisfactory and I am sure that his estates are in good hands."

He saw Forseti bow to him and with a nod of acknowledgement he left the study, his mind focused on the future and things he needed to do as to let Asgard enjoy the peace it did for last few centuries. Only fighting was away from the core worlds and usually was victorious.

o-0-o

Time on Asgard passed extremely slow for them as they didn't have a single thing to do and they mostly slept or tried to kill the time, it felt as if every second lasted for hours and hours for years. Mikhail looked at the ceiling in an attempt to sleep for few more hours when doors leading into the hall where they were kept opened and through them entered dozens of warriors of Asgard, warriors that spread out across the room and started to bind everybody, shackles were put onto their hands and soon it was his turn. He felt hands drag him of the cot, while second warrior grasped his hands and in few trained moves put on shackles, before connecting them to shackles that were on the hands of other slaves.

When all of them were bound with each other they were herded out of the room and as they entered onto the sunlight every single one of them winced from the light, in their quarters there was nearly constant dimness. Here, bright light slammed into their eyes and blinded them for a brief moment, causing many to stumble, yet none fell as chains kept them in place and they were forced by guards to move faster and faster. He felt as if they marched for hours when they arrived in front of a large complex of tents with a something akin to a stage in the middle.

Guards stopped their whole group before they entered the complex and one of them looked over them. "The most important moment for you in your whole worthless life is here," he said. "Auction, it will decide about your fate on Asgard and how well treated you will be. So behave and do not cause troubles and you will get good positions, that is good for a slave, if not mines are always waiting for more hands to help in mining precious ores."

After those words, but before they could shake themselves out of the shock they were quickly herded into those tents around the stage, as they entered them Mikhail easily noticed that they opened onto the stage and they would be able to see everything happening there. He looked around and saw that inside there were several stone blocks placed in the floor and on each block there were several large metal rings. He saw one of guards approach him, holding a long piece of a chain, one end of it was attached to the block, while at the other end there was a band that was wrapped around his ankle. Once it was secured, shackles binding his hands were removed, not that it gave him much freedom.

He sat there, on the ground and looked around as everybody else was being bound to the blocks. Once everybody was tied and unable to run away onto the area of the complex entered people that looked like buyers. They chatted between each other and from time to time pointing at the slaves around them. Mikhael felt as if he was just a commodity, not a sentient being that had some rights. It lasted for several minutes before a sound of the horn was heard and as if on cue everybody that was watching them hurried to the stage and took places around it.

He watched with some sick fascination as ten slaves were brought from one of tents and led onto the stage, they were quickly and brutally undressed before being chained to it. Guards didn't care about their protests and there were even some nods of appreciation from the crowd at the sight of the struggle.

"Ten fit males," an Æsir that was standing on the stage said passing between slaves and pointing at them and their muscles and other assets. "Aged between thirteen and twenty, can be used for any kind of work, whether it is in a bathhouse, brothel or on the fields. Starting price for each is seventy queens, all of them are sterilized and ready for work."

Mikhael watched as the auction started and prices were increased, once slaves were sold they were grabbed by guards and led to a tent where in pens they would wait for everybody else that was bought by their new owner. In that manner the auction continued with more and more slaves being sold with each moment, it was the moment when siblings or lovers that both were slaves were brutally separated from each other and for the rest of their lives they wouldn't see each other. On his lips appeared a thin smile when he saw Ilse brought onto the stage and presented to the crowd of buyers. However soon it was his turn and he didn't fight when he was brought onto the stage and violently undressed, alongside several more slaves, showing their whole bodies to the world and presenting their advantages and assets, while also revealing any defects that could otherwise be hidden.

"Fifteen slaves," one leading the auction said. "Aged fifteen and sixteen, suggested field of work is bathhouse, brothel or on the fields, as you can see all of them are of perfect proportions and are physically appealing. They are sterilized and ready to work right away. Starting price is seventy-five queens."

Mikhail didn't pay any attention to the auction or what was going around him, he felt numb, not feeling any emotions, after past few days and nothing would change it, he only moved when he felt guard force him to walk and lead him off the stage and into one of the pens in those tents. Nobody paid them any attention until the auction ended, then into the tent entered a couple of Æsir, one of them carrying something that looked like a branding iron.

They set up a place to work and one of warriors reached into the pen, grabbed the nearest slave and forced him to kneel in front of one with branding iron, while second warrior immobilized his head and then the glowing branding iron was pressed into the so far unmarked cheek of the slave, resulting in a roar of pain that was soon followed by a smell of burning flesh and screams from other tents as slavers went about their job of branding new slaves of each owner with their personal sigil.

Mikhail was dragged out of the pen and forced to kneel on the same spot where each and every new slave was forced to kneel before the slaver, when his knees touched the ground he could feel wetness and a strong smell of piss, as the warrior immobilized his head it hit him that everybody pissed themselves during this thing and that nobody paid any attention to the fact that they would be covered in it. He felt his bladder losing control over its content and emptying itself onto the ground below him, at the same time slaver pressed the brand into his second cheek, the moment it burned the flesh he roared in pain. Once everybody was branded, without giving a chance to get their bearings straight they were herded out of the tent and out of the camp, to their new place of work.

o-0-o

Ilya looked around as the transport ship onto which they were loaded landed and doors opened, he could see that they were on something that resembled a large farm and around he could see several people with the same markings of slaves, however he also noticed Æsir that were freebor, some were overseers, while some were workers, but it was obvious they had completely different and far more respectable duties. In the distance he could see massive fields of corn and wheat, just waiting to be harvested.

A couple overseers walked towards them, whips and clubs at their belts, as he looked at them he had a feeling that they knew what to do with those things on their belts and wouldn't hesitate to use them. "Hurry up!" One of them shouted entering the ship and pushing them out of the it. Ilya moved forward and barely avoided a strike of a whip that flew past him and smacked across the back of a girl to his side. She yelped in pain, yet somehow she was able to stand and move forward. With even more strikes of whips and clubs they were herded into a narrow, yet long building, entering the building they saw bunk beds, three tiers high, by the doors there were several cupboards with drawers, probably for clothes and at the end of the room there were several shower stalls and toilets, all of them packed as tightly as possible.

"This is your new home," overseer said, blocking doors behind them. "You have twenty minutes to get dressed, once it's over you start to work. Clothes are in the cupboards, sanitary facilities at the end of the room. You have three meals per day and each day you work for fourteen hours."

Ilya wanted to growl, but he learned that any open opposition would end at least with bruises, if not more serious injuries. They nodded and overseer disappeared from the room, letting them get dressed. The moment he was gone all of them rushed to cupboards to get their clothes. Ilya snatched the first bundle he could get his hands on and finding a free corner he quickly opened it and found a plain shirt, loose shorts and boots that looked somewhat durable and comfortable. It seemed as if their life would be spent only on working from dawn to dusk, without any comforts and without any pay.

At the same time Ilse finished dressing and followed the rest of her group towards their new place of work, she ended in a place that looked like a vineyard with thick branches bending under the weight of grapes visible from the complex of buildings.

Mikhail looked around as overseer explained to them that even if they were bought by one of the biggest brothels on Asgard their work wouldn't be any easier, they would do the chores, work in the bathhouse, while learning the art of pleasure and trying to make their bodies as appealing as possible.

o-0-o

The C-130 that was carrying Harry touched down in the USA on a runway in an air base that was the closest one from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It was decided as the safest place for him to heal. Weapon X had many allies and supporters that could have decided to finish the job started by their surgeons. So once he was loaded into an ambulance and rushed there, he should be fine, but nobody knew how badly he was injured.

So nobody was taking any chances and he was rushed there as quickly as possible, every minute was precious and when in transit he was in the biggest danger. Behind the walls of the hospital with several dozens of the nastiest dogs Fury could get his hands on, the danger was nonexistent.

o-0-o

Loki appeared on the helicarrier's bridge occupied by Fury and was almost immediately greeted by guns and rifles being pointed right at his face. He raised his hands to show that he had no weapons and that he wasn't a threat. "Easy, easy," he said. "I'm not armed."

"Let him go," Fury said and the guards stepped aside, their weapons still pointed in his of Loki. "What news do you bring?"

"The Durmstrang students are sorted and we will send you back those that are innocent, the question is what to do with them. There are a lot of them and they need to be spread out."

"Scatter to the other schools of magic?" Fury suggested. "The western ones will gladly take more students, I should be able to get four of them to take them in. Question is how many of them you have."

"Five thousand or so, so split them evenly among those schools?"

"Yes, otherwise it will be too much of an issue for them to integrate into their new environments and will be causing problems for us. Hogwarts needs an influx of fresh blood to open it up and make it a better place."

Loki nodded and paused to look out of the window. He used this moment to gather his thoughts and put what he knew in order. "Hogwarts is a more complicated issue than just this one factor, while the influx of fresh blood won't hurt and the cleansing of Weapon X agents didn't either, it needs to be modernized. Not brutally fast and not forcefully, but it needs to or otherwise it will get eaten by the other schools and will breed only trouble."

"I know, that's why I didn't kill Dumbledore, even if he hates change, he is too intelligent not to notice how bad his position will get the moment he opposes them too much," Fury said and sighed. "He has too much power for my tastes, while he should be powerful, he is too powerful. If you or I held as much power as he does, we would get eaten alive."

"The truth is that we don't have a single competent choice for those positions that would follow us and do what we want or wouldn't do stupid things," Loki said and paused. "There is Sirius Black, but he isn't the best choice and he is the one that helps manage Harry's account at Gringotts. While his younger brother is officially dead and Amelia Bones is running magical division of MI-13."

"Which means no good and trusted wizards for us," Fury summed up. "I could blackmail one into working with us, but it is an exercise in futility, they will eat my hand and snap the leash as soon as possible. So I won't even try and Stephen said that he won't play their game of politics."

"I wouldn't have played it if I wasn't forced to, they are like children squabbling over a jar of cookies and how to steal them," Loki said and shook his head. "I've played this game with Sidhe, Chitauri, Vanir, Alf, Elder Gods, demigods, Skyfathers and hundreds of other beings. I have over ten centuries of experience and I can't understand their politics."

"Not only you, I also have the same problem with them," Fury said and paused. "The comparison to children fits them well enough, though Harry would have disagreed with it, as most children would."

"They would have," Loki said and tilted his head. "Where is he?"

"Probably in the States, I had a plane on standby and since his death would cause a lot of issues, he was loaded onto it and sent to the US. Weapon X did something to him, so I'm not in the mood to take any chances with him."

"Security?"

"The very best I can get, they will hate me for assigning them to stand guard, while the rest have a more exciting job, but they will do it and they will stop everything that tries to kill him. So he is as safe as it can get."

"Who would attempt to kill him?" Loki asked and frowned. "My father made it explicitly clear to other beings what will happen if any of their agents find themselves too close to Harry and they know that he will do as he said."

"Plenty of things on Earth would do it happily," Fury said and shook his head. "Corporations for samples of his blood to develop cures, other agencies to show that they can get away with it and other groups simply because they can."

"With blood they would only fail, our immunity to poisons and illness is a bit different and blood is one of many things that connected to the grand scheme of things. It's like having just a chassis of a car without everything inside of it."

"In other words useless," Fury said and walked to the window. "Do you have any wishes about this building?"

Loki followed Fury's gaze and it came to rest on the massive form of the Durmstrang Institute. "Just make it gone, how you achieve it, I don't care, just do so."

Fury nodded and sighed. "If it was in the middle of the wilderness and away from civilization I would have ordered nukes' launch onto it. But here, it is in the middle of Europe and the closest village is fifty kilometers or so away, maybe even closer. So could you use your magic to bring it down?"

"I could," Loki nodded and smiled viciously. "I lacked the opportunity to blow up something big and here you just offered it."

"I will pass you a message when I'm ready," Fury said and paused. "This thing is a maze and they are still rounding up those that hid well or got out of the trap. I don't want this to grow once again, so all of their people need to be eliminated."

"It is the only choice," Loki nodded in agreement and his eyes hardened. "No trial, just execution and burying them in an unmarked mass grave?"

"Or burying them at the bottom of an ocean, just so that nobody can find them, I won't risk a trial as they know too much and the evidence that I have would require revealing what I truly know and it would be bad."

Loki hummed quietly and nodded. "So by burying them at the bottom of the sea you solve both of those issues. Neat, clean and practical, the way I like it." He paced along the window, gathering his thoughts. "What do you plan to do with the Ministry?"

"Nothing," Fury said and laughed. "They are tripping on their own feet and will kill themselves without a single helping hand to do the deed."

Loki nodded and paused. "What about when Harry goes to Hogwarts? They might be an issue, especially since their laws don't like any half-bloods and they might pull that argument for my nephew. Nobody sane would do it as he is a Prince of Asgard and that means that by our law he is an Æsir, besides we inherit in male lines so he is an Æsir based on that too."

"Tell that to those idiots and they will name you a traitor, idiot and one that should keep his nose out of their mess," Fury snarled. "When the war with Voldemort was at its peak we relied on every other kind of troops than their aurors that did nothing, or at least most of them did nothing. If I had a say, all of them would have been hanged, but somehow none was."

"Which suggests that corruption there, is rampant," Loki said thoughtfully. "Which is both good and bad, assuming that you want to do bribes."

"No!" Fury cut in. "They won't see a single coin from me, I don't want to waste money on those idiots, I will sooner hang all of them by their balls and carve an eagle on their backs than do that."

"If you don't see a reason to replace them, than I suggest that you forget your disagreements with Dumbledore and use him and his influence to play hell on Fudge as otherwise we won't get far."

"I buried the hatchet and I think that he knows why I want to have him on my side."

"If he doesn't know, I will explain it to him," Loki said and looked around. "I should get going as my brother still doesn't know about Harry and what happened to him, but he might suspect something with me being here for so long."

"And his rage is a terrible one," Fury finished

"Indeed," Loki agreed. "Last time when something hurt him so badly we had class five hurricanes smashing into the city for weeks."

Fury paled at those words. "I will find a way to get you a message when we need your services, now go and try to appease your brother."

Loki bowed his head and with a snap of fingers was gone from Earth.

o-0-o

Jack O'Neill picked up the phone placed in front of him and listened for a moment, then he nodded and looked at Robby. "They have him and Russia is withdrawing their troops from the borders."

Robby breathed out in relief, as did the rest of the officers gathered in the room. "So no world war and we can safely withdraw our troops since our goals are achieved."

"I would wait a while," Jack said quietly. "Fury still has his assets there and two of them cost fifty billion, so they might have retreated, just to play possum and catch us with our pants down."

"Or wait for the moment we show them an opening to use," some other officer murmured. "I would wait for information from Director Fury that his goals are achieved and he doesn't need our support."

"I agree, after all he was the one that asked us for support to carry out the operation, even if it was the President who suggested that we launch this exercise."

"How long do you think it will take Fury to finish what he is doing?"

"A couple of days," Robby said. "From what I know he is just searching the castle and making sure that he does everything he wanted to."

Jack nodded and turned to look at a map with updates on the Russian troops' positions which were slowly moving away from the border and deeper into the country.

o-0-o

Bobby looked at Danielle and Rahne and could tell that they were as unsure of what was going on as he was, he was just much better at hiding it. He could tell that they were a bit uneasy with all of the armed and armored guards that were around them.

"Easy," he whispered, seeing their discomfort. "They are here to protect, not to harm."

"I know," Danielle said and sighed. "I just don't like armed men too much."

"They killed your parents?"

"Yes," she said. "So I don't trust them too much and they make me feel uneasy."

He nodded and focused on walking, they passed several more sets of guards and one very thorough check to see if they were who they claimed to be. Finally after all of these they were ushered into the room Harry was.

Bobby's eyes widened when he saw the amount of bandages covering Harry's body and the amount of machinery that kept him alive. He had heard that the damage done by Weapon X was extensive, but this was on a completely different level and he didn't expect it to look so bad. Now it made sense why the security was so tight and why nobody was taking any chances.

"Who did it?" Rahne asked. "I mean I saw him after that fight at the Institute, but here he looks so much worse."

"Weapon X," Bobby spat viciously. "A secret programme whose goal was to create a superweapon, a mutant that would be capable of doing things even for normal mutants can't. If he wasn't freed, I don't even want to think how bad the damage would be, he should be okay, the question is how long it will take for him to lick his wounds."

"Give him a couple of weeks and he will be running around," someone said, all of them jumped up in shock and slowly turned around.

"Your Highness," Bobby said when he recognized Loki. "How sure are you that he will recover so soon?"

"He is too stubborn to die or lay in bed for longer than he thinks is enough. If not for the amount of drugs pushed into him, he would have probably already tried to move," Loki said and shrugged. "We are hard to kill and the things done to him weren't life threatening, dangerous and crude, but not life threatening and the surgeons did a good job of removing their effects."

"What things?" Bobby asked and looked at the girls that weren't sure if they wanted to stay in the room. "You can leave, I don't think that Prince Loki will mind."

They looked at them and walked out of the room.

"Fail-safe protocols," Loki said and shook his head. "They didn't want their captives to get away from them, or at least those precious in their mind so they installed devices that can create an impulse that can kill, or at least paralyze, its host in them. He had two of them and when removing one they almost triggered the second, we use something similar on certain prisoners and slaves, but it won't kill them, just cause pain."

"They wanted him to stay inside of their base," Bobby quietly said and glanced at the sleeping form of his friend. "Who else was rescued out of Weapon X's hands alongside him? I know that Professor X said that there will be new mutants at the Institute, but he didn't say who or how many."

Loki was silent for a moment and then looked at him. "A few hundred, two Omega class beings inside and the rest your average mutants. They will be flown to the USA in a couple of days, but SHIELD wants to make sure that there is nothing inside of them that can be a threat to you and that they are healthy, or at least their body is healthy, their minds are something that will take a lot of time to heal."

"Two Omega class beings?" Bobby arched an eyebrow. "I know only about two such mutants."

"They are cousins and they need to develop their powers, also there are a lot more of them, just not in the mortal world," Loki said and paused. "That would be a couple hour lecture, so we can talk about it when we have more time as I need to hurry or my brother will find me and he can't learn that Harry was injured, we don't want that to happen."

"Of course," Bobby nodded and turned to look at Harry's sleeping form, the silence of the room interrupted by the noise of the machinery keeping him alive. "Get well," he whispered before slipping out of the room.

o-0-o

Natasha Romanoff stood silently and watched as a couple of excavators dug out a hole in the ground, she had seen it being done in the past when she worked for the Red Room and even if it was inhuman she had to agree that it worked well. She knew what was going to happen next and she could smell Death in the air, eager to claim more souls.

The moment the hole was deep enough she nodded at the operators of those machines and whispered into her radio. "Bring them here."

She looked around and felt some kind of weird irony, it was so peaceful and clean here, so friendly, yet there were things about to happen that would make even the bravest lose their confidence and courage. She saw a group of grim looking agents lead cuffed people with pieces of cloth tied over their eyes. She pulled her pistol out of its holster, checked for one last time that everything was in order and walked towards the pit.

When she approached the group that stopped at its edge, she could feel the tension in the air, tension and something more, something hard to describe, linger with it. As if nature knew what would happen next. She looked at the sky and whispered a couple of words. " _Bozhe, prosti menya*"_

Natasha held her gun comfortably and walked to the first person with tied eyes and cuffed hands, she stopped behind them and placed her gun at the base of their skull. She held her breath and squeezed the trigger, the sharp sound of a gunshot echoed across the valley and the body in front of her went limp and fell into the pit. She walked to the next person and did the same, she did it for every single person that stood alongside the edge. In total there were exactly a hundred and eleven people, a hundred and eleven people that were deemed too dangerous by SHIELD to live, a hundred and eleven people that committed every imaginable crime that would give them a death penalty. Beings that shouldn't even be called humans for what they had done and for what they could have done if allowed to live.

As she saw their bodies fall into the pit she didn't feel even an ounce of compassion for them, in her mind they didn't deserve to live as the things they did reminded her about her own horrible past and what she had suffered at the hands of the Soviet Union and its agents. Things she wanted to forget and these events brought them out of the corners of her mind and made her want to have revenge on anyone that fell so low as to experiment on humans.

She fired the last shot and walked away from the pit, letting the agents bury the corpses in a mass grave that wouldn't be even marked and would be an unknown place of an execution for future generations to find.

o-0-o

Loki stepped out of a portal on top of a limestone cliff and looked around, Olympians always knew how to impress guests, a huge complex of buildings was in front of him and as he looked at the sea below he could see a couple of triremes anchored to a pier. Drawing his gaze away from the pier, he focused on the complex of buildings in front of him. They were tall and graceful with colonnades running along the front of them and shining white marble used as the construction material. Between him and the buildings he could see sculptures of various Graeco-Roman gods, inhabitants of Olympus, Zeus, Poseidon, Hecate and many more, and various orchards of fruit trees and vineyard running in even lines, between them paths covered in fine white sand.

Walking slowly down the path he could see more and more details of the building in front of him, hundreds of sculptures placed between columns. The columns around the entrance were in fact sculptures, sculptures of Hecate if he was not mistaken. He was also able to see dozens if not hundreds of mosaics covered walls at the ground level, with each step bringing him closer, he was able to see the mastery of those that had done them. The things depicted on them seemed as if they were alive, not in stone, glass, clay and gems.

When he approached the building he looked up and saw the motto of this institution engraved on a portico in golden letters "Lux in tenebris lucet**", he smiled as he read it, it was a fitting one and it was connected with teaching magic. He stepped under it and felt as if he had passed through a thin layer of water, those were the outermost wards of the complex and he felt them probe him checking who he was.

He stopped in front of the doors leading into the building and struck them once with his scepter, pushing them open as he stepped inside, into the cool hallways of the institution, away from the warmth of the day. It felt like a paradise compared to the scorching sun outside. He looked around for a moment, trying to remember where to find the one with whom he needed to speak. Walking quickly he ignored the looks he was receiving from the students and instead focused on the goal he had in mind.

It took him over fifteen minutes to get to his target, the Headmaster's office, whose title if he remembered correctly was Igemon***, he waved his hand, the bronze doors of the office flew open and he stepped into the room. The office was a large circular room with bookshelves lining its walls, filled with numerous ancient scrolls and books, there were also several weapon cases placed between them. In the middle of it all a desk with a perch for a bird was placed, on the perch was sitting an overgrown eagle and behind the desk was seated the person he wanted to speak with.

Igemon was a man in his middle thirties or forties, or at least he was, guessing by his physical appearance which when it came to long living beings was misleading. He wasn't a tall person, but the thing that got everybody's attention were his eyes, golden and keen. His hair were as black as night at its peak and cut short. He was clean shaved and dressed in a purple tunic with an elaborately decorated and embroidered purple toga over it.

"Prince Loki of Asgard," he said. "How can I help you?"

"Igemon Hyllus," Loki said with a smile sitting on a chair he had conjured for himself. "I believe I can help you, but I would need to speak with the one that has the final say in the matters of the Olympian Academy of Magic."

"Her?" Hyllus asked. "I do not summon her unless I don't have other choices available."

"Yes, her," Loki said with a wide grin. "I can ask mother to drag her here, but it would be troublesome and we both know that you have means of communication with her. Also if I'm not mistaken I felt Athena and Poseidon somewhere on the campus, so don't play a fool with me and pretend that you are an independent leader."

Hyllus nodded and rubbed his chin. "Assuming that I would ask her to come here, what would I get from this?"

"Something that will make you feel that summoning her is a good idea."

"Fine," Hyllus said, loudly exhaling, Loki felt the buildup of magic that dispersed into the air. "She is coming."

"Perfect," he nodded, pouring himself a goblet of wine. "As otherwise it would be time wasted for me and that is something I don't like, I can tell you that it is connected with my nephew and your cousin, but mostly my nephew."

"The Son of Thor about which they can't fall silent on Olympus?" Hyllus asked. "I have heard enough of those rumors and gossips, even my father can't fall silent about this new Prince of Asgard and I would really like it if they found a new topic to speak about."

"The same one," Loki said and looked at the corner of the room where he felt godly energy form a human form. "Lady Hecate, thank you for coming," he said in that direction.

Hecate was over six feet tall with silver hair and black eyes glowing with power and knowledge of magic, even if she was only dressed in a long dark dress and without a single weapon, Loki knew she was a dangerous person. "Prince Loki, how can I help you?"

"Durmstrang was destroyed," he said and heard a gasp of surprise from Hyllus, while Hecate only nodded. "Those that had dabbled with the dark arts or worked with Weapon X are now our slaves, but there is a large group that needs to be spread out to other schools and watched over. The plan upon which we had agreed is that they will be divided between four schools, one of them being this."

"I don't see a single issue with this plan, as far as I am concerned, you can do it," Hecate said. "If you want them being given a blank slate, you can count on it as I'm not one to judge them on things they had seen or were forced to do. I did plenty of them in the past and your uncle allowed me to join the ranks of Olympians."

Loki nodded and glanced at Hyllus, who just shrugged. "If she is all for doing it, then I don't have much to say."

"Perfect," Loki said. "I will get them sent here in a moment, as I'm about to head to Asgard and deal with some other things."

"Before you depart, Your Highness, how many of them should we receive?"

"Around a quarter thirteen hundred."

Hyllus nodded and Loki left the place with a snap of his fingers and a feeling of a job well done.

o-0-o

Rhodes stood on _Valiant_ 's bridgeas she moved away from Durmstrang and rose into the air, her massive engines providing an obscene amounts of power and thrust. Every other plane was gone and there was not even a hint of the presence of several thousand people. The mutants were on their way to the USA and now it was his job to make sure that everything would he removed and not a single trace be left behind.

There was a flash of light and something small appeared above Durmstrang, something that looked roughly humanoid in shape, he knew that it was Loki and was curious what the Prince of Lies, The Trickster God, would do.

There was a flash of light and a ball so black that was impossible to look at appeared above Durmstrang, he saw that pieces of Durmstrang started to fly towards it, parts of the roof first, then the blocks that made up the walls and then everything else. It looked surreal to watch the castle being slowly eaten, with each moment the ball grew, consuming more and more of the castle, taking with itself every single of its pieces. When all of it was gone the ball disappeared in a flash of light and in another flash of light Loki was gone, only to appear on _Valiant_ 's bridge _._

"The castle is done," Loki said. "I know that this ship has batteries of railguns, so you could use them to collapse the tunnels. It will be a lot easier to do as you can target their weak points, while I would need to use spells to blanket the whole area."

Rhodes nodded and turned to look at his staff, moments later _Valiant_ moved and flew towards the spot above the remnants of Durmstrang. When she was there, the railguns placed alongside her belly swivelled and once they acquired their targets they started to fire. At first those were shots to confirm that they were properly targeted, but after a moment they switched to fully automatic fire, hundreds of bullets ripped the ground and slammed into the concrete and steel of the tunnels hidden below.

He stood on the bridge and watched as the tunnels started to collapse in on themselves, the damage done by that fighting that happened inside them quickening the process and soon there were clouds of dust rising into the air. It would take a few more hours to ensure that everything was destroyed, but it was worth the trouble.

o-0-o

Loki looked at his father and tried not to sigh, lying to Thor had seemed like a fine idea, until now that is. "How are we going to explain to my dear brother what happened to Harry?" he finally asked.

"You will do it," Odin said. "You were the one that decided to keep it hidden from him, while I can understand your reasoning, it was also your choice and now you need to face its consequences."

Loki paled at those words and looked at Odin. "Father, do you want to see me being killed? Thor isn't the most reasonable person and he might kill me in his rage. Which is a bad, really bad thing for my health and I would prefer to be alive."

"As I said, you did it, now you need to feel its consequences."

Loki sighed and walked out of Odin's study, he had doubts about surviving the next couple of hours. He walked around the Citadel, looking for Thor. "Brother, we need to talk," he said, finding Thor in his chambers.

"About what?" Thor asked.

"About a certain accident that might… might have happened to Harry."

"What accident?" Thor growled _To be continued..._

o-0-o

 _*_ God, forgive me

**The light that shines in the darkness.

***Viceroy

A/N:

Treatment of slaves, yes, it is brutal and cruel, but fear is a great tool of control and their pride and confidence need to be shattered, so they did this, also in the minds of any Asgardian or for that matter citizen of any country or realm with strong monarchy, they deserve such cruel treatment. They raised their hands at a member of royal family, or their organization did it, which means that they can be treated as trash and forced to make things nobody would do.

Also brutalizing them means that they will be mentally broken far sooner, which means far lower risk of any nasty rebellion or uprising which are a nightmare to deal with. So slaves that are treated like animals get broken quickly, which means not many rebellions which means happy society and happy bureaucrats as otherwise task force would need to be created and that costs money.

Castration is the easiest solution to making sure that they don't get children, at that age? Because by that point our body is mostly done with puberty and that means muscle development and when you want a good miner he needs muscles.

Also in many societies slaves were less precious than good warhorses as getting slaves meant simply a raid at a neighbour, a good warhorse meant years of carefully breeding and training, not to mention that you needed a whole stable of them as there was a good chance that it would get killed during battle so spares were needed. A good example are winged hussars from 17-18th century, each was taking four horses with him when he was going onto a campaign. Human on top of a horse is a small target and armored, so unless you get lucky or are close you won't injure him seriously by firing at him. Firing at the horse is a far easier task, it is large and is usually not armored and far more vulnerable to pain. So maintaining horses used for war is a far more expensive thing than having slaves, so usually aristocrats didn't paid any attention to the treatment of their slaves.

On top of that is that the sooner you show them that they don't mean a thing the sooner they will submit and accept their fate, thing that makes everybody's life easier as rebellions are bad and tiresome.

And last, but not least, they did one of the most severely punished crimes in any monarchy, helped in one way or another to keep imprisoned and torture person that is second in line to the throne. So even if normally someone would feel some remorse, this single things makes them be worth less than the air they breathe. Which means pain, suffering and generally being treated far worse than even other slaves. Look at the talk between Loki and one other Æsir few chapters back, they mentioned the cruelest approach.

All of this was inspired by probably the best fantasy book I read, Achaja by Andrzej Ziemiański.

SHIELD's action, yes, it is a plain and simple murder, but if they dragged them to courts and presented charges, they would cause a lot of noise and a lot of secret data would need to be revealed as well as identities of agents could be leaked, not to mention division of society as a lot of people would defend those Weapon X employers. Also if they buried them in marked grave they risk that they will be treated as martyrs, which is bad. Setting them free is stupid as they will do what they did, just for someone else, imprisonment is not a good option as they can earn their freedom after some time or can be freed. So mass grave and simple execution is the neatest and safest solution for SHIELD, not to mention that it makes it far easier to hide, Carpathians are full of various graves, cemeteries, former battlefields and hundreds of other things, so one more body with a hole in the back of its head will be mostly ignored.

Treatment of Durmstrang students, there shouldn't be any moles, but they could slip and if they keep them as a group, bad things will grow, so spreading them gives them a chance to start their education with a blank slate and forget what they had done or seen.

School of magic made by Olympus, logic behind it is really simple. If Loki can create a school of magic and Asgard is willing to protect it, well, we shouldn't be worse and have our own to show that we can be as good as they are or even better.

o-0-o

Reviews:

WhiteEagle1985 - Truth is that she is an annoyance for Loki, as he doesn't have any qualms against being very persuasive when he needs to be. SHIELD is occupied with a certain threat that is a far more dangerous and makes even Weapon X look as something not that important.


	40. The calm

**A/N - Mostly release of tensions after the whole mess, the Ministry gets few ice sculptures and not much else. Some answers are given and some questions are formed, some mistakes are fixed, but nothing that would shatter the world happens. Not yet.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Loki looked at his father and tried not to sigh, lying to Thor had seemed like a fine idea, until now that is. "How are we going to explain to my dear brother what happened to Harry?" he finally asked.

"You will do it," Odin said. "You were the one that decided to keep it hidden from him, while I can understand your reasoning, it was also your choice and now you need to face its consequences."

Loki paled at those words and looked at Odin. "Father, do you want to see me being killed? Thor isn't the most reasonable person and he might kill me in his rage. Which is a bad, really bad thing for my health and I would prefer to be alive."

"As I said, you did it, now you need to feel its consequences."

Loki sighed and walked out of Odin's study, he had doubts about surviving the next couple of hours. He walked around the Citadel, looking for Thor. "Brother, we need to talk," he said, finding Thor in his chambers.

"About what?" Thor asked.

"About a certain accident that might… might have happened to Harry."

"What accident?" Thor growled and at the same time thunder shook the Citadel. "I swear, if you hid something from me I will break every bone in your body, to the smallest one and repeat it once you are healed."

"Don't be so hasty in your oaths," Loki said in his best voice. "Hear me out first and then decide."

"Fine," Thor said and flexed fingers of his right hand, summoning Mjolnir to it and Loki had a very bad feeling that he would have a very close meeting with this piece of metal. "Now we can talk."

"Fine," Loki said, looking for any easily accessible escape routes, just in case he would need to make a tactical retreat to a prepared position. "Harry might have been kidnapped by Weapon X," he slowly said. "He is fine now and out of their hands."

"What did you say?" Thor asked, walking closer as storm clouds started to gather and thunder shook the whole building.

"That he was kidnapped by Weapon X," Loki managed to say before he felt Thor's hand grasp him by his shirt while Mjolnir got dangerously close to his face. "Can we talk without this device of doom so close to my face?"

"No!" Thor growled. "Explain yourself and maybe you will live."

Loki eyed the hammer and later looked at Thor, he gulped and gathered his thoughts, thinking how to tell the truth without getting a hammer-shaped hole to his skull. "He was kidnapped by Weapon X and experimented on, now he is free and recovering."

"What?!" Thor asked as he started to spin his hammer. "He was what?!

"Experimented on," Loki said, preparing a magical shield in hopes of slowing down Mjolnir enough not to have the questionable opportunity of watching his own brain leaking out a hole in his skull. "But now he is free and with people that can help him recover, so there is no need for you to smash my skull to pieces."

"No reason?!" Thor bellowed, his voice ringing across the Citadel. "No reason?! My son was kidnapped and you should have prevented it from happening!"

Loki had barely a chance to launch the spell he had prepared and to redirect most of the energy of the strike away from his head. When the hammer struck him, he still felt his nose being dislocated, but he had his head whole. "I should have," he said, feeling a warm trickle of blood flow from his nose. "But I have failed and it is in the past, now he is free and recovering from the ordeal, while all of those that harmed him are being punished."

"Good," Thor said and released Loki, though threw would be a better word. "Now get out of my chambers before I lose control over myself and smash you to bits."

Loki nodded and grabbing his scepter, that had fallen on the floor, scurried out of the room, sacrificing his dignity for his finely honed survival instinct. A survival instinct that had been screaming in panic since he arrived his older brother's presence.

o-0-o

Rhodes stood _Valiant_ 's bridgeand watched as the ruins of Durmstrang and constructions' remnants under the school got smaller and smaller with each passing moment. She was swiftly moving away from the remains of those things, her engines pushing her towards the west and the USA where her base was and all of the maintenance was carried out. This had been her maiden mission and she had performed splendidly, but even with such performance there were things to be improved or changed.

He walked onto the walkway running along the whole length of the bridge and could feel the wind blow as she charged towards the west. It would take many hours, but she would return home. Looking at the quickly rising sun he thought about home and the comforts that came with it. He kind of missed his job at the Pentagon as it meant normal work hours and less stress. Here he was responsible for a few hundred people and normal work hours were a dream.

o-0-o

Fury stood at the window and watched the sky when he noticed Xavier arrive, the only person he would wait for. "Good, you had time to meet me."

"I was seeing Warren and Harry, they should recover, but they are still weeks away from being released or allowed to exercise," Xavier said and shrugged. "I also know that if you wanted to meet me that much, you would show up at the Institute, so speak."

"It's about X-23," Fury quietly said. "My probably greatest failure when it comes to handling Weapon X, her name is Laura Kinney and she is Wolverine's clone They turned her into a completely obedient tool. Which for their goals was fine, but for me or even the X-Men she is useless and cannot function normally in society."

"What did they do?" Xavier asked. "Even with all of my knowledge and experience in working with mutants I have some limits to what I can do."

"Training from birth into a perfect weapon, my staff said that unless I find a telepath that can rip apart her conditioning she will be a tool, not a person," Fury said and pulled out a thick folder. "Here you have what they came up with and data from Weapon X databases as well as Demon's observations or as you know him, Gambit."

"Conditioning is always a pain to deal with," The Professor said and sighed. "If she was an adolescent or an adult conditioned to do something, I would have an easy work; force it through telepathy to become dormant and awake the suppressed part of her mind, but with a person conditioned from birth it won't work."

"So what would you suggest?"

"Something that I normally wouldn't have done," Professor said and Fury could tell that he was really uncomfortable with the idea. "To rip apart her conditioning and introduce in its place the thought processes of a normal human being. I know that it is dangerously close to a mind rape, but if it is as bad as you are telling me she is a tool, not a human being."

"Unfortunately she is," Fury said and winced. "I would like to personally speak with those who did it, but they are all dead now, so I can't do, even though I wish I could. So could you do it and how soon?"

"Give me few days to read the data you have on her and think how to approach it, I know what I need to do, but I don't have any idea about how."

"Take us much time as you need to," Fury said and heard Xavier move away from him. He looked around for a moment and walked towards the room where Harry was laying. The whole thing felt like a personal failure for him, it was not supposed to happen.

o-0-o

There was a sense of perfect stillness and silence Peter Wisdom's office, it was interrupted only by the ticking of a clock standing its corner of his desk. He slowly diverted his gaze from the clock and focused on Amelia Bones. "She did what?" he asked, slowly pronouncing each word.

"She used the moment we were focused on what Russia would do next and pushed those laws through. I was too busy watching those wizards and trying to coordinate with what MACUSA sent to keep an eye on her," she said. "I should have known she would make a move when we were focused on something else and she did."

He growled and shook his head. "What was done is in the past, we need to focus on the future. Do you have any idea how to counter her?"

Amelia was silent for a long moment, the silence growing and filling the office. "She needs to have some kind of network of contacts and spies. She knew things she shouldn't have known and probably knows even more now. So I would say that we do what you spies love the most, lay low and collect data before we strike."

"So that she makes a mistake and slips?" He asked with a predatory smile.

"Yes."

This single word made him smile. "I will have her being tailed within the hour and every single way of communication should be under watch."

"Floo Network," Amelia simply said and made him look at her. "You need access to the Ministry to watch it."

"I was a wizard once," Wisdom said. "I know that with the proper spellwork you can do it and you were an auror for what? Thirty years?"

"Something like that," she agreed with a nod. "You want me to recreate the infrastructure to watch the Floo?"

"Yes," he said and smiled. "The wizards are getting away with too many things and they need to be tempered. If I can watch the Floo they should slow down and need to be more careful in what they do and how."

"Give me an extremely detailed map of the UK, several wizards, two weeks and you will have the basic version going. It won't give information about from where exactly someone travels to, but it will give us something to work with. The version that is used at the Ministry will take a year or two to finish and a lot more resources."

"Ask and you will have them," he said and flexed his hand, old scars still causing him pain and uncomfort, not to mention that blasted mark. "Now, what can we do about those laws she passed?"

"There are several things that can be done..."

o-0-o

Oliver Wood was visibly shaken as he looked around the common room, the attack by SHIELD had changed everybody. While he understood the reason behind it and knew how precious some things to SHIELD were; the rest weren't and he could see some first year students look around, fear visible in their eyes and form.

"Do you know why did they attack?" Tonks asked as she sat down on a comfortable armchair. "I mean, they were rough and didn't show any mercy."

"I think I know," he said after a while. "I think that something happened to Harry and this was a reaction to that."

"You might be correct," she said, humming quietly. "Still it was terrifying and while we will shake it off quickly, the first years won't."

"Make them work," he said with a smile. "Did you have time to think at the Institute about anything other than classes and work?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Will it work?"

"It should," he said, standing up. "Besides, we don't have much of anything to do."

o-0-o

Loki walked out of the portal in Hogwarts' Headmaster's office and smiled when he saw Dumbledore furious about something. It seemed that something had bitten the old goat and quite well at that. "What happened?"

"This," Dumbledore said holding a piece of parchment. "A High Inquisitor of Hogwarts is to be named by the Ministry."

The color disappeared from Loki's face. "Oh."

"Yes, if I know the Ministry they will send Umbridge and whatever is being said about her, letting her close to children is a bad thing."

He nodded and hummed quietly. "How soon is she going to be send to the school?"

"At the beginning of the next term and is supposed to stay here for as long as she wishes to. I can try to delay her, but I don't have as much clout as I used to have and Fudge is her pawn."

"Which is a problem," Loki said as he started to pace across the office. "While you or I can turn her into a nice puddle of water or pile of dust, the danger she poses is of a different kind. She can use her influence and spread things around, things which will cause us a lot of issues. I will try to influence her, but I can't promise a success as she has a thick skull and getting into it is a challenge at which I might fail."

"What about the changes that were done or about those students that will be send to Asgard?"

"Go on with it, she won't dare to change it," Loki said and bared his teeth for a moment. "Or she will run into me and I will explain things to her more bluntly than I'm going to do now. There is the charter you can use to defend your decisions, you answer before the board and she is for all intents and purposes an agent of the Ministry that shouldn't be here."

"I will do as you suggested," Dumbledore said and passed him a list of names. "Those are the names of the students I think should be sent to Asgard."

Loki scanned the list and nodded. "It works and I will be here for them right at the end of the term, now if you excuse me a toad has a date with me," he said and with a snap of his fingers was gone from Hogwarts.

He appeared in the Ministry lobby dressed in his full official robes, brown leather pants, green tunic covered with rich, golden embroidery and over it his trademark leather coat, to top it off he had his scepter and a golden diadem with an ice blue sapphire triskelion in the middle. He walked forward, his strides long and confident, not paying any attention to other people and ignoring them completely, an arrogant sneer on his face.

"Who are you? What do you want?" A guard at the entrance deeper into the Ministry challenged him.

"Watch to whom you speak at," he said and waved his hand, trapping the guard in a pillar of ice that grew to the level of his waist "I am Loki Odinson and I do not answer to petty mortals like you."

Brushing past the half-frozen and stunned guard Loki walked deeper into the complex that housed the Ministry, his eyes swept over people and doors as he looked for his target. It took him a moment to find that she was at the end of the corridor, his lips curled up into a smile when he saw a pair of aurors attempt to block his path. He waved his hand and they were thrown at the walls and manacles made from ice grew around their hands and a gag around their mouths.

"You do not attack your gods," he said, looking at them. "You do not raise your hand against them, you should kneel before them."

He saw them struggle against their bounds, but he ignored them and walked into his target's office, he waved his hand, the door closed behind him and a layer of runes that formed an impenetrable barrier appeared on the wall.

His gaze spent a moment, lingering over the decor, it was rich and obnoxious, lacking any taste, its sole purpose was to show how wealthy the owner was, but for him it said more. She was a petty person, a person that lusted for power and influence that she wanted to keep and show.

"Just wonderful," he murmured, his gaze running over everything inside the room for one last time. Satisfied that he hadn't missed a thing, he crossed the room and opened the single door he spotted at its other side.

Behind it was an even more richly decorated office and in its middle behind a cherry wood desk sat Umbridge. She looked like a pink toad in a pink pond full of painted kittens. "Who are you and what do you want?" she croaked.

"I want to make you an offer," he smiled. "We both are politicians and we both have our goals, I think that we can reach an agreement."

"Go on," she said and rung a small silver bell, its sound soft and melodic. There was a soft pop and a house elf appeared. "Tea and cookies for two people," she said and turned to look at him. "Please, take a seat Mr...?"

"Odinson," Loki smiled, sitting down. "I think that we can reach an agreement. I would like the current changes to Hogwarts to not be removed, they were approved by the board and it would be in my interest that they stay."

"I believe that is impossible," she said, her voice dripping with sweetness. "Mr Odinson, Hogwarts is on British soil and thus falls under the authority of the Ministry."

He fought a sigh and looked at her. "Please tell me when the Ministry was created and when Hogwarts was."

"The Ministry in 1707, Hogwarts' date is unknown, but we estimate that it was founded in the eleventh century."

"You were close," he smiled thinly. "It was founded in 990, so it is older and was here before any form of an organization controlling the whole island could have formed. So I don't know from where you came up with the idea that it falls under the authority of the Ministry. Since I doubt I could force you to agree not to meddle in its affairs, I suggest a deal. You will be allowed to have an agent at Hogwarts and they will be unable to make any changes; in return, I won't vaporize you."

"Is this a threat?" she asked, her voice still sweet and unpleasant.

Loki laughed at those words. "Madam, I don't make threats, I only make suggestions while outlining possibilities that could happen if what I desire isn't achieved. So think carefully as the next time I won't be so lenient and I think that you know who I am."

"Loki of Asgard," she said and he smirked at those words. "God of Lies."

"Indeed," he said and picked up the cup that was brought by a house elf. "So will you be kind enough to consider my proposition or should I arrange you a date with my charming daughter?"

Umbridge paled, but nodded. "I will consider it, and no you don't need to ."

"Thank you," he said with a smile and was gone from her office in a vortex of energy.

o-0-o

Professor X took the files he had received from Fury and carefully looked at them, whoever was behind the whole Weapon X thing was an insane and crazy bastard that knew no lines when it came to ethics and morality.

"He was right," he said bitterly. "She is just a tool now, a perfect tool to kill, not a human being that knows and understands emotions. All the therapy that would work on others won't work on her, they have some point of reference, no matter how small it is, she has none."

He shook his head and paused as a crazy plan started to form in his mind, a plan that could work really well if done properly, however it could also destroy her completely as a being. He played with minds for more than twenty years, but he never did such a thing, something that was both crazy and brilliant.

He looked at her dossier and everything else Fury had found and it made his stomach twist, her upbringing and training were cruel and even extremely dangerous at times. Many a fully grown man would be unable to survive it, she physically did, but mentally she was completely different, her mind was twisted and turned into that of a robot.

o-0-o

Rhodes stood on the deck as _Valiant_ crossed the last stretch of ocean and entered into the bay housing one of the new SHIELD bases, designed and built to take care of helicarriers and their needs. As she got deeper into the bay he could see people gather on the shore and watch her move, she had grace that defied her size and bulkiness. She was able to move as gracefully as any predator and she showed it when she slipped into a waiting dock.

Whistling a tune he walked to its bridge to oversee the transfer of the things on board and finish writing a report. Once it was over he had two weeks of free time, two weeks of glorious time of doing nothing.

o-0-o

Professor X paused before he opened the door and looked at the pair of guards Fury gave him. "Wait outside, you will scare her."

"Are you sure, sir?" one of them asked.

"Yes," he said firmly. "She has bad memories with armed people and it might trigger her and that's not what I want to happen."

They shuffled uncomfortably, but after a moment nodded, as if knowing that they stood no chance of convincing him to change his mind. He opened the door and entered the room, it was a small room with basic furniture. His gaze immediately landed on the single girl sitting on the bed. She was short with long black hair and green eyes. As he looked at her he could see that her eyes were dead, void of any emotions, they were the eyes of a person that killed and didn't have a person to lean on for support. Her posture was hunched and waiting for the next strike to come, yet she was ready to pounce onto him and kill.

"I am Charles Xavier," he said, showing that he didn't have any weapons. "I know who you are and I know about your past, if you want I can help you start a new life, one where you don't need to kill because you are ordered to."

She looked at him and didn't say a word, but as he looked into her eyes he could tell that she was interested in what he was saying.

"You will be able to live like every other person does and you will be free," he slowly said and saw her keen green eyes focus on him. "All that I need is to touch your mind."

She slowly shook her head in an universal way of saying no.

"I am a telepath and to help you I need to touch your mind," he explained. "I won't use it for any other purpose."

She was silent for a long moment and he could tell that she was thinking, minutes passed in silence as she thought and he waited patiently for her answer. "Please," she whispered, almost whimpered.

He pushed tendrils of his thoughts towards her mind and wanted to vomit when he had a good look at it. She was a mess, a total and complete mess that would take months to fix and even with what he was about to do, it would take her a lot of time. He pushed his thoughts deeper, looking for behaviors and habits ingrained by her training, it was deep, but once found it stood out. He focused all of his might on this and started bit by bit to dissolve them and suppress as deeply and completely as he could, the rest would be done by therapy and time.

o-0-o

Warren slowly opened his eyes and blinked few times as a strong white light hit him right in the eyes, it blinded him for a moment, but other senses told him where he was. He heard a faint beeping sound, medical machinery, and his nose was assaulted by the strong scent of antiseptics and hundreds other scents associated with hospitals.

He tried to sit up, but was stopped by a soft, gentle hand. "Easy," voice said. "You are still weak."

He nodded and blinked few more times to focus his eyes, they almost immediately came to rest on the doctor that stopped him. He looked normal, did not stand out and he looked at him with concern. "What happened to me?"

"What is the last thing you remember?"

"I was driving my car down the highway," Warren said and paused as his eyes widened. "Something slammed into it from the side."

"Yes, you were lucky to survive."

Warren nodded and looked at his left hand, almost completely covered in bandages, he took a better look at himself and saw a lot more of bandages wrapped around his body. "How long was I out?"

"Three weeks or so," doctor said. "We wanted to make sure that we removed every single bit of metal out of your body before we woke you up. We would keep you longer, but your body heals faster than we thought was possible."

Warren nodded and flexed his hand, he felt that it moved as good as it used to. "How soon can I leave?"

"In a few days, we want to ensure that you will make full recovery," doctor said. "Someone wants to meet you, so I will send her."

"Her?" Warren frowned, but the doctor didn't answer and just walked out of the room. A wide smile appeared on Warren's face when Jean walked into the room.

"Warren," she said softly as she sat down at his bedside. "We were worried about you."

"Jean," he whispered as she kissed him. "How much did I miss?"

"A lot," she said. "I can tell you some things, if you want."

"I do," he said and moved to a more comfortable position.

o-0-o

Robert Drake looked around the Institute and had some trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that everybody around him was a mutant. "So everybody here is a mutant," he asked, just to be sure.

"Yes," Piotr said. "The staff is and we are as well, so you don't need to hide your powers, just be careful with them."

"Why?"

"Because we don't enjoy being turned into an icicle," Piotr laughed. "Maybe one of us wouldn't, but he isn't here."

"Who?"

"Harry," Piotr quietly said. "He is half-Æsir and he used to do a lot of things, but now he is at the hospital thanks to Weapon X."

"He didn't say much about himself," Bobby said and looked around. "Mr Summer told me that you were supposed to show me where my room is."

"His name is Cyclops," Piotr corrected him. "But anyways, I will show you, so follow me."

Bobby nodded and walked after Piotr through the maze of corridors, that even if they were vast, felt homey and warm, there was sense of security and firmness behind it.

o-0-o

Professor X pulled out of Laura's mind and when he looked at her face she seemed to be crying, as if what he did shocked her and she couldn't believe it was true. "How do you feel?"

"Better," she said and paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "As if a veil was removed from my mind."

"I did everything I could," he said and she looked at him. "I removed the worst they had done to you, but the rest will go away as time passes by."

"Thank you," she said and he nodded.

"I want to offer you a place at the Institute, a place where mutants can live, develop their powers and be themselves," he said and added after a moment. "Also your father is there and you will have an opportunity to meet him if you wish to."

"Wolverine?"

"Yes, him." He looked at her and focused on her body language, previously it was of a cornered animal, now it was more natural and relaxed. "So what do you say?"

"I will come with you," she said and he smiled.

"Then let's go. A car is waiting for me and you might be able to meet him, today even."

She nodded, leaped off the bed and followed him out of the room, the guards looked at her, but after a look from him stopped and let her pass. He watched her with the corner of his eye and could tell that he made a good decision with not bringing them in, she might have snapped with them present. Even with the conditioning suppressed as strongly as he could achieve, she was still uneasy around them. It seemed that the next few weeks were not going to be easy for the inhabitants of the Institute.

o-0-o

Sirius Black walked into the lobby of the Gringotts' USA branch and approached one of the tellers whose eyes widened when he saw him. "Mr Black, how can we help you?" teller asked.

"I have a scheduled appointment with Master Sharclaw," Sirius said and showed a small pendant with a couple of runes inscribed on its surface of.

Goblin took the pendant from Sirius and held it in his long fingers for a few moments, as if testing it and seeing if it was true. "Yes, indeed you have an appointment and this is the proper pendant," goblin said and rung a small bell. "A messenger will take you for a meeting."

"Thank you," Sirius said and patiently waited for a messenger to get to him, during these few years he spent as a free man he had changed. He had put on a lot of weight, lost his pale skin complexion and developed a lot of muscle.

"Mr Black, if you could follow me," a small goblin said getting his attention. Sirius nodded and followed the goblin into the building, discreetly looking around he saw that the wizards looked at him with some respect. "Master Sharclaw will meet you here," goblin said as he opened the door and Sirius nodded.

He entered the office and his eyes almost immediately landed on the goblin behind the desk. Sirius lightly bowed his head and walked to the chair placed in front of the desk.

"Mr Black, this is a most unusual request," Sharclaw said once Sirius was comfortably seated. "However I understand the reason for it and thus I agreed to help you, do you wish to review the state of your vault or would you prefer to get down to business?"

"Maybe we should review the state of the vault first," Sirius said.

Sharclaw nodded and hummed for a moment before he pulled out a piece of parchment which he handed across the desk. Sirius took it with a graceful bow and focused his gaze on it. Those numbers were familiar to him, but even after looking at them so many times they shocked him.

 _Black family account audit:_

 _Money placed in the vaults - $6,954,123_

 _Precious metals:_

 _Gold, silver and platinum – estimated value at $15,863,471_

 _Other assets (properties, artifacts, etc) – estimated value at $124,941,123_

Sirius' eyes swept over those numbers and focused on Sharclaw. "Everything is the way I expected it to be, but may I inquire you about a vault that should be mine?"

"Go on," Sharclaw said, narrowing his eyes.

"Bellatrix Lestrange's vault, she has no legal power to govern her vault as she is imprisoned and the Sorcerer Supreme and I suspect that she might have a dangerous artifact in her possession."

"What dangerous artifact and where?"

"Helga Hufflepuff's Cup, we think that it is one of Voldemort's Horcruxes and I think it is in the vault of my dear cousin Bella."

Sharclaw inhaled sharply and Sirius could feel a magic build up. "How sure are you of this?" He asked, his voice low and quiet.

"As sure as I can be."

"I will check it personally and alert our security that there might be something dangerous inside it, could you pass a message to the Sorcerer Supreme?"

"I can."

"Tell him that we will take care of it and we are grateful for the information he has provided us," Sharclaw said, quickly writing on a piece of parchment, he put his quill away and looked at Sirius. "Now we can speak about the true reason of your visit."

Sirius nodded and for the next several hours discussed things related to his own account, but also to his godson's account as it wouldn't be bad for someone else to take a look at it; to make sure that everything was running smoothly and was bringing back a lot of money for everybody interested in it. Even if Harry was obnoxiously rich thanks to his status as a Prince of Asgard and access to the riches of Asgard, they were a bit useless on Earth, while hard currency wasn't.

o-0-o

Loki walked onto the training fields and passing dozens of warriors that worked on their skills, he approached Sif who was watching over Atalanta, Hrolf, Jarl and Ulf training with various weapons. Even when fully focused on them she turned to look at him. "What do you need from me?" she asked.

"Can I steal them for a moment?" He asked indicating to her students. "There are some news that they better hear in a more private setting than this."

"What news?"

"About their friend," Loki said, lowering his voice to little more than a whisper. "Harald had been kidnapped and was freed, he was the reason for the Horn to be blown. I want to tell them in a place where they can rage and not many will learn what the reason for their rage is."

Sif looked at him, her gaze steady and cool. "You speak the truth, very well, you can take them," she said slowly and he nodded, feeling her eyes focus on him. "I want you to tell me how it happened with all the details you will conceal from them, they don't need to know them, but guards are my responsibility and I need to know the way those people thought."

"Of course," he said with a small bow.

She walked away from him and towards her students, she spoke with them for a moment and they walked to him, curiosity and interest bubbling in their eyes. He nodded at them and motioned to follow him, he quickly led them into the Citadel and to one of the small rooms placed inside. Once all of them were inside he drew a couple of runes in the air and the walls flashed icy blue.

"What I am about to tell you is for you only," he said as he sat down on one of chairs. "Don't talk about it with people and keep it to yourselves, is that clear?"

"Yes, Your Highness," they said and he nodded content.

"In short Harry was kidnapped when he was on Midgard," he said and saw Ulf reach out for the axe strapped to his back. "Calm down, you won't do a single thing, besides, he was freed and is now recovering, so there is no need for you to rush to his rescue. Can all of you excluding Atalanta leave now?"

He saw them look between each other and then nod, he smiled when he saw Atalanta look at him, questions in her eyes.

"He is in a coma at the moment and it would be good if you were there when he wakes up," he said quietly. "He developed telepathy and I know that you grew close to each other, so your presence will mean a lot to him. Even if you are just a familiar person there, it will help him, I want you to pack and travel with me."

She looked at him and nodded grimly . "I will do it."

"Good," Loki said and looked at her. "Your grandmother will stay away from Midgard, so you can stay there for as long as you wish to. He will probably want to keep you close and you probably won't mind an opportunity to be away from the court life of Asgard."

She smiled briefly at those words. "Honestly every place is better than this snake pit with all of those kinds of vipers we have," she said. "So I won't mind an opportunity to be away from it."

He chuckled slightly, but nodded. "I wouldn't call it that, but it works. Can you pack and meet at the entrance to the Observatory in two hours or so?"

She nodded and hurried out of the room. He watched her leave and paused to think what to do next. He sighed and walked out of the room to get a few things done, one of which was not going to tell Jane about what happened to Harry. Being thrown into the wall once was enough for him, so someone else could have the pleasure.

o-0-o

Jane smoothed out her dress and took a deep breath before she entered the room where Frigga wanted to meet her, she had a bad feeling about the meeting, but she brushed it off and confidently walked into the room. She almost immediately noticed Frigga who sat comfortably in one of the armchairs placed by the fireplace.

"Good, you are here," Frigga said, her voice calm and smooth. "I want to talk with you about certain things that you should know."

"I figured that much," Jane said and sat down in one of the free armchairs, she poured some hot chocolate for herself and sipped it. There were some advantages of being granted to body of an Æsir, including faster metabolism which allowed her to indulge in all kinds of things. "May I know about what, as the information you gave me was brief and unclear."

"It is related to Harald," Frigga said and Jane's eyes narrowed, Frigga rarely used Harry's true name. "There were some events concerning him on Earth."

"What kind of events?" Jane asked, slowly sipping the hot chocolate. "Whatever is being said, I'm his mother by law and I should know."

Frigga nodded and Jane had a bad feeling about the next few moments. "You should have been notified, but due to your state we thought that it would be prudent to keep you in the dark and not inform you about them."

Jane winced at the mention of her state, she hated the treatment she got because she was pregnant since everybody treated her like a piece of glass that could break at any moment. She snorted loudly and looked at Frigga. "Even when pregnant I still should have learned about it, I'm fed up with being treated as something that breaks upon contact."

Frigga looked at her, some disapproval visible in her eyes, but after a moment she nodded. "Maybe you should have been notified, but it was decided that you shouldn't have and we need to deal with it," she said and Jane nodded. "He was kidnapped by a group on Earth, but he is free and well now, so you have nothing to worry about."

Jane felt blood flow away from her face. "He was what?" she asked quietly as a rage started to build inside of her.

"Kidnapped, but now he is recovering."

Jane growled, but quickly calmed down and placed her hand on her belly as she slowly breathed in and out to calm down and relax. "Should I know how it happened?"

"No," Frigga said and Jane looked at her. "He will be here for Yuletide, but now he is on Earth with his friends."

"I want to see him," Jane said

"You cannot, you are pregnant and travelling through the Bifrost isn't a very good thing for your health or for the babies you are carrying."

Jane growled and almost broke the mug she was holding, it took her a lot of effort to relax and control herself. She wanted to yell at Frigga and everybody around, but she knew it was pointless, nothing would be gained and she would only embarrass herself by doing so. "I understand," she said, finished her hot chocolate and stormed out of the room, she needed some privacy to relax and calm her mind.

She walked as quickly as she could, her steps resonating on the stone floor of the Citadel and she stopped only when she was inside of hers and Thor's chambers, a place where she could relax and calm down.

o-0-o

The Bifrost flashed and deposited Loki and Atalanta in the corridor right outside of Harry's room in the hospital. She looked around and immediately noticed that Jean and Bobby were waiting for them. Greetings were exchanged and for a moment they stood there in silence, looking at each other.

"So what exactly happened to him?" she asked, finally breaking the tense moment of silence. "You were rather unclear about the whole thing Uncle," she added with a look at Loki.

Loki shuffled uncomfortably and she could tell that he was not willing to say the exact details.

"He was kidnapped by a group that wanted to create the very best weapon out of the mutants they had captured," Jean said as her eyes flashed gold for a moment. "They used him like a guinea pig to test how well their inventions work on a living organism, they somehow worked and unlocked his telepathy."

"Also used a very crude fail-safe mechanism," Loki added with a sneer. "It wouldn't even work on him and the only thing it achieved was to force the surgeons to remove them from his body."

"Fail-safe mechanism?" Atalanta asked.

"The same thing as the collars that some prisoners and slaves have on Asgard, but instead of pain it was supposed to kill him."

"Ah," she nodded and glanced at her uncle. "So I guess he is in a coma."

"He is supposed to wake up in a few moments," Bobby said. "The doctors said that they could have woken him up a long time ago, but they were told by Fury to make sure that he was on the mend and wouldn't be able to open up those wounds. He isn't completely human and they wanted to be sure he is well before they woke him up."

She nodded and looked at Loki. "So uncle, how long am I supposed to be on Midgard?"

"As long as you wish to," he said and smiled. "He will probably want you to stay at his side for a long time. Since I only wanted to get you here safely, I will leave now," he said that and a beam of Bifrost whisked him right away.

"He will," Jean said and they looked at her. "The Professor has been teaching me psychology and how the mind works, from what I know he will have nightmares and will need someone he trusts and knows to help him survive them."

"I understand," Atalanta said grimly, correcting the placement of her weapons so that they would be easier to use. Everybody else blinked a few times and looked at her. "What? I prefer to be careful and I don't like to be surprised."

"Nothing," Bobby said and shook his head. "Remind me to get my own gun as everybody around me is armed."

"Easy," Jean said with a roll of her eyes. "You can talk about weapons later, now we need to wait for him to wake up from his coma."

Atalanta nodded, walked to the bench that was placed along the wall and sat down on it, waiting and chatting with Bobby and Jean, trying to catch up and learn what she had missed.

o-0-o

Harry stirred, slowly waking up, the first thing he felt was that he was laying on something soft, not on the hard cot in the Weapon X base. Soon it was followed by white, almost blinding light and the strong scent of antiseptics; but he didn't feel the thick, almost suffocating scent of despair and death that he remembered from Weapon X, here it was a warmer scent. There was still some death barely noticeable, but it was covered by warmth and care.

He slowly sat up and looked around, he quickly saw that he was in some kind of a hospital room and he was its sole occupant, excluding a doctor who seemed to be quite happy. "Where am I?" He croaked, his throat dry. He looked to the side and saw a bottle of water, he opened it and drank quickly.

"Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the USA," the doctor said and after a moment added. "You were brought here once Agent Romanov got you out of the Weapon X base."

Harry nodded and collected his thoughts, trying to put them in some kind of an order.

"There are some people that want to see you and you should be able to leave the place in a few hours," the doctor said and Harry smiled.

The doctor disappeared and moments later the door opened once again and three people walked in he didn't expect to meet. He noticed Bobby and Jean, but that was all he was able to see before a black blur pushed them aside and flung itself at him. He felt something press against him and arms embrace him, when he was able to look at it, he saw that it was Atalanta, pressed against him.

"Harry," she said softly, her hands moving through his wings. "You are alive."

"It's hard to kill me," he said as he embraced her, his hands on her back.

He held her in his embrace and felt at ease, for the first time in something that felt like centuries for him all of his worries and troubles were washed away and replaced by calmness and peace. The horrors of Weapon X were silenced. He heard Bobby mutter "Love and teens." But he ignored it and focused on enjoying the moment. _To be continued_ _…_

o-0-o

 **A/N -** Loki did not target the damned vehicle of doom coming at him, it would smash through his magic, he focused magic on the air around the thing so that it could slow it down enough to allow him to survive as otherwise he would have a gaping hole in the middle of his skull, a dangerous wound, even lethal.

Why did they lie to Thor? I think it is obvious, oblivious Thor means that they can play it however they wish to play, with furious God of Thunder it would be nearly impossible as he isn't a person that follows logic or reason.

Even if Umbridge is an asshole, she is a politician and she knows well one thing, going onto a crash course with Loki is a very unhealthy thing, also she got what she wanted to have. So she won't push for more, especially with Loki looking at her, one wring move and not much will save her from being ripped to shreds.

What Professor did is a quick, blunt and somewhat working way of dealing with her conditioning. In canon she never really develop a personality for a really long time, here she just got a giant push in a proper direction and before you think that she is now useless in combat, well, you are completely and utterly wrong.


	41. Life is hard

**A/N - Laid back and relaxed chapter, not much happens. Mostly gearing up for future conflicts and troubles.**

 **o-0-o**

Beta - eri1551

o-0-o

The doctor disappeared and moments later the door opened once again and three people walked in he didn't expect to meet. He noticed Bobby and Jean, but that was all he was able to see before a black blur pushed them aside and flung itself at him. He felt something press against him and arms embrace him, when he was able to look at it, he saw that it was Atalanta, pressed against him.

"Harry," she said softly, her hands moving through his wings. "You are alive."

"It's hard to kill me," he said as he embraced her, his hands on her back.

He held her in his embrace and felt at ease, for the first time in something that felt like centuries for him all of his worries and troubles were washed away and replaced by calmness and peace. The horrors of Weapon X were silenced. He heard Bobby mutter "Love and teens." But he ignored it and focused on enjoying the moment.

"Harry," Atalanta whispered. "Don't ever do this to me again, we were all worried about you."

He was silent for a long moment, simply enjoying their closeness, her hair touching his skin and her fingers buried in his wings. "I won't," he said and switched to Ancient Greek. _"I missed you and it is good to be free."_

" _Yes,"_ she said and placed her hand under his chin, making him look into her eyes, eyes that were like wells of molten gold. _"How bad was it? Jean and uncle mentioned some things about it, but not in detail and I would like to know."_

He looked at her, thinking how to explain his ordeal. _"They did something to me since I'm a telepath now and there are things that I don't want to talk about,"_ he said and paused. _"I want to erase that part of my memories and not think about what they did to me."_

She nodded and pulled him into a kiss, he was shocked a bit by the gesture, but after a moment he accepted it, as she kissed him he felt his worries go away, and his fears being replaced by some weird calmness that washed over him. The kiss felt for him as good as their first one had, warm, pleasurable and showing how close to each other they were.

" _I am allowed to stay on Midgard,"_ she said as she pulled away. _"Your uncle said that it wouldn't be a bad decision and I think that you agree with him."_

" _Yes,"_ Harry said and looked at her. _"I'm glad that you are here and with me, I don't mind an opportunity to spend a lot of time with you."_

She chuckled and he could see a flicker of amusement in her eyes. _"Yes, it will be a good time for both of us."_

He nodded and felt his legs go numb from the weight on them. _"Can you move so that I can feel my legs once again?"_ He asked her and glanced at Bobby and Jean. _"Also they might have something to say, not that I mind you being here."_

" _Sorry,"_ she mumbled and moved so that she wasn't laying on his legs. _"Better?"_

" _Yes,"_ he said and flicked his gaze to Jean. "Do you want something?"

"I missed you," she said and looked at them, with Atalanta half-sitting, half-laying to his side. "But I think that she did more so and that we will have an interesting time ahead of us at the Institute."

"So, is she your girlfriend?" Bobby asked and made Harry growl.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "She is just... a friend."

"A friend?" Bobby laughed. "Are you serious?"

"Yes, she is just a friend."

Bobby laughed for a moment, unable to control himself, it took a nudge from Jean to stop him. "Sorry, it's just so hard to believe."

"You can annoy him later," she said. "Now I think they want to be alone and have fun."

"Yes, please," Harry said as Atalanta laid by his side, her hands playing with the feathers of his wings. "Will you do it?"

"Yes," Jean said and dragging Bobby walked out of the room leaving them alone.

" _Can you speak more about it, in detail, now that we are alone?"_ Atalanta asked softly and he saw her eyes focus on him. _"I want to know what you were forced to endure."_

He looked at her and felt that she cared about him. _"Will you be happy if I tell you when I feel ready? It is still fresh and hurts when I think about it,"_ he asked.

" _Yes, I can accept that,"_ she said and smiled. _"I will be there for you, you probably already know, but I'm telling you once again, I will be there for you when the darkness will try to consume and destroy you."_

" _Thank you,"_ he whispered as her form pressed against him. They spent the next several minutes laying against each other and enjoying their company as well as talking about random, unimportant things.

o-0-o

Harry smiled when he saw the familiar form of the Institute from the windows of the car driven by Jean, he was sitting in at the back with Atalanta close to him. Since she had arrived and he had woken up they were almost inseparable, the only bit of time when he was alone when he changed from the hospital gown into the clothes bought for him by Bobby, but other than that moment she followed him almost constantly.

"You know that people will be jealous, right?" Jean asked. "I mean, you are one of the hottest guys at school and Atalanta doesn't lack anything either."

"Hottest?" Atalanta frowned, her black eyebrows arching in question.

"The best looking one," Jean said with a smile. "It's a curse to be a telepath and a good looking one at that."

"Why?" Harry asked. "I mean, you behave completely normal."

"Because I learnt how to keep my powers under control, but the two of you lack the training and self-control to do the same," she said and Harry could feel some amusement in her voice. "Also I can tell that you think that I am attractive and you had certain rather interesting dreams about me."

Harry blushed at those words, his cheeks turning to beat red. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said after a moment. "I like you as a friend but nothing more."

"Good, as I have the feeling that a certain friend of yours might have been a touch unhappy had you given any other answer."

"She is right," Atalanta said, placing her hand on his. "You would have made me a very unhappy person if you had given her any other answer."

"I like her," Harry said and looked at Atalanta. "But I like you a lot more."

"The next few weeks will be interesting," Bobby muttered. "I just hope we do not kill each other."

"We shouldn't," Jean said. "We haven't for the past few years, so we won't now either, besides you know how to control your temper."

Harry snorted at those words and smiled at the usual banter between Jean and Bobby, it was good to be here. The rest of the ride passed smoothly and before he noticed, they were unloading their bags and were in front of the Institute. He grabbed his bag when he saw a brown wolf charge towards him, it pounced on him and pushed him to the ground. He felt its paws rest on his shoulders and its green eyes look at him with amusement and happiness.

"Easy, Wolfsbane," he said as he felt the wolf's tongue move across his face. "You don't need to lick my whole face." He broke into giggling when he felt her tongue tickle him.

"Should I kill it?" Atalanta asked from his side, a dagger in her hand.

"No," he said as Wolfsbane moved off him. "That was a friend just getting a bit too happy."

"Shape-shifter?"

"Yes," Rahne said as she changed from her wolf form. "Don't need to kill me, At."

"That would be bad," Harry said, sat up and looked at Atalanta. "Hide that dagger, a lot of people here don't like weapons out in the open."

"Sorry," she said and slipped the blade into its scabbard. "I prefer to be safe than sorry, especially now."

"No problem," he said and looked at Jean. "Do you have any idea how the rooming arrangements look this year?"

"No idea, sorry," she said. "Talk with the Professor. We have all of those freed from Weapon X and most of them got rooms with one of the older X-Men."

Harry nodded and getting up glanced at Atalanta. "Follow me and we will get this sorted out."

"You want me to share a room with you?" she asked, a flicker of amusement in her eyes. "Or is there a different reason?"

"I wouldn't mind," he said and sighed. "Normally I wouldn't even think about it, but now I want someone that I know the longest and is a telepath close to me."

"So that they can help you survive the nightmares and panic attacks?" she softly asked.

"N-Yes," he said and looked at her. "I still have the feeling that I will wake up and think that this, all of this is an illusion."

"It isn't an illusion," she said as she placed her hand on his shoulder and sent some magic into him. "Calm yourself and relax," she said, her voice ringing with power.

He felt a wave of warmth wash over him, calming his mind and dispelling his worries. He had known that this kind of magic was possible, but he had never seen it being used. "When did you learn that?"

"Aunt showed me how to do it a few weeks ago," Atalanta explained with a smile. "It seems as if she knew what would happen to you."

"Yeah..." Harry agreed as they walked into the building, it took him only a moment to find the Professor in his office. They stepped inside and found him waiting for them.

"How are you feeling?" Professor X asked, his keen eyes focused on them. Harry felt as if they were able to gaze into his soul.

"Physically I feel fine," Harry said and shook his head. "Mentally I feel as if something shattered in me."

The Professor nodded and his gaze switched to Atalanta. "I guess that your uncle decided that she should stay at your side as you recover." he said and then looked back at Harry. "I will be setting up therapy sessions for all those that were freed from Weapon X's hands and I would appreciate your presence there. Normally I disapprove of both genders sharing one room, but in your case I'm willing to make an exception and allow you two to share the room. Take one of the free ones since there are a few on the third floor."

"Thank you," Harry said with a bow of his head.

"Just don't do something foolish," Professor said and made Harry laugh, while Atalanta only nodded.

"We won't," Harry said and with a look at Atalanta walked out of the room.

"Are you aware of how powerful of a telepath he is?" she asked once they were away from the office.

"I knew that he was powerful," Harry said. "But I was not aware how truly powerful he was until my telepathy woke up."

"He is incredibly powerful," she said and he looked at her. "Not as powerful as Jean or Heimdall, but easily in the top three or five most powerful telepaths that I can name."

"It's good that he is on our side then, and not our enemy," he said quietly as they made their way up the wooden stairs that lead to the Institute's upper levels.

"Yes," she agreed and looked around curiously. "It feels warm and homey, it isn't as suffocating as the Citadel can be."

"That was my first impression when I arrived here," Harry said and opened the door of their new room. "This one can be ours."

She entered and looked around. "Not too shabby."

Harry followed her into the room and nodded, it was one of the usual rooms, but they had all they needed and maybe even more. Compared to their own palatial chambers on Asgard it was small, but he didn't care about that. "Yes," he said and she looked at him. "We should have what we need and besides, we only really need to sleep here," he explained.

"Common areas take care of the rest?" she asked, dropping her bag onto one of the beds.

"Yes," he said with a faint smile. "But I guess that now they will be a bit more crowded."

"Which doesn't need to be a bad thing," she said and looked at him. "Harry, can you simply forget about everything for a moment and enjoy your life?"

He sighed and looked at her. "At, I wish I could, but those memories of Weapon X flash through my mind continuously," he said and shook his head. "It is like a nightmare that doesn't to go away."

"So maybe when you are among people you will forget about it?"

"Maybe," he said and felt her drag him by his hand. "Where are you going?"

"Common area," she said, not missing a beat. "You will drive yourself insane here and being with people will help you."

He surrendered and followed her, unsure of how time would pass. Normally he would be over the moon to be with people, but now he was a bit afraid of crowds and huge numbers of people.

o-0-o

Wolverine growled and looked at Cyclops. "Banshee is in the UK, Black Eagle is an emotional mess and Angel is healing his bones, we have all of our teams messed up."

"We got this Gambit in return and according to rumors and the tests done by Beast we have two Omega mutants in the group," Cyclops said. "So it isn't that bad, it's not like we lack people."

"We have our three best fighters out of commission, Angel might be able to start training in few days, but it is still weeks before he is ready for combat," Wolverine said and paused. "We might not be in that deep of a cesspool as we thought."

"What do you have on your mind?"

"Two of Thorson's friends, his girlfriend and Colossus," he said. "While his friends lack training, they will learn quicker than Angel will get to his peak performance or Eagle gets over Weapon X and what it did to him."

"Carol knows how to fight and Beaubier is rather fast," Cyclops said. "Though his girlfriend is here to help him recover so she isn't an option, but those two and Colossus should be more than enough to solve our issues, at least for a moment."

"It can work," Wolverine said and nodded. "If need be we could probably ask White Queen to join teams."

"Do we trust her?" Cyclops asked. "Her loyalties were always murky and she might have issues with Black Eagle or Angel as they don't see eye to eye and there is competition inside Hellfire Club."

"She knows where the cookies are and she knows what will happen to her the moment we think she betrayed us," Wolverine said and extended his claws. "So she will play ball and won't do something stupid that can endanger us since she has such a fine survival instinct and doesn't want to get killed."

"I will talk with Carol, Jean-Paul and Colossus," Cyclops said. "You can do the same for White Queen and Thorson's girlfriend."

Wolverine grumbled and nodded, he left the room and went on a hunt to find those two.

o-0-o

Harry entered the common area with Atalanta and looked around, it was certainly more packed than he normally remembered it. There were more people, and some of them huddled into small groups, while some mingled with the rest of the student body.

"Easy," she whispered and he looked at her. "Don't be scared of everything, last time I remember you were more brash and harder to drag away from danger."

"It's just that I'm shaken up," he said and she smiled reassuringly.

"You are a big boy, you will be alright," she said with a small chuckle.

"Yeah," he said and with more confidence walked into the room, he looked around nodding in greeting to people that waved at him to get his attention, some of them were his classmates and some teammates. However he ignored them and focused on a lone girl he spotted sitting in the corner of the room. "She looks interesting," he muttered to Atalanta.

"The one in the corner? Black hair and a sense of loneliness?" she asked.

"Yeah, that one," Harry said and sniffed the air. "She smells like a predator and there is something familiar to her."

Atalanta nodded and they walked to the girl who heard their footsteps and looked up, revealing that she had eyes as green as emeralds, yet hollow. "Who are you?" she asked warily, almost subconsciously slipping into a more defensive position, ready to pounce at a moment's notice.

"Harry Potter," Harry said and glanced at Atalanta. _"It will put her at ease better than Thorson."_

"Atalanta Heracleia," Atalanta said, a sweet smile on her face.

"Laura Kinney," the girl said as she eyed them carefully. "What do you want from me?"

"To talk with you," Harry smiled. "We do not want a single thing from you." He sat down and looked at her. "I was also a captive of Weapon X," he said quietly.

"You were?" Laura asked, her eyes focusing on him.

"I was and I can tell how you feel," he said and looked into her eyes. "You are not alone here and you will get help and support so that you can forget those things."

She smiled weakly and looked at them, Harry could tell that she would open up, but not soon. The next few hours were spent getting to know her and trying to put her at ease as it was obvious to him that she was still tense and ready to pounce. However by the end of it all she seemed more relaxed and less of a cornered animal.

o-0-o

Oliver Wood sat in the Great Hall eating his breakfast when an owl soared above him and dropped a fresh copy of the _Daily Prophet_ onto his lap. He picked it up and almost dropped it when he saw the text on the front page.

 _ **Boy-Who-Lived attacked! Durmstrang destroyed!**_

 _By Rita Skeeter_

 _According to yesterday's statement released by the International Confederation of Wizards and confirmed by Supreme Mugwump Albus Dumbledore, the Boy-Who-Lived was attacked by a renegade group of wizards. Those wizards were remnants of Gellert Grindelwald's followers, the dark lord that reigned in the forties. The reason they made a move against the youngest Prince of Asgard is unknown to us and the ICW was unwilling to reveal more data about the attack. A fact that I can confirm is that their base was hidden below Durmstrang and the fate of the school was a terrible one._

 _The Durmstrang Institute of Magic is no more, it was wiped out by Asgard's furious assault whose forces overwhelmed the defenses of the school and captured every single wizard inside. If that was not enough the whole building was wiped out and there are only ruins left in its place now, ruins that show what happens to those foolish enough to anger Asgard and provoke it into attacking._

 _According to Dumbledore, students that weren't found guilty by Asgard will be divided between other schools of magic and Hogwarts is supposed to get up to three hundred of them. He said it is done to prevent any other such event from happening and to ensure that they have a chance to finish their education._

When Oliver finished reading the article and looked around the hall he saw everybody looking at their newspapers, too stunned and shocked to do or say anything. Such things were simply unheard of in the wizarding world, yet now it had happened.

o-0-o

Harry sighed as he dressed into his sleeping clothes and slipped into his bed, he had a feeling that this night was not going to be a peaceful one for him. He looked at Atalanta who was already in her shirt and shorts and seemed not to care about anything. She looked as calm and peacefully as she normally did, a serene expression on her face.

"Relax," she said softly, her keen large golden eyes focusing on him. "Don't think about those things."

"You can read my mind?" He asked shocked and surprised. "I thought that you couldn't."

"Yes," she said and smirked. "Only a blind person wouldn't see your mood and the fact that you look like if you are about to commit a suicide."

He blinked at those words and looked at her. "Am I that bad?"

"Honestly?" she asked and he nodded, preparing for the worst. "Yes, you are that bad looking now."

"Damned Weapon X," he muttered and crawled into his bed. "Goodnight At," he murmured, before closing his eyes and hoping for a peaceful sleep.

The moment he went to sleep the nightmares appeared, nightmares about Weapon X and what they had done, their experiments. His eyes flew wide open, glowing gold with power, and he sat up in his bed, a cold sheet of sweat covering his whole body and his breathing quick and uneven.

Looking around he could see the shadows form images from Weapon X, the things and people he hated for what they had done to him and all of the suffering they caused him. The pain that was still there and didn't want to go away

"Nightmare?" Atalanta asked from her bed. "You screamed and now your eyes are glowing."

He breathed heavily for a moment, trying to compose himself and stop the magic he had summoned from being unleashed on some target. He finally caught his breath and looked at her. "Yes," he said, forcing himself to do calming exercises. "Weapon X and all their actions."

"Your uncle mentioned that you might have them," she said softly and looked at him. "You almost lost control of your power and you could have hurt me or the other inhabitants of the building that way."

"Did I?" He asked shocked and looked at her.

"Yes," she said. "Your eyes turned gold and shined with magic."

"I'm sorry," he muttered weakly and sighed. "It's just that I'm scared that this is an illusion."

"It isn't, you are not in their hands," she said firmly and he looked at her.

"The reasonable part of my mind knows that and agrees with you," he said with a tired smile. "But the other part, the emotional one is a mess."

"And this piled up on top of all of the nightmares you had suffered in the past," she finished and he blinked a few times. "Harry, I'm not a fool and I see a lot of things, things that you managed to keep hidden from a lot of people, but not me."

"Yes," he finally admitted, his voice weak and almost breaking. "They haunted me for the past few months, but now it is far worse."

She nodded and looked at him. "Do you want me to sleep with you?" she asked and he looked at her as if she was crazy which made her sigh. "I'm not joking, I want to have some sleep and if me being close to you stops you from hurling beams of power in panic I'm willing to do it."

"Yes, please," he weakly said. "Normally I wouldn't ask you for it, but now I just want to have some peaceful sleep."

She nodded, untangled herself from her blanket and walked across the room to his bed. "Make some space," she said and he moved to the side, she smiled and slipped under the blanket. "Better," she said and looked at him. "Can you tell me about the things they did to you?"

He looked at her, feeling her so close to him, her body almost touching his. "At, I'm barely out of this and you know how uncomfortable I'm with it, so can you let it go?" He said apologetically.

"Yes, sorry," she said and he felt a small trickle of her magic enter his body. "It should help you sleep."

"Thank you," he said and closed his eyes, hoping to have dreamless and calm sleep. The moment he did, sleep took him and for the first time in a really long while he was able to get a dreamless sleep that allowed him to rest and didn't haunt him with nightmares.

That night he slept like a baby, not a single nightmare preventing him from resting and his mind was at peace. When he stirred he felt something warm sprawled over him, he opened his eyes and they almost got out of their sockets when he saw Atalanta laying sprawled on him, her head using his shoulder as a pillow and her arms on his chest. Her body even if heavy made him feel safe and comfortable, he didn't mind her presence and she looked cute laying so carelessly on him, not caring about a single thing.

He felt her stir and move, still asleep and not fully awake, opening her eyes and looked at him. "How did you sleep?"

"Better," he said as he sat up. "No nightmares and I was actually able to get some rest."

"Good," she said, smiling. "So you don't mind this arrangement?"

"No," he said and looked at her. "I think that it will stay like this for a long time."

"I won't mind," she said. "Besides, I'm mostly here to help you survive without any nightmares and be able to relax."

"Thank you," he smiled, feeling her weight snuggled against him. "It means a lot to me as you are one of the few people I trust the most."

She only smiled and touched a small beaded braid to the side of his head, there were only two clay beads. "When do you plan to get more of them? What is next?"

"Saklausskaoi*," he said thoughtfully. "Probably during Yuletide as it is the best time for me, you?"

"Don't know," she said and smiled. "Probably around the same time as you, Ulf won't let us live in peace since he did his around equinox."

"He was always quick, so I don't really care about his opinion," Harry said and touched her braid. "I want to do it at my own pace and when I feel comfortable with it, and not in a hurry, so he can stuff his opinions up his ass."

"There is also that approach," she said, laughing, and paused, thinking. "What do you think about Laura?"

He blushed and looked at her, unsure how to approach it. "Do you expect an honest answer or one that will make you happy?"

"Honest," Atalanta said and chuckled. "Harry, I'm not the monster you think I am and we both know that our races aren't paragons of virtues."

He blushed at those words and looked at her, noticing her beauty which until this point he mostly ignored, but recently he was getting rather interested in it. He had seen her naked on multiple occasions thanks to their training, but then he was oblivious to her good looks, but now it was far harder not to notice them. Her golden eyes, so full of compassion, understanding, intelligence and kindness, in sharp contrast to her black as night hair. Not to mention that her body was nothing to sneeze at, she was almost as tall as he was and had the body of a warrior with muscles wrapped in coppery skin, her breasts hd started to develop as well and he couldn't divert his gaze away from her.

"Don't drool and focus," she said, punching him lightly. "Drooling won't give me an answer and will turn your bed into a mess."

"Sorry," he said, diverting his eyes from her body. "She doesn't look bad and I have a feeling that once she has time to heal she will be a nice person."

Atalanta smirked and he could see playful amusement in her eyes. "I reached the same conclusion and she seems like a person I'm actually interested in."

"What about me?" Harry pouted.

"I like you, Harry," she said and looked at him. "But I also like her and Asgardian law on marriages was always blurry, besides, lovers are common and it seems that both of us are drawn to her."

"Fair point," he said and smiled, trying to hide his embarrassment and move onto a safer topic. "You know that today is Saturday which means we have nothing to do?"

"No, so you have no classes on this day."

"Not a single one, so if you want we can spar, I should have my armor and gear somewhere here and you have your own."

She looked at him and he could see her think. "Well, well, well, it seems like a nice way of spending time and an enjoyable one," she finally said and he could feel her fingers move through his wings. "Would you mind introducing me to some of your friends after our small spar?"

"Why not," he said and she grinned. "Take a quick shower, dress and we can have fun."

She growled and playfully punched him in the arm. "Shower is not a thing to be hastened, so if you don't want to wait take yours first."

He rolled his eyes in amusement and untangling himself out of the blanket and her limbs he got out of bed, grabbed what he needed and walked into the bathroom. He quickly stripped and, stepping into the shower, set the water to the coldest setting possible, he winced when a freezing stream of water hit him, but then the feeling went away and he felt his worries wash away along with the water.

o-0-o

Tony Stark looked at the schematics of the Blackbird used by the X-Men and frowned, even if it was a fine plane according to his godfather, that could serve them for a few more years, for him it was obvious that it needed to be replaced, sooner rather than later.

"Jarvis!" he called. "Show me the schematics for Project Brave Eagle."

Almost momentarily schematics of one of the many prototypes he developed for military appeared on one of the several large displays placed on his desk. He frowned looking at it, some things would need to be replaced and some added, but it was a solid base and should work.

"The main issue is power," he muttered. "The jet engines are good, but need fuel, a lot of it, and unless I go for a bigger hull I need a better power source." He looked at his own chest where the arc reactor was implanted and his eyes widened. "Jarvis, calculate the power output of an arc reactor fueled by a vibranium core with a total diameter of ten inches."

"Estimated power output is two gigawatts of power," Jarvis said and he whistled.

"So it should have more than enough power to easily fly at Mach 3 or more," he muttered and smiled. "The same alloy that makes the outer shell of my suit's armor and the newest electronics." He made some changes to the design and after several hours he nodded happily. "Jarvis, start construction of two of them in our facility in New York."

"Yes, sir."

He nodded and looked at the displays, he was in the mood to design things and it meant a lot of gifts for the X-Men, not only those two Blackbirds, but also several other things that they should have gotten a long time ago. Including a smaller design that could be used when Blackbird was too big of a plane and would cause too much ruckus, while those smaller ones could pass as an experimental vehicle used by one military or another.

o-0-o

Odin entered into the Vault and quickly walked to the pedestal on which the Cosmic Cube, the tesseract that housed one of the Infinity Stones, the Space Stone to be exact, was placed. He picked it up, slipped it into a leather pouch, summoned his magic and on the pedestal appeared an ideal copy of the cube appeared on the pedestal. Nobody would be able to tell them apart and the exchange should go unnoticed.

He walked towards the middle of the room and in the thin air directly in front of him a portal that first started as a thin black line, but then formed rectangular shape appeared. Holding the Cube he stepped through it and when he left it he was on Nidavellir, home of the greatest craftsmen across the Nine Realms. Beings that were able to make marvelous things and knew how to work with every material in existence, including Infinity Stones.

He walked quickly, using his perfect memory to navigate through the stone corridors, their walls adorned with relics and paintings showing the dwarves' skill and perfection. As he approached his target the temperature of the air increased and on the walls he could see red and orange reflections of flames, followed by roars of working bellows, hammers striking metal, and liquid metal being poured into casting forms.

He entered the forge in front of him and waited patiently for the dwarf to finish hammering the piece of metal on which he was working. Forging was a delicate process and even the slightest disruption could destroy the metal. For one last time the dwarf struck the metal, placed it on the table to his side and wiping the sweat off his brow turned around.

It was a massive dwarf, even if small in size compared to Odin, as he was only four feet tall its arms were massive and covered in muscles earned through days, upon days of working with metal. It's beard was white, covered in soot in multiple places and there were rings and pieces of metal woven into it.

"Your Majesty," he bowed. "How may I help you?"

"I need a new greatsword forged," Odin said bluntly. "I know that you are the best smith of Nidavellir, King Eitri."

Eitri looked at Odin and smiled. "Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty, may I know for whom this sword is supposed to be and if you have any special wishes?"

"For my grandson, for his coming of age gift," Odin said and pulled out the pouch with the Space Stone. "Could you work this into the pommel of the sword?"

Eitri took the pouch from Odin and his eyes widened when he opened it and saw what was inside. "Do you entrust him with one of the Infinity Stones?" He asked harshly. "Your Majesty, it is a dangerous idea and he might not be ready to be entrusted with such a responsibility."

"He should be ready," Odin said and looked at Eitri, his sole eye looking into Eitri's black as night eyes. "Besides we both felt the disturbances caused by the Orb being used , he is coming and they are his pawns."

"The Realms are moving into position for the event to happen?"

"There is also that and we both know that things will be woken by the event," Odin said. "Now then, will you forge the sword and work the Space Stone into its pommel?"

"I will," Eitri said and placed the Cube on the anvil. "But I will need to rework on its container, as this is too large."

"And you want me to open it," Odin said, seeing Eitri lock the Cube in place. "So that you can remove the Stone and place it in a temporary containment."

"Indeed," Eitri nodded and grabbed a pair of mithril pincers.

Odin focused his magic into a thin beam and launched it at the Cube, cutting diagonally across it, it left a clear cut in its wake and the container almost immediately started to glow blue. It fell apart and in the middle a small blue gem glowing with power was visible .

Eitri grabbed it with his pincers and quickly moved it into a safe fashioned into the wall. "It will be done," he said, closing the door shut and walking to a pile of ingots of mithril. He started to rummage through them, looking for those suitable to forge a blade out of. "When I forge it I will send a message to you, Your Majesty."

Odin nodded and stepped into a portal leading to Asgard, letting Eitri work and hoping that this little bit of subterfuge would pass unnoticed.

o-0-o

Professor X nodded when he saw Jean enter his office, he finished reading the text and looked at her. "Did you feel the new power Harry has?"

She looked at him and frowned, thinking deeply. "There is something new to him, but I don't know what it is exactly, it feels like telepathy, but it might be something else," she said and sighed. "Weapon X did it and now he needs to deal with it, regardless."

"That's why Atlanta is here," Professor said and Jean looked at him. "She is one of the precious few people he trusts completely and know how to keep him calm. I much more prefer them sleeping together than having him lose control of his powers when in panic and killing everybody around him. But that is not the reason I wanted to see you for, he has telepathy and needs someone to teach him."

"Professor, do you want me to teach him how to utilize his powers?"

"Yes, he trusts you and it will be a good way for you to develop your own powers even more, as well as refine your understanding of them," Professor said and smiled. "He will be more willing to let you to see his memories and feelings as you worked with him on his control last year and you taught Atalanta a thing or two."

"I see," she said in understanding. "You want me to teach both of them and help them develop their own powers?"

"Indeed," he said. "She has the full spectrum of them as you probably know and he is a telepath, so you should have a good time teaching them."

"I will try," she said. "If they pay attention to me and what I want to tell them it should go smoothly."

"Good," he nodded. "I would have helped you, but it is a good way for you to see how it is to be a teacher and I have more important issues to deal with."

She nodded in understanding and left his office, leaving him to deal with his own growing pile of headaches and issues. A pile that only got bigger with each passing moment and didn't want to get smaller, thanks to Weapon X it grew even faster and Fury had dropped Jeanne-Marie onto his lap, Jean-Paul's sister and she was a problem to deal with on her own.

o-0-o

Harry looked at Jean and had trouble believing that what she was saying was true. "What?" He finally asked. "You will be teaching me how to control my telepathy?"

"Yes," she smiled. "You and Atalanta as you both have the gift and it needs to be developed, since the Professor can not do it, he asked me to do so. Do you want to learn?"

He grinned and looked at Jean. "Yes, please."

"Then follow me," she said. "We will find a free room and I will show you, a lot of it will be based on what I have taught you already."

He nodded and with a glance at Atalanta he followed Jean through the Institute, they passed into the part of it reserved for X-Men and he saw Atalanta look at him. He murmured, "Later," and focused on following Jean, she entered some room, nodded approvingly and looked at them.

"It will work," Jean said, sitting down on the floor, she looked at them in a manner that told them to join her on the ground. Once they were seated across from her, she smiled and looked at them. "Telepathy is probably the most dangerous of mutations, you can read minds, influence the way someone is thinking and what he does," she said and focused her gaze on him.

Harry felt as if a hammer slammed into his mind and through the protections he had around it, he knew that she was insanely powerful, but not that strong. He felt his hand move on its own and he watched in terror as it pulled out a knife out of a scabbard on his belt, then it moved it and pointed at the carotid artery.

"That's only a small part of what I can do with your mind," she said, releasing her control of his mind. "So do not abuse the powers you have, whatever you do, do not abuse them."

He breathed heavily, trying to shake off the feeling of having a hammer slammed into his head, he closed his eyes for a moment and quickly evened out his breath, making it even and slow. Having done that he opened his eyes and looked at Jean. "I won't abuse it," he said and looked at the knife he was holding. "You scared me enough not to even think about it."

"Good," she smiled. "That was my goal," she said and looked at him. "We will start with something you should come to love, speaking in thoughts. Be careful what you want to say as too much and you can end up sending what you didn't want to say."

He nodded and for the next few hours he tried to learn how to use his telepathy to send messages, the first couple of his attempts ended badly with Atalanta or Jean being knocked out from sensory overload caused by him underestimating his power. After few more dozen such attempts he was able to successfully send messages, not as easily as Atalanta or Jean, but it would come with time and sending messages was handy, no matter how long it would take.

o-0-o

Rick Gardner was a sixteen year old teen with unsettling gray eyes and a mop of brown hair. He looked around the room at Xavier's and had trouble believing that he could have it and that he was able to sleep in a soft bed, for the very first in a long, long while. The fact that he wouldn't be forced to watch out for danger was nothing to sneeze at. Fitting and comfortable clothes on top of that seemed like a dream come true.

"You are weirdly silent," his roommate, Bobby da Costa, said. "I mean that while I know that you can have issues with talking after the whole Weapon X thingy, but we are supposed to be roommates and with your altitude one of us might not survive."

Rick sighed and looked at Bobby. "I don't like to talk about the past and the things that happened to me," he said and shook his head. "I want to forget and get over it."

"I know how you feel. Yet the truth is that you won't be able to bottle down all of those emotions and memories, they will come out and destroy you," Bobby said quietly. "If you are worried about trust, I won't tell anybody a single thing you tell me."

"Thanks, I guess," Rick said with a snort. "If you really want to know I was able to evade them for days, but somehow they found me. I don't know how, but they managed to catch me."

"They tried to kidnap me once," Bobby admitted. "And my friend was kidnapped by them, so I know how do you feel."

"You know nothing!" Rick snarled. "So don't say that you understand how do I feel."

"Sorry," Bobby said and looked at him. "I'm just trying to help you as you won't escape from it and you will need to confront those memories, sooner rather than later."

He growled and looked at his roommate, as his anger built up light vibrations shook the room.

"Powers based on rock movement?" Bobby asked and Rick looked at him. "You made the whole room shake."

"No," he said quietly. "I can manipulate all of the elements, earth is the easiest one for me to work with."

Bobby blinked a couple of times and when the message got to his mind he whistled loudly. "An Omega-class mutant."

"What?"

"One of the strongest mutants in existence," he said. "There are three main classes of mutants, Omega, Alpha and Beta. Omega's powers are limited by their imagination and creativity, Alphas are powerful, but below Omega, and below them are the Beta. I'm around the lower crust of Alpha, my last roommate is between Alpha and Omega."

"You got me interested," Rick said and focused on Bobby.

Bobby only smiled and for the next few hours they talked about nothing and everything, trying to get used to each other, otherwise they might end up killing each other.

o-0-o

Harry stood on the edge of the terrace with Atalanta by his side when he felt someone approach him, he glanced in that direction and saw Jean-Paul walk to him. "Your lover?" Atalanta asked, reaching for a dagger.

"More of a friend," Harry said and rolled his eyes. "He is an interesting person, but for now I am happy to not care about any relationships, so be kind and hide your dagger."

She looked at him, later at Jean-Paul and left her dagger in its scabbard. "I will trust you, but behave, both of you."

"I'm harmless," Jean said with a smile. "So you don't need to worry about anything." He walked towards Harry and looked at him. "Mon chéri, what's wrong?"

"Jean," Harry said with a sigh of exasperation. "Why does everybody assume that something is wrong with me? I'm fine and there is nothing to worry about."

"Then why are you allowed to share a room with Atalanta, when it is prohibited, many have tried and failed, yet you are an exception?" Jean asked. "Or why did you wake up with a scream in the middle of the night?"

Harry looked at Jean, wondering what to do with him. "I'm more interested in how you learned those things," he finally said. "So I'm curious, where did you hear this gossip?"

"I protect my sources," Jean smirked. "So were they right or wrong?"

"They might have been right," Harry said and sighed. "Jean, Weapon X caused those things and I really don't want to talk about it."

"Okay," Jean said. "If you want I will leave you alone."

"You can stay, it's just that I don't want to divulge on that topic."

"Fine," Jean said and glanced at Atalanta. "Do you mind my presence here?"

"As long as you behave, you will remain alive and whole, if you cross the line, something might happen," she said with a sweet smile as she polished her dagger.

Jean gulped and looked at Harry, a pleading look in his eyes. "She is territorial," Harry said with a shrug. "So you need to tread carefully or something will happen."

"I noticed," Jean said and moved closer to Harry, well into his personal space. "But you don't have any issues with me?"

"If I had issues with you, you would be missing your head and you would be dead," Harry cheerfully said. "So, no, I don't have issues with you or your behavior, just don't make her angry and everybody will be happy and well."

"Uh, sure," Jean said and looked into his eyes. "So how are you?"

"Well enough," Harry said and sighed. "Jean, I like you, but you have started irritating me and I've already told you I don't want to talk about what I suffered, is it clear?" The older boy nodded. "So be a kind person and leave me alone as I want to have some peace, and besides, Atalanta might murder you."

"Okay," Jean said. "I will annoy someone else then, but if you want to have some fun you know where to find me."

"Thank you, Jean," Harry said softly and looked at Atalanta. "You are not angry at me for flirting with Jean, are you?"

"No," she said and smiled. "You told him no before going too far and betraying my trust, so I'm not mad."

"Thank you," he said. "I try to control myself, but you know who we are and that our urges are strong."

"Yes," she nodded and placed her hand on his shoulder and looked towards the forest. "Can you show me the grounds around the Institute? That forest in the distance and the places you like?"

"I could, the question is if you want to."

She chuckled and looked at him. "Harry, don't you want to have some time with me, alone from other people?"

He blushed, but nodded in agreement. "I guess that I do," he finally said.

"Then what are you waiting for?" she asked, as she jumped, made a somersault and gracefully landed on the ground, where she turned and looked at him, amusement in her eyes. "Come on."

He smiled, opened his massive black wings and gracefully descended onto the ground. "I'm here, no need to hurry," he said and she smiled.

"I thought that you were the eager one," she said as they walked towards the forest surrounding the Institute. "Not the considerate one."

He only smiled and led her into the forest, showing her interesting and nice spots, things that you only learned after spending weeks, upon weeks of time in close proximity to something. It was also one of his favorite escapes at the Institute, places where he knew he would be alone and able to brood.

o-0-o

Warren growled at what Beast told him. "Six fucking months of doing nothing?"

"You spent over two months in bed, survived an assassination attempt and before that you had holidays when you didn't train as extensively as usually," Beast said and shrugged. "Be lucky that you are alive and they didn't amputate your arm, a normal human would just be happy to have survived."

Warren was gobsmacked by those words. "What?"

"I didn't have time to thoroughly read your files from the hospital, but I had more than enough to take a good look at them. You had every single major bone in your left arm broken, pieces of metal embedded in it and a few other things that would qualify it for amputation," Beast said and looked at Warren. "I know that you want to help the mutants, but if you charge into battle now you will be a hindrance to your team and you need to get back in shape."

Warren narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest.

Beast didn't even acknowledge the glare Warren was giving him. "Your muscles were doing nothing for months, how hard is it to understand that you are out of shape and need to start slowly?"

"Or what?"

"You will end up being useless for even longer," Beast said bluntly. "So pace yourself and you should be fine."

Warren nodded and stormed out of the room, a furious scowl on his face. He felt fine and someone was telling him to pace himself. He stopped on the balcony where Jean was working on her homework, she heard him approach and looked up, the sunlight was reflected by her hair and it made them glow and shine. As he looked at her, he once again realized why he loved her so much, no matter where she was she looked beautiful, but not shallow.

"What's wrong?" she asked him. "You seem irritated by something."

"Beast," he said, leaning against the railing. "He said that I need to pace myself and that I'm banned from being an active X-Men member for the next six months."

She put her pen away and looked at him. "Warren, I love you and I want to be with you, but sometimes you think that you are indestructible," she said and he arched an eyebrow. "I was worried that you would die and you think that you cannot get killed."

"Jean," he said softly.

"Don't Jean me," she said harshly. "Pull your head out of your ass and stop behaving like an arrogant brat that thinks he cannot die.

He looked at her, those words hurt him, he turned away and walked out of the terrace, it hurt even more as she stomped on his ego and didn't leave a single spot undamaged.

o-0-o

The sound of a pencil moving on paper filled the room as Harry sat on his bed and focused on one of the passions he had developed when on Asgard. Drawing, when he was forced to live with the Dursley's he used to draw on whatever he could. When he arrived on Asgard he was able to spend more time doing it and had people that were actually willing to help him develop his abilities.

His face was pulled in an expression of deep concentration as he looked at what he had created, he was quite happy with it, but he knew that he was able to draw something better. He heard the door open and, glancing in its direction, saw Atalanta enter the room.

"What are you doing?" she asked, before noticing his drawing supplies and a sheet of paper on a pad laying on his legs. "Drawing once again?" she asked, hopping onto the bed to his side.

"I'm trying to," he said with a smile. "My muse seems to be willing to work, so I want to enjoy the time and do something productive. Also, I haven't had the opportunity to do it for the past few weeks and you know that I enjoy it."

"Yes," she said with a nod and she leaned closer to take a look at what he had drawn. "What is it?"

He looked at the drawing he had created, it showed a pair of massive wolves laying on a stone shelf in the middle of a forest. Even if it was done only with a pencil so far and lacked shading to show the depth it should, it looked quite well. "Isn't it obvious?" He asked with a wide grin.

"Your large furballs that mostly sleep and eat?" she asked, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Or a pair of wolves that you saw somewhere?"

"Your first idea was a good one," he said and smiled. "Those are Freki and Geri and sometimes they do something other than sleeping or eating."

"They also play or beg for treats," she pointed out. "Which qualifies for doing nothing for a whole day or even more."

He only chuckled and focused on drawing, slowly adding more and more details as well as smoothing out the first rough lines that he had used for sketching their shapes. After that came time for playing with shading, something that always took him hours upon hours to finish. When he was done with it he realized that a couple of hours had passed and the day had turned into night. "It's done," he finally said, placing his pencil to the side.

"Not too shabby," Atalanta said as she took a look at the finished version. "I actually like the way you did it and it seems realistic."

"Thanks, At," he said and yawned loudly, showing his elongated canines in all of their glory. "As much as I like drawing, it is tiring," he said and looked at her, uncertainty visible in his eyes. "Will you sleep with me?"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes," she said and hopped of the bed. "But I think this bed needs to be expanded a bit."

He looked at her, later at himself and finally at the bed, having done that he nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it was kind of uncomfortable the last time we slept together."

He hopped off it and the moment he was away from it her eyes glowed and the bed enlarged itself, just enough to make the two of them comfortable. "It should work," she said. "I didn't want to make it bigger as it might not fit in the room and we wouldn't like to block the door."

He looked at her and later at the place where the bed touched the wall and nodded, it was almost on the door frame and it fit quite tightly. "Yes," he said in agreement. "It is already cramped enough and we should have enough room."

She nodded and looked at him. "Are you tired enough to go to sleep?"

"You?" He asked back.

"Yeah," she said and yawned. "Mirage wanted to see how good of an archer I am and we spent half of the day chasing each other and shooting."

"Change in the bathroom and I will do it here," he said and once she nodded and walked into the bathroom he quickly dressed into his shorts and a t-shirt that he used to sleep in at Xavier's. "I hope that I will have a dreamless night," he said as they tugged in, blankets covering their bodies.

"You will," she said and left a peck on his forehead. "That's why I'm here."

He smiled and closed his eyes, feeling her comfortable warmth snuggle against his side, even if they kept some distance from each other, she was still close and he could feel her body touch his. When he finally drifted off to sleep, for the second time, he was not haunted by nightmares.

o-0-o

Ullr arched an eyebrow when Sif entered his study, she was one of the few people he didn't expect to visit him. They were friends, but not overly close and her visit was a surprise, especially without any prior announcement. He finished reading a letter from one of his stewards who was reporting that the harvest was done and the profit should be quite a lot, not the biggest one he had seen, but still good.

Before he acknowledged her arrival, her gaze swept over his room, her eyes taking into account every single detail, the wooden floor and the furs covering it, the hunting trophies on the walls, a large fireplace in the corner, his bow and quiver hanging on the wall and neat stacks of papers placed on his desk, a couple of comfortable armchairs and a small table by the fireplace.

"Lady Sif," he said, getting up from behind his desk. "How may I help you?" He asked as he walked to her.

"I need to discuss a couple of issues regarding your son, the son of Thor and Hercules' daughter," she said. "They are getting close to the age when they become adults."

He nodded in understanding and indicated to the armchairs by the fireplace. "Perhaps we can discuss it there," he said, his lips curling up into a smile. "As I doubt we will enjoy standing in the middle of my study."

"No, we won't," she said and once she was comfortably seated she looked at him. "Maybe you don't remember it, but it is a custom that any child that enters adulthood be granted a gift by their tutor or tutors."

He nodded and hummed quietly, thinking about his youngest son and his friends, they were similar to each other and at the same time different. Ulf was the biggest one out of the three, a few inches taller than Harald or Atalanta and with a more massive frame, he looked like a mountain. Harald was thin, but it wasn't that visible and had wings that set him apart; Atalanta is the shortest one, at least at the moment, but she was also the most agile and had the grace of a cat, a dangerous predator that looked cute until it ripped someone's throat. It was also shown by their choice of weapons, his son preferred axes, Harald swords, while Atalanta settled for daggers, twin weapons that could cause more damage than a sword or an axe.

Even if they were so different, all of them shared some similarities, all of them were deadly and all of them were eager to train as well as to have fun and enjoy their time. At the last thought his lips curled into a smile, that was a trait of the Æsir as a whole. Finding gifts for all of them would be a challenging task and he could see why Sif wanted to get his opinion.

"All of them are different, so each one needs to get a gift that will fit their style," he slowly said, poured mead into a pair of golden goblets and picked up one of them. "Ulf is a brute when it comes to fighting, Harald is more of an endurance and finesse fighter, while Atalanta is waits and strikes when she thinks her opponent is vulnerable."

"Yes," she said and slowly sipped her mead. "I was thinking about getting Ulf something similar to Megingjörð, as you said, he is a brute and a twofold increase in strength won't be a bad idea for him. For Atalanta I thought about something that will make any archer happy, a bow that never misses and a quiver that never runs out of ammunition and can supply runic arrows. Harald is a tough one, he is a versatile person, so finding something that will make him happy and will be useful is a challenge."

"What about a helmet that is charmed to allow its user to fly at the speed of sound," he suggested and she looked at him. "While I know that he can already fly, what I suggest will be even more useful for him, especially in combat."

"It has some merits," she said and looked into the goblet. "Do you want to ask the dwarves to craft the gifts or should I?"

"I need to get them to check the Nordmark Mountains for veins of ores, so I can also ask them for the gifts," he said and finished his mead. "How is the training of my youngest son going?"

"Well enough, since our business is done, I guess we can talk about his performance."

"I would appreciate it," he said and made himself more comfortable in his armchair.

o-0-o

Wolverine looked at Laura and sniffed the air. "So Charles wasn't lying," he finally said. "You are my daughter."

"Yes," she said. "And I guess that you are thrilled to see me."

Wolverine laughed loudly. "You have spunk kid, so while not amazed by them using my DNA, I don't have any other choice but to accept you as my daughter."

A smile appeared on her face, an expression that was so foreign to her until very recently; previously she was more of a robot, now she was slowly adapting to being a human being. "Thanks, _dad_ ," she said.

"Don't expect any special treatment when training," he said and added after a moment. "I know about that scent they used on you and I will help you with controlling yourself."

She nodded and looked at him, everything was so foreign for her, even those simple gestures and reactions humans had were a strange thing she needed to learn. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me," he said and she looked at him. "You deserve as much, now it's time for your first class, here, at the Institute," he said as the rest of the group joined them.

Laura looked at him and later at the rest of the group, some curiosity in her eyes, but then she shrugged and followed them into the room. At first what Xavier did seemed like something that wouldn't change her life, but now she could see the impact it had on her and it seemed like a great adventure was unfolding in front of her.

*Loss of innocence

o-0-o

 **A/N - There is a limit to how badly you can stretch usability of a plane and while SR-71 is a good plane upgrading it gets too expensive and when it was being designed a lot of things wasn't known. So they have two decent options rebuild it from scratch, while adapting whatever can be adapted or get a new plane and a plane powered by an arc reactor gives a lot of options. This way of generating power means that you don't need a lot of fuel and because of that you have around fifty percent more weight to be used, which is a lot and which can greatly increase its capabilities. You have room for more and better sensors, ECM systems, you can carry more cargo, fly faster and so on, though acceleration will remain the same as we, humans, are squishy things and not much is needed to kill us.**

 **Harry getting Infinity Stone, Loki has one and their purpose is to be used, not to lay on a shelf and collect dust, also coming of age means titles and gifts and what's a better gift than an extremely precious sword that is more than a sword. At the moment out of the whole family he has the lamest weapon and he needs small upgrade. Finally, it is a great sword, which means that for most of the time it will be in the armory as it is too big of a weapon to be used casually, blade is around four to five feet long and another feet is for handle. Which gives a six feet long chunk of metal, which can only be reliably carried in hand as it is too big for carrying it on the belt or strapped across the back, not to mention that in second case arm could be chopped off.**


	42. The end of the term

**A/N - Last chapter before holidays on Asgard.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Harry growled as he rolled away from Laura, her claws almost hitting his chest and opening it, she was a person he enjoyed sparring with. She was a petite girl, but she knew how to fight and was tough. He saw her shrug off hits that would have killed a normal human, even with all of her toughness and lethality, she was rather attractive and someone that he wanted to be around with. "You are good," he said, getting up and pulling out his knife.

"You aren't too bad yourself," she said, before she screamed and jumped at him, her claws extended and shining in the light of the room.

He caught her claws onto the vambrace he had on his left hand and watched as the adamantium screeched, sliding off his mithril. At the same time he used the knife he had in his second hand to stop her second set of claws.

"Didn't you miss something?" she asked sweetly.

"No...," he said and his eyes widened the moment he saw her foot fly towards his chest, claw extending between her toes and about to open his chest.

He jumped away, his wings beating in the air, sending wind at her eyes and forcing her to shield them as particles of dust and sand slammed into her body. She growled, closed her eyes and at this point he realized his mistake; when she was relying on sight, he could predict her actions, when she used smell, he didn't have a way to guess her behavior.

When fighting her he always treated it like yet another duel with Atalanta where he could force her to close her eyes and use his wings to stay out of her reach. However with Laura it was a big mistake as he saw her crouch and prepare to pounce onto him, her leg muscles tensed and she jumped at him. He barely dodged her, and shook his head, these duels would be dangerous, lengthy and not boring at all.

o-0-o

Gambit smiled as he stood on the the Institute's roof, he never expected to have a more stable home, a place where he could return over and over again, without fear of being murdered or kidnapped by one group or another. He heard footsteps behind him and instead of reaching for his cards or his staff, he only turned to look at who was coming toward him. He nodded when he saw it was Storm. "How can Gambit help you?" He asked her.

She walked to him and stopped at the edge of the roof before answering him. "We would like to make you an offer," she said and he arched an eyebrow. "We need someone who could find runaway mutants and tell them about the Institute and the fact that we are a safe haven for them."

"And you want me to be the one doin' it?"

"Exactly," she said and smiled faintly. "I was a thief once and I know how hard it is to make us open up or make us trust someone, while X-Men are great when it comes to dealing with one group of extremists or another, we fail when it comes to runaways."

"Assumin' that I would accept the offer, what would I get from it?"

"Satisfaction, an opportunity to see new places and a chance to help the world and our kind," she said, and added after a moment. "Please, Remy, not many are capable for this and you are our best choice."

He sighed and looked at her, his crimson red eyes meeting her blue ones. "Storm, it is the first place in a long time where I feel at home and don't need to watch my back constantly," he said and moved his hand around, indicating at the world outside. "There, I will need to be on guard constantly , watching out for trouble and people that want to murder me, I need some rest first," he said and shook his head, his auburn hair flying every witch way. "Give me a couple of days or, better yet, weeks to rest and have an opportunity to relax and I can go out into the world after."

He saw her nod, understanding visible in the simple move. "This is the answer we expected to hear, we just need someone out in the country, looking for those mutants," she said and smiled. "Now enjoy your time at the Institute, do what you want and as long as you do not break the rules, you are invited to stay for as long as you wish to."

"Thank you," he said and looked at her. "How are they?" she arched an eyebrow in question. "Those that I helped free," he clarified.

"Better," she said after a moment. "What the Professor and the White Queen are doing is helping them a great deal. They should make a full recovery. It will take time, but they will manage."

"Good," he said and sighed. "I tried to keep the worst goons away from them, but there were times I failed."

"You did more than most people would have," she said and smiled reassuringly. "You helped save them and that is all that matters, at least here, from what I know about Director Fury, he would agree with me."

"Thank you," he said. "It means a lot to me."

"No problem," she said. "You deserve it."

He nodded and looked at the horizon, it was different here than it was at his hometown in New Orleans or when he was an undercover agent for Fury. Here, it seemed, everything was fresher and better, as well as a lot safer, he could sleep soundly, with no fear of waking up with an assassin ready to cut his throat.

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy frowned as he looked at the report from one of his many agents. Durmstrang was no more, and its inhabitants were scattered through other schools of magic. Even if it was a terrible event, for him it didn't matter as he didn't have any plans for it and Karkaroff was a traitor, plain and simple, it was a source of information about what SHIELD and Asgard could do though.

He stood up from his armchair and walked across the room, towards the window. He looked out and his gaze swept over his pets, they would keep his enemies away from his mansion. He glanced at the single sheet of paper on which his notes about the Darkhold were and he wanted to growl; his agents had been unable to get even remotely close to it. The only thing they had achieved so far was activating every single layer of the defenses placed around the castle and getting all the attention focused on him. He opened one of the drawers of his desk and pulled out an old large iron key, it was time to bump up the stakes even more.

He pulled out his wand and in one smooth motion apparated out of his mansion and into the English countryside, just outside of a very special cottage, inside of which was hidden a ring belonging to his master. He walked around it until he found the door that led inside, he slipped the key into the matching hole and turned.

The door clicked and the sound of magic being released was heard, the door creaked and opened a little.

He pushed it wide open and stepped inside, he looked around the room which had fallen into a state of disrepair as nobody had lived inside for the past few dozen years. He walked across it and towards a plank in the floor that was in its opposite corner, he kneeled in front of it and bared his forearm. With his wand pressed against it, he reached out and moved the plank loose, it screeched, but gave up and he was able to remove it.

Below was a single golden ring with a small stone placed in the middle of the band. He conjured a piece of cloth and, wrapping the ring in it, walked out of the cottage. The moment he removed the key, the wards snapped back into place, protecting the cottage and ensuring his enemies were fooled.

o-0-o

Harry yawned loudly as he sat up on his bed and looked at Atalanta who slept by his side, at first he had been slightly reluctant and didn't want this arrangement; now he didn't mind it one bit, as it meant almost no nightmares for him and an opportunity to get as much rest as possible. Also it made time pass quickly, before he even noticed, the windows were covered in a thin layer of frost and it was actually snowing outside.

"Slept good?" she asked as she stirred and her eyes opened. "Or did you have nightmares?"

"Not a single one," he said with a small smile. "I was just thinking that this isn't the worst deal ever and you allowed me to get a full night of sleep without a single nightmare yet again."

She smiled and looked at him. "How long until Yuletide and an opportunity to be on Asgard?"

"Three or so weeks," he said and looked at the window. "Winter is here and it is one of the few things I miss when on Asgard."

"Ia it the snow?" she asked, sitting up. "Or the cold?"

"Cold?" He arched an eyebrow. "I know no such thing."

She chuckled softly and he looked at her. "Harry, not everybody is an Æsir or has Jotun blood in their veins, Olympians prefer the warmer climate, give us a desert and we will be fine. While the cold doesn't cause any harm to us, being in it isn't the most pleasant thing, unless you have someone or something to keep you warm."

He laughed loudly at her words and it took him a couple of minutes and painful jabs from her to compose himself. "Sorry," he said, before breaking into another bout of giggling. "It's just too funny."

"What is too funny?" she asked, a dangerous edge to her voice and her eyes narrowing.

"Nothing," he finally managed to say. "Just a really amusing thought appeared in my mind, don't kill me," he said, seeing her glower at him. "Sorry," he said as her hand slammed into his ribs. "At, I said I'm sorry."

She stopped and looked at him. "I don't know why, but I like you," she said. "Even if you are an insufferable git at times and need to be beaten to get things in or out of your skull, I still like you."

"Thank you," he said, massaging his pained ribs. "So what do you think about Laura?"

"Jealous, are we?"

"No," he said with a blush. "It's just that you two spent an awful lot of time with each other and I'm curious what are you doing."

"Girl stuff," she said. "You won't be interested in them, believe me."

He looked at her and shook his head. "You are strange and understanding you is impossible," he declared with a sigh.

"As if you are better," she said and he arched an eyebrow. "I mean, nobody can understand how you think, so it is fair that it is the same for me."

He sniffed softly and made her chuckle.

"You are a big boy, you will find something where you can be better," she said, shooing him off the bed. "Take your precious shower and let me get a few more moments of sleep."

He rolled out of her way and off the bed, grabbing his toiletries and clothes, he went to the bathroom and let her have her sleep.

o-0-o

Rogue looked at Harry and later at Kitty. "He has changed," she said. "Before he was more open and relaxed, now he is a bit more quiet and careful."

"Who wouldn't change after what he suffered?" Kitty asked and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes. "I mean, he was experimented on and a few more things were done to him."

"Fair point," Rogue agreed as they entered into the classroom. "And it seems that he found a girlfriend."

"Atalanta?"

"Atalanta," Rogue said, a hint of envy in her voice. "She has a lot of luck, but he doesn't lack any as well."

"No, he does not," Kitty said and sighed. "I kind of hope that he will invite us to Asgard this Christmas."

"Ulf?"

"Yes," she said in a far-away voice. "He looks so good and hot."

"He is an Æsir," Rogue pointed out with a roll of her eyes. "Did you expect something else?"

"No," Kitty said. "Still, he looks damn hot and I like him."

"What about Bobby?"

"Which one?"

"Iceman," Rogue said. "He looks interesting."

"Ulf is better."

"Whatever," Rogue muttered and at the same time Cyclops entered the classroom, starting the lesson.

o-0-o

Robert Drake got used to seeing a lot of things since he had arrived at the Institute, but there were still some that made him gape like a fish. Seeing someone easily bench press something like a tonne or two and show no strain was definitely one of them. "How are you doing this?" He asked, finally breaking himself out of the stupor. "It should be impossible.

"I'm half-Æsir," Harry said with a smile. "I told you that I am a Prince of Asgard and it comes with several gifts, one of them is being able to do something like this."

Bobby shook his head and slightly pinched himself, trying to see if it was an illusion. "So how did you get caught by them?"

"A lot of luck on their part and a surprise or two," Harry said, placing the barbell on its stand and sitting up, sweat covering the front of his shirt. "But I think that there is something else that you want to talk about."

Bobby shifted uncomfortably. "My family is supposed to come here in a few moments and my relations with them aren't the best," he said with a sigh. "Truth be told, my parents are fine, but the brother..."

"Has issues with the fact that you are a mutant," Harry finished

"Y-Yes," Bobby said and looked at him. "How did you guess?"

"Part of my family had issues with whom I am."

"Had?" Bobby asked and paused when he saw Harry wince. "You don't need to answer the question."

"It's fine," Harry said. "They are in prison right now and I never considered them my relatives anyway, I much more prefer my winged cousin."

"Angel?" Bobby frowned. "He is the only winged person at the Institute."

"The same one," Harry said and looked at Bobby. "If you want I can hang around as I tend to dissuade people from doing stupid things."

"How? Your good looks?"

"No," Harry laughed. "My wolves are enough," he said and whistled, making two wolves appear by his side. "They are cute," he said, placing his hands on their necks. "But also deadly."

Bobby moved away from them, fear in his eyes, he hadn't expected to ever see such things . "How did they appear here?"

"Magic," Harry said and looked at him. "Let me take a shower and dress, and I will join you."

Bobby nodded and leaned against the wall, waiting for Harry to get cleaned and dressed. Fifteen minutes later he saw Harry emerge from the shower. "So how did you end up here?"

"Because of my cousin," Harry smiled as they walked through the Institute and Bobby noticed that people seemed to not care about the wolves, heck some were even willing to scratch or pet them. "My dad decided that I should spend some time here and leave Asgard to know him, so I ended up at the Institute."

"And those wolves?"

"A gift from my grandfather, they were his pets, but now they are mine."

"Grandfather?"

"Odin," Harry said and chuckled at his expression. "I thought that you figured out who my grandfather was, since you know my father."

"Did I look that bad?" Bobby asked

"Yes," Harry said and smiled. "I will be taking a few people with my to Asgard for the Christmas break, so you can also join us, I will probably invite one more person, but I need to think."

"It is real?"

Harry chuckled merrily. "I am real and those wolves are real, heck, my uncle is somewhere around and grandfather's ravens are following us right now, so why shouldn't Asgard be real?"

"It's just hard to believe," Bobby said and sighed. "A few years ago it was so simple, no Asgard, no aliens and just a usual life."

"I much more prefer my current life, it is certainly more interesting," Harry said. "Asgard is a nice place, you should enjoy being there."

Bobby nodded and they walked in comfortably silence towards Professor Xavier's office, he wanted to get this meeting out of the way and deal with his annoying brother, the one that drove him away from home. He paused outside of the office and took a deep breath to calm himself, he felt someone place a hand on his shoulder and glancing in that direction, he saw Harry.

"You will be fine," he said. "The Professor knows how to deal with people and I will be there too, after all he asked me to get you here."

"Oh," Bobby said and opened the doors leading into the office, he stepped inside and saw his parents sitting inside and his younger brother looking like an insulted and angered teen.

"Bobby!" His mother shouted when she saw him and rushed towards him. "We were so worried about you," she said through tears of joy and happiness.

"I'm fine," he said as she hugged him. "I've been worse, but now thanks to the Professor I am right as rain."

"He said that you are a mutant," she said, releasing him and looking into his eyes.

"I am," he admitted.

"Why didn't you tell us?" she asked and after a look from him sent at his younger brother, her eyes widened. "Ronny?!"

"What?" his younger brother asked. "He is a freak and deserves to be treated as such."

"I suggest that you change the tone of your voice," Harry cut in and Bobby saw him, holding his wolves by their collars, their mouths open and fangs bared. "They really, really don't like that word and I like it even less, so I might release them and let them attack you."

"Harry, tell your wolves to calm down," Professor said and his gaze flickered to Ronny. "You, young man, behave like a younger brother should behave, people died to rescue your brother and several dozen of other children so at least show some respect to their memory."

Ronny was still unhappy, but Bobby could tell that those words hit him hard and made him fall silent.

"Perhaps we can speak like civilized people," Professor said after a moment. "I will explain everything and I will answer all of your questions. Also, Harry, if you could leave us alone for a moment."

Bobby heard Harry leave the room and then he took one of the seats around Professor Xavier's desk.

o-0-o

Harry leaned against the wall outside of the Professor's office, when he heard the doors open and glanced in their direction he saw Bobby walk out of the room, a somewhat happy expression on his face. "So are you staying?" Harry asked him.

"Yes," Bobby said with a smile on his face "My parents agreed to it and my brother got himself into trouble."

Harry laughed. "Digging a hole under someone and later landing in it is always amusing to watch."

"I wouldn't put it that way, but yes," Bobby said with a smile. "Also the Professor told me to tell you that you can show me you know what."

Harry looked at him and then smirked. "You should enjoy it," he said as he got off the wall. "There are hidden things many want to see."

"Oh?" Bobby asked as they walked through the Institute.

"You will see," Harry smirked. "You will enjoy it and nothing bad will happen to you."

He saw Bobby smile and Harry had a feeling that the Professor knew what he was doing, not many were ready to be X-Men, but Bobby seemed like a person that would fit.

o-0-o

Professor X smiled as he watched the former captives of Weapon X interact with the rest of the students, for those that didn't know what to look for telling them apart would be extremely difficult.

"How are they?" Storm asked, dropping onto the ground to his side.

"Better and should make a full recovery," he said. "It's a miracle what some kindness and warmth can do, therapy is also important, but that on its own helped them a lot."

She nodded and stood with him for a moment in silence. "How is he?"

"Harry?"

"Yes."

"Better," Professor said and winced. "When I talked with him last year I misinterpreted his past life and in top of the things Weapon X did he also has issues with abuse that need to be addressed."

"Petunia and Vernon?" Storm asked, her eyes flashing white for a moment.

"Yes."

"How those two things were allowed to take him in is a mystery to me," she said and took a deep breath to calm herself. "They destroy everything they touch and being given a child to take care of is the stupidest and the most foolhardy idea I have ever heard of."

The Professor sighed and nodded. "I have an idea about who did it, but it is less important now that they got a nice, long stay in prison and I can help him deal with all of the things they and Weapon X has done."

"And it won't be a pleasant stay," she said, some satisfaction in her voice. "They aren't liked even in prison."

He nodded and focused on watching his students, it was one of the few rare moments when he could enjoy being a teacher and see the effects of his work without the need to watch out for trouble.

o-0-o

Rahne smiled when she saw Harry walk into the room in his matte black armor with weapons in various scabbards and holsters, his massive wings moving in sync with the rest of his body. "You look good," she said, finishing lacing her boots. "Banshee is away so we are training with Wolverine and two new ones."

"Newbies?"

"Yes," Danielle said. "Iceman and Gaius, when you see their powers you might gape like a fish."

"Why?"

"Oh, you will see," she smirked. "The names say a lot, but you need to see it yourself, you won't believe us otherwise."

"Are they that good?" He asked, making sure that every weapon was within his reach.

"Oh, yes," Rahne said. "Even if they lack training and experience, let them cooperate and they will impress you."

He nodded and at the same time Iceman and Gaius stepped in into the room, Rahne glanced at Harry and saw that his jaw had dropped and she could see his teeth in all of their glory, elongated canines included. "Them?" He asked. "I know that he," he indicated Iceman. "Has some powers, but that," his head indicated Gaius. "I haven't seen him show anything before."

"Let us show you a thing or two and you will be impressed," Gaius said, cracking his knuckles. "Besides, you didn't see everything, let us show you that we know how to kick butt."

"Maybe you are good, but I'm still better."

"Boys," she said with a roll of her eyes. "You can have a pissing contest later, now we have training to complete."

She heard them mutter something, but she ignored it and instead walked forward, towards the Danger Room where they were supposed to meet with Wolverine. When they entered it they saw their leader waiting for them, hands crossed over his chest.

"I expect you to behave," he said gruffly. "You are still an untrained squad, no matter the fact that Black Eagle was accepted as a full X-Man, he is still recovering, so you have no special privileges. You will learn how to use your powers and how to do so safely." He smiled ferally and at the same time the room's holographic walls started to flicker and change.

o-0-o

Harry crouched behind a fallen tree trunk and glanced at Gaius, who was hidden behind a big piece of rock and panting a bit. "You okay?"

"Yes," Gaius said and wiped the sweat of his forehead. "Just never had the opportunity to get as fit as you are."

"I'm Æsir," Harry said and smiled. "I'm naturally better, but we can talk about that later." He paused and sniffed the air. "Trouble is coming."

"From where?" Gaius asked, frowning.

"Ahead of us," Harry said and looked at him. "They are downwind from here."

He squinted his eyes and looked at the forest in front of them, lush, vividly colorful and full of life, hundreds of plants and animals, filling the place with hundreds of noises and smells, creating an intoxicating mixture that could knock you out.

"So what are we going to do?"

Harry frowned and looked at his companion, normally he would play hunter-killer with Danielle, but they were scattered and hitting anything in the maze in front of them required a lot of luck. "You have control over all of the elements?"

"Yeah, but I'm best with earth and air," Gaius said and at the word 'earth' Harry smirked.

He looked at the landscape in front of them and tried to imagine where their opponents were, having done that he paused to think and finally looked at Gaius. "Could you cause the ground to lower itself and create a depression in the ground?"

Gaius shifted and was silent for a moment, looking at the ground ahead of them. "I never did it, but I think I can."

"Good," Harry said and pulled out few small pieces of rocks inscribed with runes. "These will work," he murmured inspecting the runes written on their surface. He closed his fist around them and looked at Gaius. "We will slowly walk towards the place where I want the ground to be lowered and once it is done, I want you to retreat and support me from a distance."

"But you will be alone."

Harry grinned, his expression predatory and dangerous. "I want to be alone. Every trap needs a bait and I will be far safer than you ever will."

"Oh," Gaius nodded in understanding and smiled, his smile as dangerous as Harry's.

Harry nodded, leaped over the trunk and started to slowly move forward, his eyes looking for a good place for an ambush. He stopped behind a rotting trunk, motioned for Gaius to get close to him and indicated at a clearing in front of them, though clearing it would be an issue as there were still plants, just less of them, there were already clean patches of ground. "Do you see this bit of clear ground in front of us?"

"Yeah."

"I want you to lower it a bit and create a depression," Harry said and looked at Gaius. "Can you do it?"

"I think so," Gaius said before kneeling on the ground and pressing his hands against the soft soil, there was a light shudder and Harry saw land in front of them lower itself. "How did I do?"

"Good enough," he said and smiled reassuringly. "You have power, but now you need to get away and let me deal with it."

"But-"

"Gaius, you have power, heck, a lot of it," Harry said quietly. "But you lack the knowledge and the experience to use it well."

"Fine," Gaius said before he disappeared into the thick foliage behind.

When he was gone Harry looked at the depression in front of him and waited, not moving a single inch in any direction, his body in perfect stillness as he prepared for the moment of the ambush. His mind was registering every single detail of what happened ahead of him, looking for any signals heralding the arrival of those that were looking for them.

There was a sudden movement in the leaves and he almost immediately looked in its direction, just in time to see something jump onto the clearing. It was a robot that looked like a dog and had a pair of energy guns mounted to its muzzle. It looked around and its head almost immediately focused on his hiding spot.

Harry tensed and waited, knowing that there were more of them coming, he could smell three more of those things hiding around and waiting for him to reveal his position. He steeled himself and waited, his form unmoving and not making a single sound.

The robot moved around the clearing in circles, not managing to find him and then it let out a rattling whistle that shook everything, he slowly looked out from his hiding spot and saw the rest of the pack appear on the clearing.

Harry extremely slowly moved his hand with the runic stones, making sure to remain silent, he waited for the right moment and then he threw them. All of the robots looked in his direction and started to fire their guns, sending hundreds of beams of light flying all over the area, cutting down vines and scaring animals as well as cutting down various branches.

Thankfully for him they suffered from accuracy issues and instead of hitting him or close enough to rain debris onto him, they hit everything else. On the other hand the runic stones he had used worked as advertised and they exploded in a staggering chain of explosions, throwing dirt, plants and pieces of robots into the air. When he looked at the clearing from his hiding position he saw a nice hole in the ground and smoking wrecks of robots around it. He gave it one last look and retreated away from it and towards Gaius, their opponents would need to be blind not to spot that explosion and they were going to be all over the place in a couple of minutes.

o-0-o

Danielle crouched on top of a branch and cursed under her breath Wolverine's creativity, who first dumped them into the biggest jungle she had seen and later decided to scatter them. She could see somewhere in the thick foliage Wolfsbane's form and Iceman was with her on the tree.

"Something is coming," Wolfsbane said as she emerged and changed unto her human form. "A couple of somethings that might be keen on getting to us."

"Predators?" Danielle asked, notching an arrow onto her bow. "Or something not from the forest."

"They behave like a herd of elephants and are loud, so most likely not predators."

She nodded and looked at Iceman, then she glanced at the ground covered in thick foliage and hundreds of small plants, roots and dozens of other things. "Could you be kind enough and get us a nice, big skating rink?" she asked him.

"Skating rink? For what?"

"To greet our guests and allow us to have the upper hand," she explained. "They shouldn't spot it and a surprise is always nice."

"I will do it," he said, hopping onto the ground. "Tell me when."

"Wolf?" she asked, glancing at Rahne.

"I will tell him," she said and crouched on the ground. "Now!" she shouted and at the same time changed into a wolf and jumped onto the tree.

Bobby nodded and pressed his palm against the ground, frost started to cover the ground, starting from his place, it was growing over everything on its path, no matter if it was leaves, roots, plants or rocks, it all got covered in a layer of ice. It also caused everything that was moving towards them to end up on a very slick and smooth surface.

Danielle smirked when she saw robots appear out of the forest, trying to move towards them, only managing to slide helplessly, for her it felt as if she was on a shooting range, each shot was a hit and before she noticed all of the robots were wrecks.

She dropped onto the ground, her boots crunching on the ice and she looked at the robots, all of them were similar to dogs or large cats. "Let's go," she said. "If those things are designed in the same way Sentinels are, we will have company, a lot of it and soon."

Wolfsbane and Iceman nodded and broke into a sprint towards the place where she thought Black Eagle was supposed to be and where she previously heard a large explosion come from. She jumped over a fallen trunk, used a vine to support herself and almost bumped into his winged form.

"How did you find us?" He asked as he turned to look at her. "Moving in this jungle is a nightmare."

"Keen nose and luck," she said and looked at the sword in his hand and later at a large path of cut through the jungle. "I guess this approach also works."

"And I think it is over," Wolfsbane added as the landscape started to disappear.

"It is," Wolverine said as he emerged from the forest. "Showers and briefing room in twenty minutes."

o-0-o

"Wolverine is a slave driver," Harry muttered over an hour later as he stumbled into the dorm. "He thinks that running through the jungle is funny."

"Oh?" Atalanta asked, she was laying on the bed and reading something. "I thought that you enjoyed playing hide-and-seek in the forests around Ullr's palace."

"I do," he said. "But there you don't need to chop a path to move freely."

"Poor you," she chuckled and then looked at him. "It's good that you got back now, we need to talk about things, things that affect the both of us."

"Oh?" He asked, sitting down on the bed and to her side. "What are these things that I should discuss with you?"

"A certain person we both know," she said and smirked. "A person that I think you also like or maybe there is more to it."

He blushed and then frowned at those words. "Laura?" He asked as he looked at Atalanta. "It's obviously not Jean-Paul, so it must be her."

Atalanta closed the book she was reading and shifting uncomfortably looked at him. "Yes, it is her," she finally said and sighed. "I'm attracted to her, yet I also like you and I don't want to betray your trust."

Harry blinked, blushed and then finally looked at Atalanta. "That might make things complicated and interesting," he said and made her look at him. "I'm also attracted to her and she looks hot."

Atalanta blushed and looked at him. "So we have a small problem, don't we?"

"Yeah, we do," he said and looked at her. "I know that I like you, but what about her?"

Atalanta paused, humming quietly. "What about explaining things to her when we are on Asgard and have time to do so without any interruptions or guests?" she finally asked.

Harry felt a redness creep up his cheeks, but he nodded in agreement. "It should work, the question is how she will react to it," he said and placed his hand on Atalanta's side, hugging her. "But now I'm happy to be with just you."

He saw her blush and then she looked at him. "Harry, are you suggesting something?" she asked as her fingers moved into his feather-covered wings and her head rested on his shoulder. "You are a sweet person," she said.

"At," he breathed out and snuggled against her. "I'm glad that you came to stay with me at the Institute," he whispered. "I know that otherwise I would end up being haunted by nightmares and unable to get some rest."

"Friendship is about helping each other, isn't it?" she asked and made him smile.

"It is, among a great deal of other things, but helping each other is one of them."

"Then I'm doing what a good friend is supposed to," she said with a small giggle. "Not that I think you mind it."

He blushed lightly and made a smile appear on her face as his mind started to wander in directions he didn't want it to. "I don't mind it, Princess," he said and she giggled.

"Good," she smiled and looked into his eyes. "As I don't want to hurt you."

"So do I," he said as their eyes met, her golden ones with his emerald.

She smiled and pulled him closer to herself and into a kiss, he was surprised by her willingness and openness, but he only smiled and let his lips melt on hers. It was a short kiss, but it felt like liquid pleasure for him, clouding his mind and senses.

"Harry," she breathed out as they parted. "I love you."

"At," he said, blushed furiously and looked at her. "I-I don't know what to say."

"You don't need to say anything," she said, her fingers moving through his wings.

He smiled and they sat comfortably snuggled against each other, enjoying being in the presence of each other and the physical closeness. Harry felt as if good times were ahead of him, times that could only get better as time passed and he got older.

o-0-o

Jean looked at Harry and Atalanta and considered how to explain to them what she had on mind and how to make them practice it, then she had an idea. One that was evil and nice, one that she would enjoy a lot. "Today we will work on searching through memories," she said and they looked at her. "It is a bit of a gray area when it comes to morality, so I want you to use it only when you don't having any other choice, also when done wrong it can destroy the person's mind or turn them insane."

"So what's its point?" Harry asked with a frown.

"Atalanta, I think you know," Jean said, noticing that his girlfriend was smirking.

"Yes, it allows you to get data you wouldn't get through other means or without extreme risk," Atalanta said. "Or when someone is not willing to tell you what you want to know."

"Exactly," Jean nodded with a small smile. "So now I want you to look for something inside of each other's mind, things that you think are the most embarrassing or amusing."

Harry sputtered and she looked in his direction. "We are going to what?"

"Look for the most embarrassing or amusing things you can find," she said. "It is the least dangerous way to learn how to do it and don't tell me you wouldn't like to know some things that can be used for blackmail."

"You should have said that from the beginning," he grinned. "Now that is something I won't mind doing."

Jean nodded and looked at Atalanta. "Do you want to do it?"

"Yes," she grimly nodded. "We need to learn to, sooner rather than later."

Jean nodded, quickly explained how to do it to them and leaned back to enjoy the show, they were two hormonal teens that were in a state close to love. She didn't manage to get in a comfortable position before Harry blushed furiously and looked as if he wanted to hide out of Atalanta's way. It was soon followed by a very similar reaction from Atlanta whose cheeks turned their color to a very nice shade of beet red and she looked as if she was about to murder Harry; overall it looked like a very good show to watch. At least this was far better for her, than if she let them practice it on her, she didn't want to think about what they could find. She definitely didn't want Harry to see her having sex with his older cousin. She had some borders and she didn't want to pass them, at least not too badly.

o-0-o

Carol growled as she looked at Harry, he was annoying at times and now was one of those moments when she wanted to punch him, hard. "Can you stop playing games and tell me what's on your mind?"

"Carol, why should I do that?" He asked. "I love my games and I think that you also love them."

She growled and shook her head. "Did I say that I love them? I find them amusing, but now I'm not in a mood for them and I can tell that you have a lot of fun thanks to them."

"Maybe I do," he said cheerfully. "Or maybe I don't, the meaning of fun is hard to define."

She felt her temper rising and it was momentarily followed by the sound of metal being thrashed and a feeling of something wet flowing down her hand. She looked in the direction of her hand and saw that the can she had been holding was now a destroyed piece of metal. "How?" she asked and looked at him, only to see him focused on her hand. "Do you have an idea what that was?"

He frowned and looked at her. "I had exactly the same issues a couple of years ago, ask Atalanta if you don't believe me," he said, seeing disbelief on her face.

"Tell me what it is," she said, trying to keep her temper under control. "The story of your life is certainly amusing, but can wait."

"Superhuman strength," he calmly said. "And quite a lot of it guessing by the damage you've caused," he indicated at the can she was holding, or its remains. "Also it tends to manifest when you are angry."

"So the can was the poor victim of my temper?"

"Yup," he said with a grin. "It happens to everybody."

She nodded, hummed quietly and once calm she looked at him. "So about what did you want to talk about before this can got destroyed?"

"Asgard. I can take few people there and I think that you are lucky to get invited since I like you enough to consider doing it."

She blinked and looked at him, unsure if she had heard him right. "Are you offering me a trip to Asgard?"

"Yes," he smiled. "You, Jean-Paul, Laura and those that I invited there last time."

"Sounds like fun," she said and looked at him. "So what are we going to do?"

"Laze around for a week or two?" He suggested with a grin. "Nothing to do, just relaxing, away from your brothers and maybe with Jarl."

Her eyes shined, she hurled herself at him and hugged him. "Yes please, yes," she said as she crushed him in a hug.

"Easy, Carol, easy," he said, trying to push her away. "I will take you there, but let my ribs live and remain whole."

"Sorry," she said, releasing him from her hug. "I didn't want to injure you."

"No problem," he said, taking a couple of deep breaths to see if his ribs were whole. "I just wasn't prepared for it."

"So when are we travelling to Asgard?"

"The moment the break starts," he said and she smiled.

"Thank you," she said. "I want nice holidays away from my father and idiotic brothers."

"No problem," he smiled. "Do you want to learn a thing or two about Asgard?"

"Sure," she said and looked at him eagerly.

The next few minutes she spent with him and Atalanta, who joined them, talking about Asgard and its wonders, what she would see and should know or things that were simply nice and amusing.

o-0-o

Tony Stark was busy designing the new plane for the X-Men when he heard a soft chime from his communication system. "Jarvis, tell them that I am busy," he said and focused his attention back on the design he had in front of him.

"It's impossible, sir," Jarvis said. "It's Mr. Worthington and he is on his way here, he will be in your office in five minutes."

"Warren II?" Tony asked. "The same arrogant and self-righteous bastard that won the last deal for those missiles for the Navy?"

"The same one, his secretary said that his visit is related to something of great interest for the both of you."

"Fine, tell him that I will meet him, but for just five minutes, no more."

"It will be more than enough," someone said and when Tony diverted his attention from the display he saw Worthington standing in the door leading into his office.

"Worthington," Tony coolly said. "What do you want?"

"Stark," Warren nodded and looked around the room. "Tp talk with you, there is a matter in which both of us are interested and we both want it to flourish."

Tony looked at Warren and then laughed. "You are arrogant enough to show up here and now you are playing your games, while I'm busy and don't have any time for them."

"Stark, do you always need to be an insufferable git that lacks manners and common sense?" Warren asked with a sigh. "We do not like each other and we often disagree, but can we behave like two reasonable businessmen that want to discuss something for just five minutes?"

"You have your five minutes, after that this audience is over."

"Xavier's," Warren said simply. "We are both somewhat interested in its well-being and survival, so I thought that we could combine our resources and fund them a new campus and a few other things for X-Men."

Tony looked at Warren, trying to gauge the truth of his words and see if they were something more than they looked. "How serious are you?"

"Dead serious, my son is one of the students there, my cousin another," Warren said and added after a moment. "I am cold and ruthless, but family matters to me, so I don't want them dead."

"You care about family?" Tony snorted. "What about Petunia and Vernon?"

In Warren's eyes appeared a cold, dangerous fire, one that Tony rarely saw, but knew enough to know that it was a really bad sign. "They betrayed the family, so they were punished," he said. "You know Harry Potter, or Thorson now?" Tony nodded. "He was abused by them, so I had no mercy to spare on them."

"Fine, you are right about them," he said and looked at Warren. "So what do you propose and how much is it going to cost?"

"New campus and gear for the X-Men," Warren said and smiled. "The price tag is just under two billion for everything, I pay half of it and you the other half."

"Send me the list and I will fund it."

"It is already sent," Warren said with a smirk. "Did you seriously think that I would come unprepared and without everything ready."

"Jarvis?" Tony called out.

"It is ready."

He nodded and glanced at the list that appeared on one of the monitors, his eyes quickly scanned it and he arched his eyebrow at a couple of items, but then he nodded and turned to look at Warren. "Good list, I would have done it a bit differently, but it works."

"So you will pay?"

"I will," Tony said. "I still don't like you, but I think that a partnership might not be the worst idea ever."

"Indeed," Warren nodded. "Tell Xavier's what we have agreed upon and I will get the ball rolling."

"Fine," Tony said and Warren with one last nod vacated his office. "Jarvis, where was I?" Tony asked looking at the design.

"Working on the engines," Jarvis said. "There are issues with its flow and vectoring."

Tony nodded and started another session of designing and working on something that should make the X-Men and potentially SHIELD really happy.

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy looked at the golden ring placed on his desk and wondered what to do with it, he knew what was inside of it, but he didn't have any idea what to do with it. His master wasn't the most reasonable man and lacked the refinement needed to play against SHIELD and its allies, while he was a powerful and knowledgeable wizard, he was not a spymaster and Lucius knew well that he only a spymaster could survive with Fury looking for him.

Fury was clever, devious and had almost unlimited resources, as well as contacts in almost every country on the surface of the Earth, which made him a person that was almost impossible to beat. Lucius snorted at this thought, nobody was unbeatable, it was just a matter of finding the right way to do so and during the last war he had almost managed to beat SHIELD, almost, but not quite.

He walked to the window and looking out of it thought about how to get the upper hand in this battle, he didn't have too many options and Durmstrang was gone, which meant no useful and cheap magical muscle. He needed to expand his net of agents and do so subtly enough to not get the other players' attention as he knew that there was a new player, one that seemed to know everything and his agents were everywhere. Lucius shook his head and looking at his son flying on his new broom, he thought about the way the game was changing, how he could adapt to it, as well as finding someone who had an axe to grind and would be willing to work against SHIELD.

o-0-o

Harry smiled when he felt a breeze touch his back and then stop to his right, he glanced in its direction and smiled when he saw Jean-Paul there. "What's on your mind, mon chéri?" Jean asked.

Harry smiled and looked at Jean around whom always was a comfortable aura of arrogance and cockiness, something that drew people towards him and one that made him the favorite X-Men among the younger students. "Nothing, for the first time, nothing," Harry said as he looked out of the window at snow covered the landscape. "Just thinking about the future, Yuletide and what might happen around that time."

"Not Christmas?" Jean asked and Harry laughed. "What?"

"Nothing," Harry said after a moment. "It's just that Christ and Christianity don't belong to Asgard, we call it Yuletide and celebrate, but for a different reason than you."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Harry said and paused, thinking about how to explain it. "Equinoxes and solstices are important from a magical point of view," he finally said. "Magic, especially the one practiced on Asgard is strongly connected to the shifting of seasons and those four days are important, really important, which also makes them a favorite time for all of the rituals."

"What rituals?" Jean asked.

"Coming of age rituals and a few other things, but mainly coming of age," Harry said and shifted uncomfortably. "They usually take a long time so I am supposed to start passing them during this Yuletide."

"Oh," Jean said in understanding. "No wonder you are so stressed about everything."

"Yeah," Harry said with a weak smile. "I'm pretty nervous about it, if I'm going to be honest."

"Would you mind telling me what it entails?" Jean asked and glanced at him. "If you want, we can talk in my room where we should have more privacy, if you want it to stay between us."

"I will tell you," Harry said. "But in your room, I trust people here, but I don't want to talk about it too much."

Jean nodded and they walked to Jean's room, which for the time being was only occupied by Jean alone, Harry looked at his friend who just indicated to his bed. "Make yourself comfortable," he said.

"Sure," Harry said, plopping down on the bed.

Jean sat to his side and looked at him. "So how complicated is coming of age on Asgard?"

"Not complicated," Harry smiled. "Just long and stretched over time," he said and untied a braid with clay beads. "I need to get eight of them, I have two at the moment and for each step or trial you get two more."

"So you passed one rite and there are still three more ahead of you," Jean said and looked at him. "Let me guess, you are supposed to make the next step during this break."

"Yes."

"So what is it?"

"Do you want to know?" Harry asked.

"Mon chéri, there aren't many things that will shock me," Jean said. "So trust me and just tell it, I can see that you are not sure how to treat it."

Harry sighed, but nodded. "It's circumcision," he said quietly and Jean looked at him. "It is supposed to mean losing innocence of the body and we are supposed to sacrifice our foreskin to the spirits of the ancestors."

"Oh," Jean said. "No wonder you are so stressed about it and unsure about how to deal with it."

"Yeah," Harry said and sighed. "My reasonable mind knows that this part of my body isn't important and the body doesn't suffer without it, but the emotional one..."

"But the emotional one is a bundle of nerves and stress," Jean said and pulled him closer. "I know that Atalanta will murder me for it, but mon chéri, you are a sweet person and you have nothing to worry about. You will be fine," he said looking into Harry's eyes. "They know how to do it and they have been doing it for as long as Asgard exists, so they won't hurt you, so accept it, do not think about it, and you will be fine."

"Jean, it is easy to tell me that I will be fine when you are not the one that will lose a piece of himself."

Jean sighed and Harry looked at him. "Don't fret over it and you will be fine," he said. "Also if you think that it will make you less attractive, we are attracted not only by your body, but also by your mind, so we won't notice it, heck, maybe it will make you more physically appealing, assuming someone will be able to see you naked."

Harry blushed at those words and then looked at Jean. "Thanks, it means a lot to me, Jean," Harry said and made Jean smile.

"No problem," Jean said. "You are my friend and I care about you, as do a lot of other people, so let us help you when you need it."

Harry smiled and felt his worries disappear out of his mind thanks to Jean's smooth words, not to mention that it was a very pleasant moment for the two of them.

o-0-o

The end of the term and the beginning of the break arrived which for Harry and his friends meant a trip to Asgard. All of them walked out of the Institute with bags slung over their shoulders and formed into a small group centered around Harry, who looked at the sky and moment later a beam of ethereal light whisked them away from Midgard and to Asgard.

o-0-o

 **A/N - Relationship, everything will be revealed in due time, a huge nightmare is caused by them and it will take time before they get untangled and everything will be explained.**

 **Coming of age, I said before that it was and is usually painful in most of ancient cultures, if he wished to he could not pass it, but it would mean that in the succession line he would drop to the last position as during it he is accepted as a full member of the society, with all duties(being eligible for military service) and rights(succession).**

o-0-o

Reviews:

Gime'SS - Atalanta is there to keep Harry's powers under control and she is one of few that have power to subdue it easily, not to mention that she is one of his friends, so there is a better chance that he will listen to her than to others. Professor X will be the one working with Harry, not her, she is here just his friend and also protects her territory.

Pushy? She protects her territory and she treats Jean as a threat that needs to be kept at distance, at least until he learns his intentions.

BiGDeal - And the best things are only to come, this is in my opinion one of more boring arcs.


	43. Rituals and Holidays

**A/N - Holidays on Asgard and Hogwarts approaches, shenanigans happen as people have too much time to waste.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta** \- eri1551

o-0-o

Harry smiled when he left the Bifrost and saw the Observatory's familiar walls, the Capitol's golden spires and the massive form of the Citadel in the middle of it all. He inhaled the air and his senses were almost immediately assaulted by the well-known and loved scent of seawater and salt.

"Welcome home, Your Highness," Heimdall said from his watch post.

Harry nodded in thanks and looked at his friends. "What do you think of Asgard?" He asked with a look at Jean, Carol and Laura.

"It looks way better than in the myths," Jean said. "More golden and more fancy."

Harry smiled and chuckled. "This is just the entry into the realm," he said and indicated the city ahead of them. "This is the Capitol."

He heard gasps of shock and surprise from them and laughed softly, their reaction was the same as that of his friends the previous year.

"It looks fantastic," Carol said. "I kind of expected wood, stone and thatched roofs, not something like this."

"That's how it is portrayed in some myths," he said and looked at them. "It looks even better from up close."

They smiled and followed him across the bridge, into the city proper and through it into the Citadel. On their way there Atalanta and him talked with them about what they should know and told them a few more interesting or amusing facts about Asgard.

o-0-o

Tonks looked curiously at the rest of the group that was lucky or unlucky enough to be allowed to go to Asgard and while she agreed with some of Dumbledore's choices, when she looked at some of them she wondered if the Headmaster was getting senile. At least to her they didn't make much sense since they would only cause issues.

"Eager to go?" Charlie Weasley asked her. "Or just wondering which of these idiots will cause trouble first when we are on Asgard?"

"Kind of both," she said and sighed. "I know that we will enjoy it, but I also know that some of them will cause trouble when we get there."

"Who?"

"Your youngest brothers," she said thoughtfully. "They are amusing, but also mischievous, so they might decide to behave or not to, we will see."

"Hopefully they will behave themselves," he said and she nodded.

A moment later a beam of ethereal light appeared in front of their group out of which stepped out Loki, who looked around and nodded. "Most of you know who I am, if not, I'm Prince Loki of Asgard and all of you were chosen by your Headmaster and deemed good enough to learn magic on Asgard. Be warned that if you break any of the rules you need to follow you will be sent back here in disgrace and your House will lose three hundred points."

Tonks heard gasps of surprise and shock, three hundred points was a lot and regaining so many was nearly impossible. "I just hope that they understand that Loki is serious," she muttered to herself, her hair changing to vivid pink.

"Since everything is clear, let's go," Loki said and they were enveloped by a beam of light and whisked away to Asgard.

o-0-o

Carol smiled as she stood on one of the many terraces of the Citadel and looked at the buildings, gardens and plazas sprawled all around it, the roads lined with trees dividing the buildings into even quarters. In the distance she could see a complex of large arenas and when she turned around she could see the Academy's massive floating form shining in the sunlight. Overall it looked like a paradise come true. "It is beautiful," she said as she turned to look at Harry. "I see why you wanted to show me this view."

"Yes, I've shown it to everybody else when they were here for the first time," he said and glanced at Jean. "What do you think of Asgard?"

"I love it," she said. "It looks like a paradise and I love what you told us about its approach to sexuality and relationships."

Harry smiled at those words. "Just be careful with whom you flirt," he said after a moment. "Most of people should have no ill intent towards you, but some might, so just be careful."

"I will," Jean promised. "So with whom can I flirt?"

"My friends will have no issues with you, but generally you could try with anybody. Most will be amused by it and most likely play the game," Harry said and smiled. "Hrolf will be a good one to start with."

"Can you introduce me to him?"

"Sure, but not now nor tomorrow as I have a few things to take care of and the sooner I'm done with them, the better."

"Those things?" Jean softly asked. "Or something else?"

"Those," Harry said with a nod. "I just want to have it behind me and allow me to enjoy not doing anything for as long as I can. I need to catch up on my reading as well, so I will be a bit busy, but after tomorrow I won't mind some entertainment and fun."

"What things?" Carol asked.

"Jean, can you tell her?" Harry asked as he looked at them. "I need to find Atalanta and talk with her."

"Sure," Jean said, Harry nodded in thanks and stepping onto the railing of the terrace, jumped, his wings opening after a moment. "Coming of age," Jean said when the two of them were alone. "He talked with me about it and said that it is a long and complicated procedure."

"Oh," she said. "It makes sense now."

"Yeah," he agreed. "Still, those holidays are nice idea and I enjoy them, even if he needs to be away from us and needs to focus on something else."

"It seems like fun," she said as they turned to watch the city sprawled all around the Citadel, away from all the worries and troubles of Midgard.

o-0-o

Laura looked around curiously as she followed Atalanta through the corridors of the Citadel, unsure of where they were going. "Where are we going?" she finally asked.

"My rooms," Atalanta said with a glance at her. "I want to talk with you and want to have some privacy while doing so, so that's why we're going there."

"About what?"

"Some stuff," Atalanta smiled reassuringly. "Nothing to worry about, you should be fine."

"Should be?" Laura asked, her claws extending.

"You will be fine," Atalanta corrected herself. "Besides, nobody will attack you as technically speaking you are under Harry's protection and nobody is insane enough to pick fights with him."

Laura nodded in acknowledgement and followed Atalanta through the maze of corridors, shocked by how opulent and rich everything around them was. When they entered Atalanta's chambers it took her a while to get over the shock at how expensive everything looked there as well.

The moment they were inside and the doors closed behind them Laura looked at Atalanta. "So what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"You," Atalanta said. "And we are waiting for Harry to show up as he also has an interest in this subject too."

"I'm here," someone said and when Laura looked in the direction of the voice she saw Harry walking towards them, wings folding to his back. She looked at him and had trouble believing someone could look so good, black wings, tanned skin and a mischievous smile that was so captivating that it was almost impossible not to get caught up in it. During the time she had spent at the Institute she knew he was good looking, but not that good looking. He walked to Atalanta and smiled. "I would have been here sooner, but Jean and Carol stole my time."

"No problem," she said. "I was about to start, so you were right on time, besides I would have waited for you."

He snorted, but Laura could tell that both of them were tense in one way or another and she could feel a soft humming sensation around them. "So can you just tell me what do you want from me?" she finally asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"At?" He asked, looking at Atalanta. "You explain things better than I do."

"Fine," she said and turned to look at her. "Laura, you are an interesting person and one that got our attention."

Laura looked at them, some surprise and shock in her eyes. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Harry said as he walked forward. "As At said, you are a person we noticed and we cannot stop thinking about you."

Laura looked at Harry a bit confused and unsure of what he meant. "Harry means that both of us are attracted to you and we want to share you," Atalanta said. "I noticed that you look beautiful and Harry also finds you attractive and since we don't want to cause each other pain, or for that matter to you, we want to share you."

"What?" Laura asked, her eyes narrowing. "What do you mean by sharing me?"

"Triumvirate relationship," Atalanta explained. "All of us are equal and have the same rights, I know that on Midgard it isn't common, but here, especially among younger Æsir it is extremely common."

"So what do you say?" Harry softly asked. "We don't want to hurt you, so we wanted to clear the air once we had the opportunity to do so."

"I will need to think about it," Laura said. "But I think that my answer will be yes. You are two of the few friends I have at the Institute, ones that I trust, you both are attractive and I desire you."

"Thank you, Laura," Atalanta said and she looked at her. "I like you, yet I know that I won't survive without my pet wolf." Atalanta placed her hand on Harry's shoulder. "So we needed to sort this out."

"I'm not your pet wolf," Harry said. "So please, don't call me that."

"Still, you are mine and hers," Atalanta said with a nod at Laura. "So don't complain and we will be fine."

Harry huffed in annoyance and Laura laughed. "I wonder how we are going to survive him," she said with look at Atalanta.

"Patience and more patience," she smiled and looked at Harry. "Didn't you have a scheduled appointment with Eir?"

The color disappeared from Harry's face as it turned to a sheet white hue. "I had," he said.

"Go," Atalanta said and glanced at Laura. "We two can talk while he tries to explain to Eir all of his new scars and injuries."

Laura cracked a smile as she saw Harry almost run out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.

o-0-o

Harry jumped out of the balcony of Atalanta's rooms and grabbing one of the columns made a leap onto the balcony of his rooms. Entering them he walked across them and into the bathroom, inside of it he saw twelve wax candles, a small bundle of clothes and another one of towels. He calmed down and taking the candles he started to place them in the corners of his bath and lit them with a simple fire spell. Soon the strong purifying smell of incense filled the room, he waited for the flames to get even and tall before he slowly and carefully undressed. Making sure not to extinguish one of the flames or put a single part of his clothing into the water. He put his clothes onto a neat pile away from the water and mindful of not to destroying anything slipped into the water. It had a strong scent to it, one of spices, incense and powerful antiseptics.

As he entered the bath he felt a wave of nervousness and anxiety tinted with excitement wash over him, these were the preparations for one of the most important rituals that any young Æsir could pass. He picked up a soap and a sponge and slowly washed himself, the soap removing any physical as well as spiritual impurity that covered him. He winced when it scraped over the scars he had thanks to Weapon X and their botched experiments.

"Spirits of the ancestors, help me on my way to manhood," he muttered, sending a small trickle of magic out of himself. "Give me the strength of body and mind to endure the trials that are to come."

He finished washing himself and walked out of the bath, making sure not to extinguish any of those candles. He slowly picked up one of the thick, white towels and started to dry himself, making sure not to leave a single spot wet. White was the color of purity and innocence and he was supposed to approach this trial as a pure being. Having dried himself he reached out for his clothes, as it was a ritual they were special and very different from his usual ones. They consisted of a snow white loincloth and a snow robe of the same color, tied with a wide white belt. He picked up a long strip of loincloth and slowly started to gird himself with it, having done that he put on the robe and lightly tied the belt around his waist, it only needed to keep the robe on him and close to his body as he would shed it soon enough. If not for his wings, he wouldn't have even bother tying it, but they needed to stay covered by it.

He extinguished the candles one by one, making sure not to wet the clothes with any water from the bath, the water inside was impure and if it touched him or his clothes, he would need to start the whole thing from the beginning and it would need to be purified once again.

Dressed in those clothes he walked out of his bathroom and into his bedroom, his bed was covered in a layer of white linen cloth as to ensure trial's place's purity. He heard the doors open and he gulped a bit when he saw Eir walk into the room. She would be the one to perform the ritual and from what he had heard from his friends it could be a bit painful.

"Lay on your bed," she said, her voice soft, yet full of power. "And do nothing, you are not supposed to touch your body for the whole length of this."

"I know," Harry said with a roll of his eyes as he laid on the bed.

He saw her smile, but then it was gone, she walked to him, placed her bag to the side and untied the belt keeping his robe in place and slowly spread it apart. Then she carefully touched his loincloth and with one smooth move opened it, revealing his groin to the world.

"Don't move during the whole thing," she said as she opened her bag. "If you move, I might make a cut wrong and remove too much or too little, if it's too little it will be easy to fix, if it's too much then..."

"I get it," he said, going through the calming exercises he was taught, evening out his breathing and slowing down his heartbeat.

She nodded and he felt her hand touch him, he looked in her direction and saw her push something between the glans and the foreskin. It separated those things from each other and would protect the glans when she'ld make the cut. She pulled out something that looked like a pen and drew a line across his foreskin. She looked and measured it few more times before she nodded content and looked at him.

"Prepare for pain," she said as she pulled out a thin and short scalpel.

His eyes moved from the scalpel down to his manhood for a few times as it neared his body. He felt the skin being pierced and bit down on a scream when he felt her make the very first cut. It hurt and burned like hell, but he clamped shut his mouth and didn't even think about screaming.

She made a few quick and trained moves with her scalpel which removed any connection between the foreskin and the rest of his manhood, then she made the last cut. He saw her remove a bloodied piece of skin and reveal the head of his penis with a thin bloody ring around it. She moved her finger above the ring and blood disappeared as the wound knitted on its own, creating a smooth and hard to spot transition.

"You did good," she said and smiled. "Your father will be proud of you."

"Thank you," he said and she nodded.

"Restrain from any masturbation for the next week or so and be careful when washing it, it is sensitive and the wound is still fresh," she said. "I can put a stinging hex connected to your hands and this so that you don't do something stupid, but I trust you to use your brain."

He blushed and nodded as she covered the spot over the wound with a bandage that would fuse with his body and add another layer of protection to the wound. She wrapped the cut foreskin in a layer of cloth and looked at him.

"It's done, don't do anything stupid and you will be fine." She placed cloth on his nightstand. "Now you just need to sacrifice it and the ceremony will be done as well."

He nodded and saw her pack her bag and then exit the room, leaving him alone. He carefully wrapped himself in a robe, grabbed the piece of cloth in which she wrapped his cut foreskin and walked to a small altar he had in the corner of a room which he used to practice magic. It was a simple one with several candles placed on it and a small onyx bowl in the middle, inlaid with steel, for making sacrifices. He kneeled in front of it, placed the bundle of cloth in the bowl and closed his eyes, calming himself.

When his eyes once again opened he slowly gathered his magic before putting it into words. "Spirits of the ancestors, take this part of me and my innocence as an offering and help me on my way to manhood," he said, each and every word brimming with power and magic. The moment he finished the prayer he sent a small fire spell at the bundle placed in the bowl and it started to burn.

It burned quickly, the flames easily consuming the flesh and the cloth, yet leaving no ashes, when they were gone at the bottom of the bowl were two more beads. He carefully reached out into the bowl and picked them up, they were different than the ones he had, those he had were round, these were octagonal and were made out of red jasper. He untied his braid and slipped his hair through them, once it was done he braided his hair again, stood up and walked out of the room, shedding the robe on the way out.

o-0-o

Illyana blinked when she saw the huge, hulking form of her brother walk through the halls of the Academy accompanied by Ulf. She hadn't expected Piotr to get here so soon, she knew that Harry was supposed to take their common friends here, but she didn't think it would happen this soon.

" _Brat!_ " she shouted as she ran at him and threw her arms around his neck. "I missed you."

" _Malyutka_ ," Piotr said as he hugged her. "So did I."

"So how was it at the Institute?" she asked him as she released him out of her hug.

"Quite enjoyable," he said and looked at her. "And here?"

"Same," she said and smiled. "But I missed you, even with all of the friends I have it's not the same thing as having you around."

He smiled and looked at her. "Don't we have a better place to talk than in the middle of a corridor?" He asked.

"We have," she said. "The Academy's terraces."

He nodded and once they were on the terraces and watching at the beautiful sea below they talked about the last few months, trying to catch up on the events each had missed.

o-0-o

Atalanta walked out of her bathroom in a pristine white robe and walking towards an altar at the corner of her room she grabbed a knife that was a gift from her mother for her last birthday. It was a simple weapon with a leather handle, a brass pommel, a crude crossguard and a simple straight ten inch long steel blade.

When she was in front of the altar she grabbed the braid she had kept for the past six years, placed her knife against it at the base of her skull and cut. The steel blade easily cutting through her tightly braided pitch black hair. Having done that, she shed her robe, kneeled in front of the altar and closed her eyes for a brief second in an attempt to calm herself.

The moment she felt confident and composed she opened them and placed the cut braid in a granite bowl that was on the altar. Then, she took one last calming breath and spoke, her voice filled with power, "Spirits of the ancestors, take this hair and my innocence as an offering and help me on my way to womanhood."

She sent a bit of fire magic at it and it burned quickly, not leaving any ash behind, instead when they were burned at the bottom of the bowl she saw two beads. She picked them up and saw that they were made out of jade and were similar to the two she already had. For a moment she rolled them between her fingers, but then she grabbed the braid hanging to the side of her hair and quickly untying it she slipped them onto it and braided it again.

"Two steps done," she said, getting up. "Two more to go." She gathered her robe off the floor and walked back into her bedroom to find some more presentable clothing. The night was going to be amusing, she thought, as she realized that Harry had done his ritual too, and would be antsy for some time.

o-0-o

Harry poured himself some ale and looked at the city sprawled around the Citadel, it was late evening and he sat on the terrace of his rooms with just a few of his friends; Bobby, Warren, Ulf, Hrolf, Atalanta, Jean, Laura and Kitty.

"So what are we going to do?" Jean asked, her red hair shining in the rays of the evening sun.

"Relax and forget about the world," he said with a smile, slowly sipping the ale and enjoying its taste. "There are things you haven't seen yet, but should enjoy and like, there is also Wolf Hall."

"Your summer palace?" Kitty asked.

"Same one," he said with a nod. "But I think that you will enjoy the Capitol more and there are places you didn't have an opportunity to see yet, but, as I said, should enjoy."

"What exactly?" Warren asked. "We saw quite a lot of the city the last time we were here."

"There are things you didn't see," Harry smirked and added with a grin. "What's wrong in doing nothing for weeks, while enjoying our free time?"

"Fair point," Kitty said and Harry could swear that with each passing moment she was getting closer to Ulf. "But still, we wouldn't mind seeing a thing or two."

"After tomorrow we can talk about it," he said and finished his goblet of ale. "Today I want to get used to being here and tomorrow I fear I will try not to bore myself to death."

"Council meetings?" Atalanta asked. "Or something else?"

"Usual council bullshit," he said with a nod. "Sit for an hour or two and listen as various advisors and ministers talk about various things that don't really matter."

"I know something about this," Warren said and Harry looked at him. "Father decided that I should start learning about the inner workings of the corporation and funny holidays were thrown out of the window."

"That serves you right," Harry muttered and shook his head. "But can we not talk about it? This are supposed to be a holiday and a good one at that, not a time when someone reminds me about more work."

"We can," Warren smiled. "It's you who started with this topic, baby cousin."

Harry growled, but paused and instead reached out for a carafe full of ale and poured himself a full goblet. He could tell that his older cousin wanted to mess with him and have fun, so he was not going to give him the satisfaction, instead he focused on his own pleasure.

o-0-o

Several hours later he stopped outside of the doors leading into his rooms and looked at Atalanta. "Do you want to sleep with me?" He asked her.

"What do you want?" she asked back. "I know that those nightmares can flare up at any moment and I doubt you would enjoy them."

He looked at her, his emerald eyes looking into her golden ones. "I wouldn't mind your presence," he said and grinned. "Though I might get murdered in the morning."

She chuckled and he looked at her. "Tell me did your father get killed for similar things when he was this young? After all we are known for lack of reasonable thinking and they won't murder us for something like that."

"True," Harry said. "Sill, if something happens to me I will be unhappy."

"Nothing will happen," she said. "I will get my clothes and get into your bedroom, unseen."

"Fine," he said and when he saw her disappear, he slipped into his rooms and got to his bedroom where he dressed in loose shorts and a comfortable shirt and slipped into his bed, burying himself under the layers of furs.

He felt them move and when he glanced in their direction he saw Atalanta slip into his bed, she looked at him and smiled. "You are a sweet person, Harry," she said. "So you will be fine, the nightmares will pass sooner or later."

He smiled and rolled to look at her. "I know," he said and smiled. "But now they do not haunt me and I can sleep well thanks to you."

He saw a tinge of redness appear on her cheeks. "Harry," she said. "I do it because you are my friend and I care about you," she said and looked at him. "Can we talk in the morning? It is almost midnight and we need sleep."

"Sure."

They moved for a moment on his massive bed trying to find a position that would be comfortable for the both of them, yet they would be able to stay close as well. After that sleep came onto them like a soft caress, sending their minds into a dreamless rest.

Harry stirred in the morning as rays of sun moved across his eyes, he slowly opened them and looked around. He saw Atalanta sleeping soundly by his side, her hand laying on his wing, her breathing even and slow, which suggested that she was deep into sleep, but he also was thoroughly aware that she could fake a lot of things.

"I see that you are awake," she said, opening her keen golden eyes and sitting up. "How did you sleep?"

"Well enough," he said and looked at her. "You?"

She chuckled and he looked at her. "So considerate," she said and shook her head. "Quite well, but it isn't me who needs to deal with nightmares."

"Fair point," he said with a faint smile. "Still, it isn't a bad habit to be polite."

She laughed at those words, her laughter soft and clear. "Harry, can you behave like a normal person?" she asked after a moment. "Courtiers are more than able of annoying us, so can we behave like two teens?"

"If you want to."

"Better," she said and placed her hand on his wing. "So what do you think about Laura, will she accept the deal?"

"She is a loner," he said thoughtfully. "So, yes, she should, as she will leap at any such opportunity, we both saw how she reacted when she learned that Wolverine was her father."

"Also I think she has something for me," Atalanta said and he looked at her. "Not that she doesn't have a thing for you."

"We will see," he said and sighed. "This year won't get any easier, will it?"

"Simplicity is boring," she said and snuggled against him. "Don't you agree that sometimes something more complicated is better?"

"Depends on what," he said and looked at her. "But now I want to be with my friends and you."

She smiled, a small blush on her cheeks. "Harry," she softly said. "Can you forget for a moment about everything excluding Asgard?" she asked. "You fret over things on which you don't have a lot of impact on, anyway," she said and placed her hands on his wings again "It will kill you and you are one of my few true friends."

"I will try," he said and sighed. "It's just hard."

She chuckled and he looked at her. "Do what you enjoy and like," she said. "Take a long, lazy bath and do what you enjoy after that."

He smiled. "That's why I like you, At," he said. "You know how to be convincing and what to say."

"Do it and let me laze around some more," she said and shooed him of the bed.

"That's my bed, not yours," he muttered, rolling away and off the bed, he nimbly landed on the ground and made his way into the bathroom.

Once he was inside he pointed his hand at the door and it closed on its own, giving him some resemblance of privacy as the designers of the Citadel weren't thoughtful enough to put locks in doors leading to ensuite bathrooms. Previously it wasn't a thing he paid any attention to, but now he was very aware of the fact.

He shook his head, sent that thought away, stripped out of his clothes and walked to the full-length mirror placed in one of walls, as he looked at his body he had trouble believing that a few years ago he was just a scrawny kid. Then he stood at four feet with almost no muscle, now he was six feet tall and his body was covered in a thick layer of muscle earned through hard training and regular exercises, at first he wanted to disagree with Sif and Ullr who were running him into the ground, but by now the exercises had become habit and he could see the effects they had.

However this was just one of many changes that had happened to him since his arrival on Asgard, in the past he hadn't notice them, but previously his eyes were bleak and lacked any sharpness. Now they were a completely different story, they were bright, shining with intelligence and magical power. As he looked at the reflection of himself in the mirror he could tell that he looked like a young demigod or god, depending on his mood and thoughts. His long black hair framed his aristocratic face with its sharp lines and his elongated canines didn't make him look weird, they just made him look more wild and dangerous.

Heck, even the wings on his back made him look and feel more graceful and free than he had ever felt before; they were huge and as he opened them he could tell that they had a wingspan just over twelve feet long and were more than capable of allowing him to fly whenever and wherever he wanted.

Yet there was one thing that stood out on his body, the scars he had picked up thanks to Weapon X and their botched up experiments, and those made to remove what was left inside of his body. He had a couple of them on his chest and as he moved his hand across the back of his neck he could feel a few more, even and straight scars that were done with a very sharp tool, a scalpel.

He shuddered as memories from the time of his captivity flashed through his mind, they still haunted him, but before they could get a hold of his mind he shook his head and sent them away.

"Harry, enough brooding or she will murder and then revive you," he said to himself and slipped into a warm bath, hissing slightly at the contact of his skin with the hot water.

o-0-o

"He. Is. Insane." Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme flatly stated as he looked at Dumbledore. "This Tournament was discontinued for a very, very good reason and we both know how dangerous it was."

Dumbledore sighed and looked at his phoenix, Fawkes, soundly sleeping on his perch, then looked around his office, hundreds of magical trinkets, books and portraits of former headmasters, all of the knowledge and wisdom hidden there, useless. "I know and I tried to persuade them not to start the preparations for it, yet they still think it is a good idea," he said. "It is supposed to support international cooperation and exchange of ideas."

"It's plain and simple bullshit," Strange said and shook his head. "We both know that they want to get back the support they had lost thanks to pissing off Asgard and Fury, even if it means risking the lives of children."

Dumbledore didn't say a word, he just nodded.

"Which makes it troublesome," Strange said, shaking his head. "You, wizards, lack reason or logic and the Ministry is even worse. I dislike the Merlin, but we can agree upon some points, with your Ministry, doubtful."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Move it to a neutral venue, or more neutral than it will be here," Strange said. "I will need to speak about it with a few people, but my current ideas are to move it to Greece where they have facilities for such things, Kamar-Taj where I can make them in a day or two, or Xavier's." He raised his hand to stop the questions from Dumbledore. "I know that the Institute is a school for mutants, but it is also the most impartial place and won't give anybody homeground advantage."

Dumbledore was silent for a moment and then he slowly nodded. "What about the tasks? At the moment they plan to have the champions retrieve a golden egg from a nesting dragon, rescue a hostage from a lake in the middle of February and the last task is a maze."

"Who was the idiot responsible for those tasks?"

"If I'm not mistaken Crouch Senior and Bagman," Dumbledore said and shook his head. "They didn't even ask the people that know what the students can do about these tasks, they simply set them and I know about them only because I'm Chief Warlock."

"So the other schools don't know," Strange muttered. "Which means that the whole thing needs to be fixed, from top to bottom."

"Indeed, I planned to make the Tournament an official point during the next ICW meeting, as to remove the Ministry from the control it has over it."

Strange hummed quietly, and then nodded. "I will be there during the meeting and I will support you, as much as I love the access to lore and artifacts I have thanks to being Sorcerer Supreme, the political power that comes with it is something I don't."

"Still it is a useful tool," Dumbledore pointed out and gently stroked the beautiful plumage of his phoenix. "Fudge should give up when he sees that the ICW is unhappy, the question is if Umbridge gives up."

"I have heard that Prince Loki has ways of convincing her, so she should give up once she has a meeting with him," Strange said and smiled thinly. "If she stays bent on doing it her way, I'm sure I can come up with a way to make her reconsider her options. She is a schemer and a coward that is brave only when in the shadows."

"Yet at the moment she controls the Ministry," Dumbledore pointed out. "So we better not make her angry as she will cause a lot of problems for us and she is supposed to be here in few days, once the term starts."

Strange nodded, humming quietly and Dumbledore looked at him. "She is a minor issue," he finally said. "Ignore her and we will be fine. Show her the minimum courtesy and politeness needed, but not much else."

"I supposed that you are right," Dumbledore said with a wince. "Still, I don't like her being in my school. I can ward lore and knowledge out of her hands, but the damage done to students will be hard to repair."

Strange was silent for a moment and Dumbledore could feel the slow ticking sound of his instruments, the snoring of his phoenix and something much more gentle. The true power of the school, the ancient genius loci, being created and strengthened by every person that stayed within these walls and studied magic. Every being added a small sliver of their power to it, on its own those slivers were almost meaningless, but over the ages? Over the ages they created one of the most powerful magical constructs, one of protection and knowledge. On his own Dumbledore was one of the most powerful wizards in existence. Here he had power, knowledge and experience enough to challenge the Queens of Faerie and the Sorcerer Supreme.

"The damage would be caused no matter what we do," Strange finally said. "She is an evil thing we can manage. So let her come, but make sure she knows her limits and is aware that one wrong move and you can kick her out."

Dumbledore nodded and slowly stroked the plumage of his phoenix, his gentle and thin fingers moving over the beautiful golden and red feathers. He saw Strange leave his office without a single noise being made and he settled in his chair, musing about the events to come. The times in which they lived in were certainly interesting and potentially deadly as well.

o-0-o

Warren slowly sipped his coffee, carefully placed the china cup on the table covered in carafes with drinks, plates and bowls with their late breakfast and looked at Jean. "Being the cousin of a person who is second in line to the throne has some advantages," he said contently.

"That it does," she agreed and looked at him, her green eyes meeting with his blue. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but he is in love with Atalanta."

Warren laughed at those words, but then he composed himself and nodded. "He is in love with her, yes, though considering their age, I wouldn't call it that exactly."

"Two lustful teens that let their urges direct them?" Jean asked with an arched eyebrow. "Weren't we the same?"

Warren frowned, but then he shook his head. "No, we weren't," he said and looked at her form wrapped only in a silk bathrobe. "Although now I wouldn't mind it."

Jean shifted in her seat and his gaze followed her every move, he licked his lips and felt his hormones waking up. She looked at him and chuckled. "Show you some boobs, or move even, and you easily get all hormonal," she said.

"What can I say?" He asked. "After all I'm a nineteen year old male and you are a hot, desirable female."

"Fair point," she smiled sultry. "Yet I would have thought that after three years of sleeping with me you would have learned how to control your body."

He breathed heavily and shook his head. "Jean, I'm just a human male and you dangle in front of my eyes something every male wants, a beautiful body."

She nodded, picked up her own cup and slowly sipped coffee. "They know how to make a good coffee."

"Yes," he agreed with a faint smile. "They know how to do a great deal of things and Asgard is also a perfect holiday location." He sipped his coffee, finished the cup, placed it back on the table and picking up one of the cookies looked at her. "Harry has been secretive recently and I'm worried about him." He bit into the cookie and enjoyed the liquid pleasure that filled his mouth before swallowing. "I mean, normally he has some secrets and I let him keep them, but now he is even more secretive than usual."

Jean nodded. "I guess..." she said and paused. "I guess that he some things he doesn't want to share with us."

"Why?" Warren frowned. "I mean, he isn't the most open person, but he is my cousin and usually he is willing to tell me a thing or two."

She sighed and he glanced at her. "Didn't you notice the way he behaved yesterday?"

Warren paused and closed his eyes for a second, replaying his memories in his mind. "He was fidgety for most of the day and avoided moving in certain ways as if he was in pain," Warren finally said and she nodded.

"So do you think he is willing to share with us what makes him uncomfortable?" she asked. "I doubt he is willing and I'm almost sure he wants to forget about it," she said and Warren felt her gaze focus on him. "Don't even think about cornering him and asking for details, unless you are willing to end up in the hospital for a few more weeks."

"That bad?"

"Yup," she nodded. "You will force him to do something he doesn't want to, and we both know his temper, a temper that can flare up and lash out, and in this case I would do the same,."

"Ouch," Warren said, Jean's temper was dangerous and he had seen his cousin pissed off before. "So what should we do?"

"About Harry?" she asked and he nodded. "Nothing," she said and looked at him. "But we can have fun as it is still early and I know that you want it."

Warren finished the cookie and looked at her, enjoying her beauty and grace. "Aren't you hungry for it too?" He asked as he stood up and followed her into the room, dropping his shorts the moment he was inside and leaving himself naked.

She dropped her robe, revealing her naked form before looking at him and smiling. "I won't mind," she said and smiled sultry. "The question was if you want it."

"Jean," he breathed heavily as he felt his hormones buzzing all over his body. He shook his head and made his way to the bed and landed to her side. What followed was passionate lovemaking that left the both of them tired and covered in sweat, yet happy and sated.

o-0-o

Carol Danvers smiled when she saw Jarl walk towards her, he was one of the few boys that she didn't want to murder the moment they got close to her and he actually possessed a working brain. "You know that you look beautiful, right?" He asked approaching her.

"Thank you," she said with a blush. "You don't look bad yourself."

He laughed at her words, his voice clear and silvery. "Maybe we should go for a walk?" He suggested. "Harry won't be able to show you some of the places around the city, while I can and we can also have fun while at it."

She looked at him and felt her heartbeat stop for a moment, it was not something she had expected. "I accept," she said and he smiled. "So where are we going?" she asked as they passed under the gates of the Citadel.

"Stadiums and arenas," Jarl said, indicating at the arenas she had seen from the terrace. "One of the better places to see and in the evening Harry will most likely drag everybody to a tavern or two."

"You can drink alcohol?" she asked, shocked.

"Yes," Jarl said with a smile. "There is no drinking age, at least no legal one, we just need to be careful."

"On Earth," she said and quickly corrected herself. "On Midgard, where I live you need to be twenty-one to legally buy it."

"Poor you," he laughed. "Here you can drink ale whenever you wish, mead it is for people around our age, so we can indulge ourselves and nobody will say a single thing to us about it."

"So why did Sif make you run until you were throwing up?" Carol asked and Jarl paled.

"Because there is a custom, but not a law," he said with a sigh and she looked at him. "It is hard to explain. A custom is an oral tradition that is more of a guideline, the law is the law."

"Ah," she said. "So for breaking the custom you might be punished, while for breaking the law, you will be punished?"

"Exactly," he nodded and winced. "What we did wasn't a crime per se, but it wasn't the smartest thing to do as well."

"And Sif wanted to make sure you would never do something so... _idiotic_?"

Jarl slowly nodded. "She can he cruel and cold, but she wants to teach us and sometimes her ways are such," he said and exhaled. "Still, compared to my past life it is a paradise, so I don't mind it."

Carol nodded and for a moment they walked in comfortable silence, each step bringing them closer and closer to the arenas. As they neared them she could see details, reliefs covering their surface, columns supporting the entry ways and hundreds of people walking in and out of them. "How big are they?" she asked.

"Not the biggest," he said. "I think fifty thousand is the biggest one, but watching sports is one thing," he said and shrugged. "We can also train there, arenas are just one part of it all."

She whistled, and it was then when she noticed that the arenas were further behind, before them was a large complex of buildings, merged with the arenas. However it was obvious that the two weren't the same thing. "I think that I like Asgard," she said with a wide smile.

"It's not the friendliest place in the universe, but it has some perks."

She smiled and looked at him, a mischievous fire in her eyes. "Handsome and polite boys being one of them?"

She saw him blush and she chuckled. "Yes," he finally said. "The truth is that I'm not the most polite," he admitted. "I just control myself and since I'm a ward of His Majesty I don't want to end up in trouble."

"His Majesty, as in Harry's grandfather?" she asked.

"Yes," Jarl nodded. "The current King of Asgard and one person you don't want to see mad."

She nodded and saw him get a bit uncomfortable. "So what does it mean that you are his ward?"

Jarl was silent for a long moment, before he finally sighed. "He is the one who is responsible for me and my actions, the one who is supposed to provide me with a place to live and education. In return I need to show him the same respect I would show my parents if they were alive and don't bring shame upon him."

"I see," she said and pursed her lips. "So you are basically his adopted son?"

"No," Jarl said and she looked at him. "Adoption means that I have rights of succession and have some of his titles bestowed upon me. Harry's full title is «His Royal Highness Harald James Thorson, Prince of Blood, Prince of Asgard, Lord of the West March and Jarl of Södermars and the Black Forest». The title «Lord of the West March» was given to him when his uncle was banished."

"Uncle? I thought that he only had one, Loki."

"Tyr," Jarl explained. "He was one of the Gods of War and is His Majesty's half-brother. "

"Ah."

Jarl nodded and continued with his explanation. "«Jarl of Södermars and the Black Forest» is a title from His Majesty, as well as «Prince of Asgard» and «Prince of Blood». Wards are under his protection, but don't get anything special from him, just protection and education. At least officially."

"But unofficially?"

"Unofficially I have an easy path to titles and glory," he smiled. "I get the same education as Harry, and I am in contact with the upper echelons of the nobility and those that make decisions. Also His Majesty is generous and when I come of age he will find me some title and land that I can name as mine, on top of those that are in trust for me."

"I see," she said and looked at him. "Can we forget for a moment about all of this and have fun, while you show me around?"

"Of course, milady," he said with a light tilt of his head.

She smiled and let him lead her around the city, showing her interesting sights and places, where Harry was most likely going to take them. They had a great time together in the city. Doing nothing, but enjoying each other's company and the time they spent.

o-0-o

Harry tried not to sigh when he entered into one of the smaller study rooms adjacent to the Library and looked at his uncle Loki, who seemed focused on something not in the room. Harry sat down in one of the chairs and looked at his uncle, used to his weird moments of silence. It took a long while, but finally Loki stopped his musings and focused on Harry.

"Good, you are here," Loki said as he started to pace across the room. "I covered with you most of our cousins and their domains as well as everything else you should need to know. So now it is time for something that might be of great use for you. Sidhe and fae."

"What are they?" Harry frowned. "I remember them from the fairy tales from Midgard and some texts that I found in the library."

"Fairy tales are mostly right. After all they are based on folklore and compared to it we are relatively new on Midgard," Loki said and turned to look at Harry. "Midgard is one of the Nine Realms, but we didn't pay too much attention to it until recently."

"Recently?" Harry frowned. "How recently uncle? For you recently could either mean moments ago or ages ago."

"Around the Fall of Rome," Loki said and smiled thinly. "It was orchestrated by your grandfather and his brothers as the Olympians were getting annoying."

"Oh."

"Yes," Loki nodded and resumed his pacing. "After that we had the opportunity to walk among mortals and teach them. It is an interesting tale, but for a different time. As I was saying, fae are as old as humanity is, or even older than that. Their closest relatives you have met are the Alfs and there is not much difference between the two, mainly where they live."

"The Nevernever and Alfheim," Harry said, knowing well that his uncle was waiting for him.

"Indeed," Loki said with a smile. "Fae live in the Nevernever, while the Alfs exist in our world. Other than that, there are not many differences between them when it comes to looks or magic. Both are graceful, both are strong and both are magically powerful, but there is where the similarities end. Alfs, you know about them, or at least you should, so I won't bother with that.

"Fae can be divided into three groups, the Unseelie, the Seelie, and the Wyldfae. Unseelie and Seelie are organized groups, while the Wyldfae are scattered and when Unseelie or Seelie go to war, the Wyldfae align themselves with one of the two," Loki said and looked at Harry. "The Unseelie and the Seelie are the most important groups out of the Fae, think of them like the Vanir and the Æsir from the times when we were two races and realms."

"So one is the total opposite of the another?" Harry asked and Loki looked at him. "I mean, in myths we are described as warlike, strong and destructive, while the Vanir are calm, peaceful, wise and focused on growth."

"You could say so," Loki agreed and smirked. "Actually that's not far from the truth, I wouldn't put it in those words, but it works. Unseelie or Winter Fae are cold, ruthless, logical and cruel; Seelie or Summer Fae are passionate, emotional, irrational and warm. Each court has three Queens: Mother, Queen and Lady."

"The Mother is the last Queen, the Queen is the one who rules at the time and the Lady is groomed for the position of power?"

"Indeed," Loki said and looked at Harry. "They are extremely powerful beings, Mothers have the power to challenge your grandfather and fight him to on equal terms, Queens are equally powerful and Ladies are weaker, but still a formidable force, however there are limits to what they can do."

"What limits?"

"Same ones that affect all of the fae, they cannot lie, yet they can twist the truth, iron is a poison for them, but those six cannot attack mortals that aren't tied to their courts by a debt or any other ties," Loki said and looked at Harry. "What's on your mind?"

Harry was silent for a moment, thinking how to phrase what he wanted to say. "If they cannot attack mortals that are not tied to their court, how do they exercise power outside of their domain?"

"Knights," Loki said. "Mortals invested with some of their power, they can kill whoever gets in the way of their courts and are their wetwork people. We have power to create them, but we rarely use it. We can freely interact with the mortal world and there is rarely need for them."

Harry nodded in understanding and looked at his uncle, thinking about something. "Uncle, all of this is important and all, but why are you telling me about it? You could have simply given me a book or two to read on them and I would have learned the same."

"Because from the book you won't learn how important fae can be and how useful they are," Loki said and explained. "They know everything, or as close to it as it can get without omnipresence, so if you want information and cannot find it in other sources it is a safe bet to ask them, however there is one small price to pay."

"What is it uncle?" Harry asked and then his eyes widened. "Bargains needs to be struck?"

"Indeed, so be careful what you say, how you make it and how you ask questions. You may not get the answer you want," Loki said, kneeled on the ground and drew a simple circle with a bit of charcoal. When it was done he looked at Harry. "They can manifest on their own in our world, but this is a safer approach when you want to talk with them."

"So that I'm somewhat insulated against their power?"

Loki nodded and looked at him. "I won't summon any, but if you have trouble getting data, it is the best way to get some, it is especially useful when it comes to magical lore. I bargained some things with Mab in your name and you can ask her thirty questions you want to ask and she will answer them. Beyond that you need to strike bargains with her or the other fae. Lesson over."

When Harry heard that the lesson was over he almost disappeared from the room in a blur, he was here to relax, not study and his uncle's lessons could wait for the summer. He calmed down when he was almost on the other side of the building, close to his rooms, and saw Atalanta approach him.

"What's wrong with you, this time?" she asked. "You just ran through the Citadel with magic and we both know you do that rarely."

"Annoying uncle who wants to steal my break to teach me about the Fae," Harry said and paused to catch his breath. "Eir made it clear that I cannot train, so he used the opportunity."

She smiled reassuringly and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You are a big boy, you will be fine," she said and her smile widened. "You have nothing planned for today, right?"

"No," he said. "So what do you have planned?"

"Have fun and enjoy the time we have," she said as they walked towards his rooms.

He let her drag him as he knew that it was a better choice than the other things he could be doing this day, and he wanted to have some fun too. When the doors closed behind them she let go of his hand. "So what do you want to do?" He asked as he looked at her.

"Enjoy the time," she said and placed her hand on his shoulder, sending jolts of electricity through his body. "Harry, since last holidays we haven't had a moment to enjoy our time together without any interruptions and we lacked privacy."

He looked at her, her golden eyes glowing with joy and happiness. "At," he breathed out before pulling her into a kiss.

His lips melted on hers and he felt as if he had landed in heaven or paradise. He felt her lips part and he pushed his tongue inside, trying to explore her mouth, only to be met by her own tongue. He felt her hands move across his back and wings, as his own did the same across her back. Feeling out every curve and shape, the hard muscles hidden below her skin and trying to explore her body and feel it, while her hands were doing the same.

When they moved away from each other he only saw joy and happiness in her eyes. "Harry," she breathed out. "I love you."

He felt shudders pass across his whole body, those three words being more than he ever expected to hear. "At," he whispered and felt their fingers intertwine.

She only smiled and dragged him deeper into his room, a place where they would have more privacy and be more comfortable. He sat down on his bed and she almost immediately fell to his side. As he felt her warmth press against his side he only smiled and could tell that he was going to enjoy these holidays, more than he had expected or anticipated.

o-0-o

 **A/N - For all that were wondering when Hogwarts arc will happen, it's just seven chapters away and there will be quite a lot of changes happening before that time.**


	44. Peace

**A/N - Some might hang me, but those slow chapters have some purpose and this is the last chapter where they mostly talk and do stuff. Though there are few interesting bits scattered among those masses of text. Also someone's animagus form is revealed and is quite predatory and dangerous.**

 **o-0-o**

 **Beta - eri1551**

o-0-o

Harry stirred as he felt Atalanta move by his side, he opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. "What hour is it?" He asked, noticing that the room was covered in various shades of reds and oranges.

"An hour or two after dawn," she said and looked at him. "Sorry for waking you up, but I wanted to take a better look at the scars on the back of your neck."

He nodded and shifted his weight so that she was able to see his neck. "These?" He asked, his fingers trailing over the faint, yet easily to felt and visible lines on the back of his neck.

"Yes," she said and looked at him. "They weren't caused by any fight or accident, so how did you get them?"

He sighed and paused, thinking how to explain what he wanted to say. He finally gathered his thoughts and looked at her. "I don't like talking about this, but I think that you deserve to be one of the few that should know about it," he said and placed his hand on hers. "But I want you not to talk about this without my explicit permission, only Ulf, Jarl, Hrolf and my mutant friends can know, the rest need my permission."

"I understand," she said. "I won't betray your trust."

"I know that you won't," he said and took off his shirt, revealing more perfectly straight and even scars, this time on his chest. "Those on the neck are the most visible," he said and saw her eyes widen. "But they're not the only ones."

"How many of them do you have?"

"Too many," he said very quietly and she looked at him. "They used them to see how I look inside and to implant various things into me."

"What?" she asked. "They did what?"

"Implant various things and treated me as a guinea pig," he said, his voice devoid of emotions. "At, you will never understand what they have done to me or the rest of their captives," he said softly, after a moment.

"Then show me," she said and moved closer to him. "I want to understand what's the reason of the nightmares you're having."

"Are you sure you want to see it?" He asked. "It isn't pretty," he said and looked into her eyes. "It might hurt you."

"I am sure," she said, placed her hand on his forehead and he almost immediately felt her presence in his mind, one that dived straight into his memories and feelings, searching and looking for those that were of interest now.

Harry looked at her in worry as she closed her eyes and beads of sweat appeared on her brow, he could feel her gently search his memories. Every second of it felt like an hour for him. When she finally removed her hand and opened her eyes, he could see tears swell in the corners of her eyes.

"How did you survive it?" she quietly asked. "I saw those memories, from all the therapy sessions, and those that did that to you, and all the other captives, shouldn't be called humans."

"I don't know," he murmured as she embraced him, her head nuzzled against the side of his head. "I just want to forget about it."

"Or find solace," she whispered. "To find some peace and comfort, that's why you want me to sleep with you, so that your mind can find peace and comfort."

He only nodded and held her in the embrace, his hands on her back and trying to keep her and the warmth she provided as close to him as possible. "I want to," he whispered. "And I feel I'm close to it, closer than I ever was before."

"You will find it," she said as she looked into his eyes. "You will find it, and I will help you on your way to it."

He nodded in thanks and simply held her close to his body for a long time, keeping her warmth and comfort as close to himself as he could. Not moving and simply cherishing their closeness and intimacy. Finally he looked at her and whispered. "Thank you, At, for all of this."

She only smiled. "I did what I needed to," she said and pushed him onto the bed. "Now," she said and yawned. "I think we can catch up on some sleep."

He smiled and embraced her bringing her closer to him, she only smirked at this and placed her hand on his side. It was in this position that sleep took them, their minds lulled by their physical closeness and warmth.

o-0-o

"You know that Harry has been sleeping with Atalanta?" Loki asked as he entered into Thor's private rooms. "And the two of them have been growing closer to each other."

Thor only smiled and glanced at his brother. "It is kind of obvious to see, only someone blind wouldn't see it as the two of them grew up together, and were always close anyway."

"Indeed," Loki agreed with a smile as he came to a stop at his brother's side on the balcony of his chambers. "They will make a good combination, but I have a feeling there is a third piece to this puzzle."

Thor only smiled and looked at the city sprawled below them. "He is still young and discovering who he is," he finally said. "So as long as he doesn't end up having bastard children, he can sleep with whomever he wants and I don't plan on interfering."

"And in less than a year he goes to Hogwarts," Loki said. "Unless he settles with Atalanta, he will have lover after lover. You had them in your youth and father was even better. Or worse, it depends on how you see it."

Thor smiled knowingly and nodded. "I wonder when our long lost brother will return," he finally said. "We haven't seen him for over a millennium."

"Father sent for him and he should be back in a few months or years," Loki said. "Probably years, but nobody is sure as traveling over these distances without the use of the Bifrost takes ages and nobody is sure how long it will take for him."

Thor nodded and looked at Loki. "Why do you think he was summoned to return?"

"The Nevernever is getting unstable and the Red Court had been wiped out so we might go to a war on Midgard in an attempt to bring stability and peace," Loki said and added after a moment. "Mab is playing her game and trying to bring peace, but she lacks the assets to step in more forcefully and bring peace. If we do not do something the world will tumble into darkness and chaos, ripped apart by various banished groups and beings. The White Council is stretched too thin and tries to keep peace and order as well, but they, too, lack the resources to do more than keep it close to their base of operations, large nexuses of Ways or large cities."

Thor slowly nodded. "So we need to step in and bring some semblance of order to the whole thing," he said. "Midgard is the central world of the Nine Realms and if we lose control of it, we lose control of the lower worlds, and will be unable to exercise our power outside of this dimension."

"Indeed," Loki agreed. "Also we have our uncle scheming and trying to gain some of his previous power back, his network here was ripped apart, but I have a feeling that he is all too happy to side himself with those groups that cause chaos on Midgard. So we need to take a bigger interest in it and help them deal with the mess and our brother is almost as powerful as you or I am."

"I normally like the smash and murder approach, but wouldn't the organization of some peace talks help?" Thor asked and Loki looked at him. "It will stall them, and give us time to prepare, as well as give our allies time to catch their breath and gather their forces."

Loki focused his gaze on Thor, then he slowly nodded. "I don't know when and how you matured, but, sometimes, you are surprisingly able to think logically and reasonably," he said. "A summit would work; I will speak with Mab and our father as I'm just a Prince and someone with more power needs to support it."

"It will also give our brother time to return to Asgard," Thor added. "He is one of the most powerful sorcerers and warriors in our family, not to mention, a great diplomat whose talents might be more needed than his proficiency with a sword or magic."

Loki bobbed his head in agreement and walked away, leaving Thor to his musings and thoughts about Harry.

o-0-o

Harry looked weirdly at Hrolf as he followed him through the city, something was off, but he couldn't tell what. "Can't you tell me what your father wants that I need to get to him?" he finally asked.

"I know what he wants, but I cannot tell you," Hrolf smirked. "I can tell you that it is nothing bad and that you should enjoy it, maybe even quite a lot."

Harry sighed and eyed his friend, while playing with the pommel of his sword. "Tell me why shouldn't I demand him to come to me? Technically speaking I'm third when it comes to importance and I could demand from my uncle to meet me when and where I want to."

"Because you like me and respect him too much to do something like that," Hrolf said. "Also the first lesson you got was to stay on as good relations with the nobles as possible and to avoid angering them."

Harry only nodded in agreement. "You are right," he said and sighed. "I'm a Prince of Asgard, but I cannot really exercise my power."

"We all have that feeling," Hrolf said, and Harry glanced at him. "You know that my father is one of the most powerful nobles and I should enjoy some of his power."

"Yes."

"Until I was fourteen or fifteen I was almost powerless," Hrolf said quietly and Harry looked at him in shock. "I hid it, but it burned me, now I have much more power; it will be the same with you. Wait half a year, which will pass sooner than you think and you will enjoy more power, but also more responsibilities."

Harry nodded and sighed. "Why do I have a feeling that I will miss these past years?"

"Because you will," Hrolf said as they approached the gates leading into Volstagg's manor, he pushed them open and they stepped into a massive garden. "But there are also some things you should enjoy and like then, even if they come with some responsibilities."

"Huh?" Harry asked as he followed his friend into the manor. "What do you mean?"

"You will see," Hrolf said with a smirk. "But I can promise you that it's nothing bad or dangerous or anything else that would be against the laws of hospitality."

Harry nodded and relaxed knowing that nothing untoward would happen to him. Those words meant that Volstagg would personally guarantee his safety and would ensure that nobody did something against him. He looked at Hrolf who just pushed the doors open, leading him into the manor. Harry followed him and together they walked across the manor and entered Volstagg's study.

Inside they found Volstagg who stood in front of a window and the light entering the room created a halo around his massive body. They stood silently and waited until he snapped out of his musings and noticed their arrival. Finally Volstagg shook his head and looked at them. "Good, you are here," he said and waved at them. "Take seats, and don't look at me as if I am about to murder you, if you please."

Harry nodded and sat down in one of the chairs placed around a small table, waited patiently for a servant to pour him ale before looking at Volstagg. "So what do you want from me and why was Hrolf so mysterious about this whole thing?" He finally asked.

"He was so mysterious because I didn't allow him to tell you anything, he was just supposed to get you here," Volstagg said and added apologetically. "I did that as it was the safest course of action and it is also part of a tradition."

At the word tradition Harry perked up and focused on Volstagg. "Could you explain what you mean by tradition?"

"Every child usually has two guardians chosen from extended family or friends, one female and one male, being chosen is usually a sign of trust and respect and it bears some responsibilities," Volstagg patiently explained and Harry nodded. "They are there to support the parents of the child in taking care of its needs and education. ln case of the unfortunate demise of one or both parents, they are supposed to fill the void left, or at least try to. So far clear?"

Harry slowly sipped the ale and considered those words. "Yes, but I have a couple of questions." he said.

"Go on."

"I know that it is a two-way agreement, while guardians have those responsibilities, the child also needs to have some to even the scales."

Volstagg smiled and nodded. "It is supposed to treat those guardians with the same respect it would have for the eldest sibling and when the parents are away, it is supposed to obey those guardians."

Harry whistled quietly and looked at Volstagg. "I think that this answers all of my questions in a sufficient manner."

Volstagg nodded and looked at Harry. "Since everything is clear, I think we can get to the main point," Volstagg said and Harry nodded. "I asked you to come here as I want to name you one of the guardians for my youngest child."

Harry's jaw dropped and he looked at Volstagg unsure of what was going on.

"I'm not joking," Volstagg quietly said. "I spoke with your father about it and he said that you should be ready and you are a person that I trust, your age though important, is less so, since you will be an adult soon enough."

Harry shook his head and gathered his scattered thoughts. "I understand and it will be an honor to be a guardian of your child," he said.

"Good," Volstagg said and nodded. "Once he is born and all of the ceremonies take place I will send for you, but for a few days you have free time."

"Free time?" Harry asked with a roll of his eyes. "My uncle kept me studying various subjects."

Volstagg laughed, his laughter loud and rumbling. "You are free to go," he said. "In five or six days I will send for you and I expect you to be in the best clothes you have."

Harry nodded, finished his ale and getting up looked pointedly at Hrolf who just smiled and guided him out of the manor. "Whose idea was it?" Harry asked as they were outside.

"Might be mine," Hrolf said and Harry looked at him. "It is a nice position and it won't bite you in the behind, so I suggested you to father, but it was his decision and I didn't know that he had decided to choose you."

Harry nodded and stepping away from the manor unfolded his massive wings and before jumping into the air, and looking at Hrolf. "This evening, be at the gates of the Citadel, I plan to have some fun."

Hrolf grinned and nodded in understanding and approval. Harry jumped into the air and soared towards the Citadel.

o-0-o

Rahne walked through the halls of the Citadel, Danielle by her side when they almost walked into something she thought she would only see in textbooks and museums. A large feline was walking towards them, its coat beige and spotted with black, brown, and red dots, and streaks, but it wasn't the coat nor nor its long tail, or its striking golden eyes, not even the grace with which it was moving. Its steps light, almost soundless and predatory, her shock was caused by the two saber-like teeth growing from its mouth.

"What the hell is that?" Rahne asked as she tensed, her nails changing into claws and her canines extending.

"It looks like a smilodon," Danielle said and shook her head. "But they are supposed to be extinct, at least on Earth."

"A better question would be why is nobody reacting to its presence?" Rahne said, seeing that nobody seemed to pay any attention to the tiger in front of them. "Those fangs can rip your throat open, yet it is allowed to walk freely."

Danielle nodded, reaching for a dagger. "I think it is a shapeshifter, Harry is doing it all the time," she said and glanced at Rahne. "You are one, as well."

Rahne nodded and at the same time the tiger started to change, from an animal into a humanoid being, until in front of them was standing Atalanta. "So smilodons are gone from Midgard?" she asked as she walked towards them.

"Yes," Rahne nodded as her claws turned back into nails. "For something like ten thousand years, so seeing one there alive is highly improbable."

"So if you change into it, you will cause a lot of noise," Danielle added. "Not that mutant powers or magic won't."

Atalanta nodded and looked at them. "What were you doing?"

"Talking," Rahne said. "And wandering around the place."

"Not the worst thing to do," Atalanta said and smiled, her elongated canines flashing. "I might join you and show you some places."

"Sounds nice," Danielle said.

Rahne nodded and they followed Atalanta into the gardens behind the Citadel, with an orchard in the middle of it all, an orchard full of apple trees that looked ancient, their branches thick and twisted, yet bearing hundreds of apples. Apples that were golden and completely perfect, large and without a single stain on them, just asking to be picked and eaten. As they walked between the trees Rahne could feel a nagging feeling that she should recognize these apples from somewhere, yet she couldn't guess what they were.

She finally gave them one long look and then looked at Atalanta. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't there a myth about certain apples of the Norse gods?"

"There was," she grinned. "It was about these apples."

"Apples of Idunn?" Danielle asked. "They give a youthful look and strength to anybody that eats them, don't they?"

Atalanta nodded. "They are known as the apples of Idunn, as you said, who is a handmaiden of my aunt," she said and explained. "They won't give you a youthful look, but they can heal almost any injury or illness our body cannot heal on its own, and if need, be can provide us with energy for a couple more hours."

"What about the Apples of Immortality that Zeus is supposed to have?" Rahne asked.

"I think it is obvious," Atalanta said with a grin. "Look around."

Rahne frowned and looking around saw only more and more apples and apple trees, she then glanced at Atalanta. "Those apples of immortality, both of them refer to the same orchard?"

"Not orchard," Atalanta corrected her. "A full orchard is here, on Mount Tamalpais there is just one tree, but they are the same breed of apples."

"Not on Olympus?" Danielle asked. "I thought that Zeus received those apples and an apple tree as a gift."

"He did," Atalanta nodded. "But they were planted in the Garden of Hesperides where they are guarded by Ladon and there was just one person who managed to get in, steal them and get out."

Rahne frowned and then her eyes widened in surprise. "Your dad did it, one of his twelve tasks, he was supposed to get apples from the garden and get them to his cousin."

"Indeed," Atlanta nodded and added more viciously. "Thanks to my stupid grandmother since she couldn't stand another child of my grandfather and decided that revenge was good."

"Anyway, are there any other interesting places to see?" Danielle asked, as if seeing Atalanta's discomfort.

"A few," Atalanta said, quickly composing herself. "I will show you."

Rahne nodded and with a smile they followed Atalanta through the narrow, twisting paths, that were almost impossible to notice if not careful.

o-0-o

Tony Stark walked into the office of his godfather and took a seat in one of armchairs scattered around the room, easily noticing the Christmas decorations hanging around. "I see that I managed to get in here the right time," he said.

"Oh?" Xavier asked and then looked at him. "Tony, what do you mean?"

"A small gift Warren and I are putting together," he smiled. "A new Institute, some toys for the X-Men and some new planes."

Xavier looked at him. "Then you indeed got here right in time," he said. "How soon will they be ready?"

"The new Institute in a year or two. The planes sooner, Jarvis is assembling them and he knows his job quite well," Tony said and smirked. "They will be top of the line, custom built and designed to suit your needs, I did most of the work and you know of my skills."

"They are as good as your arrogance is big," Xavier said and shook his head. "I don't want to say anything, but I hoped that you would be less arrogant, two arrogant people at the Institute were enough for me to deal with."

"Who is the second one?" Tony frowned. "One of them is to be Warren's brat and heir."

"The son of Thor is the second one," Xavier said. "He is a lot like you."

"It seems that I am good influence on the kid," Tony said with a smile and got up. "I need to get going as Warren was supposed to send the layouts and designs of the new Institute and I want to ensure they are good."

o-0-o

Harry smiled as he felt an air of anticipation around as his friends gathered at the entrance of the Citadel, while his Asgardian friends and Illyana knew what was coming, the X-Men seemed oblivious. He looked around and nodded, content, when he saw that everybody was here and nobody was missing. "Since everybody is here, we can go," he said.

"Go where?" Bobby asked. "You didn't say anything about where we're."

"To have some fun," Hrolf said with a smile and indicated at Harry. "Or for him to celebrate. The first is more likely to happen."

"To have fun," Harry said with a look at Hrolf. "Nothing else, so drop the topic if you can, and think about a good place where we can enjoy our time."

"I guess that you want avoid brawls, crashing into a building and want some peace," Hrolf said and Harry could see looks of shock and confusion on the faces of his friends. "So you want a place where we can enjoy ourselves and have fun quitely."

"Pretty much, yes."

"Hold on," Warren said and Harry looked at him. "How real are these brawls?"

"From time to time," Hrolf said, before Harry could even open his mouth. "It isn't as bad as you think, so we should be fine."

Harry nodded in agreement and followed Hrolf, the rest of his friends following suit. They quickly walked into the entertainment district and entered one of the taverns that were the closest to the wall separating the district from the rest of the city.

"Mead or ale?" Hrolf asked, looking at them.

"I would say ale," Harry said and shrugged. "On Midgard alcohol is harder to get, so while we are used to it, they might be in shock."

"Hold on," Warren said and Harry looked at him. "You can drink ale and mead here?"

"Ale, cider, mead, wine and a few other things," Harry said with a smile.

"So there is no drinking age?" Kitty asked.

"Hrolf?" Harry asked, looking at the son of Volstagg. "You always know the law and you are the oldest one here."

"There is no set drinking age," Hrolf said. "The usual approach is that once you are old enough to have your first weapon, you are old enough to drink ale. For mead or anything stronger, it is usually around their age, but it isn't set in stone."

"I like Asgard," Warren smiled. "On Earth, at least where we live, you need to be twenty-one to be allowed to buy alcohol. So I'm kind of jealous of you."

"There are some advantages to living on Asgard," Harry said with a smirk. "I like being on Earth, but Asgard is much better, at least in my opinion."

"I can see that," Warren said. "I can also see why you wanted to get here so much."

Harry only nodded and felt his stomach grumble as the smell of food waffled towards them, followed by the trays with it and pitchers full of ale and mead.

"How are we supposed to eat all of this?" Kitty asked, looking at the mountains of food.

"I'm hungry," Harry said and smiled. "Which means that I will eat quite a lot, At, Ulf, Jarl and Hrolf even more."

"Less talking, more eating," Hrolf said, moments later it was followed by the sounds of meat being torn and ripped.

Harry only smiled and joined his friend, before long all of the meat was devoured and there was nothing left for him to eat.

o-0-o

Warren blinked and looked at the plates. He saw only bones on them, some of them even splintered to get to the marrow hidden inside. He shook his head and reached out for his goblet. "How is this even possible?" He asked after a moment, slowly sipping his ale.

"We were hungry," Harry said and smiled. "Read myths and you will see even better examples of our appetite, also we are still growing and need energy.

Warren rolled his eyes. "You are as tall as I am and you are still growing?"

"Yes."

"Be happy that he won't be as big as his father is," Hrolf added. "He will be tall, but not a hulking mountain like his father."

"Why?" Warren asked.

"My wings," Harry said. "And a few other avian traits that come with them, but in short I need to be able to lift myself, and useless pounds of weight and muscles don't help with that."

"Anyway," Warren said and looked at Atalanta. "Are you two dating each other or is my sight being mislead by someone or something."

He laughed when he saw Harry blush and much to his surprise Laura did, too, but Atalanta kept her mask and didn't reveal any feelings or emotions. She just looked at Harry and it told him more than her words would tell.

"Maybe," Harry said, hiding his face behind a goblet. "But I don't have any idea about how you came up with this idea."

Warren sighed and chuckled. "Cousin, you would need someone who is completely blind not to see the fact that you are dating her," he said and glanced at Laura. "At the Institute she was your constant shadow, following you wherever you went and you two shared a room, something many would kill for."

"No," Harry said as he controlled the blush. "I'm not dating her, we are just friends."

Warren laughed loudly, followed by almost everybody around the table, he finished his goblet and looked at Harry. "Then why are you blushing?"

"You enjoy teasing him, don't you?" Hrolf asked quietly.

"I like him and he needs to have some embarrassing moments in life," Warren said and shrugged. "Besides, he is the only relative of mine that is around my age that I like."

Hrolf nodded and Warren focused back on Harry who looked as if he wanted to dig himself a nice hole, hide there and stay out of sight. "So what is your answer, cousin dear?" Warren asked after a moment.

Harry blushed even more and hid his face behind a goblet, which made Warren laugh even more.

"So should I take it as yes?" He asked after a moment. "Or should I just pick an answer I fancy?"

Harry finished the goblet, placed it on the table with a bit of noise and looked at him. "If I give you an answer, will you stay silent and stop badgering me about it?"

"I will consider it."

"I want a yes or no," Harry said. "You will say yes and I will tell you."

"I will," Warren said and smiled. "Now speak."

"There might be something going on between us," Harry said, a blush creeping up his cheeks. "Happy?"

"It will do," Warren said, knowing well that more could have bad consequences for him. "So how long are we going to stay here?"

"On Asgard?"

"Yup."

"Until the end of the break," Harry said and poured himself some ale. "So enjoy yourself as we will have time to do everything we want to."

Warren nodded and with a smile emptied his goblet, if he could enjoy this, he was going to use it as much as he could.

o-0-o

Harry slowly sipped his ale, looking contently at the table between them, a few dozen of plates covered with remnants of his and Atalanta's breakfast. "When do you think Laura will give us an answer?" He finally asked.

"When she is ready," Atalanta said with a shrug. "You won't force her to give an answer sooner than she is willing to and she is still confused by emotions and feelings, so she needs time."

"So she might give it in a week or in a couple of hours," he said and looked at Atalanta. "How is it that you are so comfortable with me liking her?"

Atalanta was silent for a long moment, her gaze focused on him. "Harry, I want to have you on my own, but if need be I prefer to share you with people that I know and can tolerate, than have you have lovers that I won't know about," she finally said. "Also Laura isn't the worst looking girl and I'm attracted to her, not as strongly as I'm to you, but still pretty strongly, so if I can kill two birds with one stone..."

"I get it," he said with a faint blush. "If you can keep me happy and have some fun, you will take the chance."

"Exactly," she nodded. "I don't want to turn into another Hera when it comes to treating family."

"You won't," he softly said and made her smile.

"Thank you, Harry."

"No problem," he said and looked at her. "So will you come to Hogwarts with me when I go there?"

"I said that I will, so I will," she said. "I'm not one to twist words around or break promises."

"No, you're not," he nodded, sighed contently, and finishing his ale got up. "I'm going to take a bath, as I don't want to wait hours for you to finish yours."

"Fine," Atalanta nodded and he walked into his room to get fresh clothes and take a long, lazy bath, starting yet another day on Asgard.

o-0-o

Harry leaned against the railing and looked at the deep blue ocean and the hundreds of buildings spreading from the shore to the Citadel. At first, he was a bit overwhelmed by the sheer scale and scope of it all, but as he looked at it now, he felt pride for what his race had achieved, and he liked the city too.

It was both massive and beautiful. It spread from the shore and covered almost every single available space in the streets, alleys, buildings and open areas in greenery. There were hundreds of various buildings rising to the sky, some of them easily reaching the clouds, while others were stout but not as tall. For one last time he looked at the city and shook his head.

"What's wrong, mon chéri?" someone asked and Harry nearly jumped.

He slowly turned around, only to see Jean stand behind him, looking as relaxed as if he was in his own home, not on Asgard, even some cockiness was visible in his eyes. "Nothing," Harry said and sighed. "Just thinking about things."

"If it's nothing, then why did you almost jump at the noise behind you?" Jean asked. "For me that's a reaction of someone who is a bundle of nerves."

Harry sighed and looked at Jean. "Can you be kind and leave me alone?"

"There is definitely something wrong with you," Jean said and Harry's eyes narrowed. "I've never seen you behave in such way and something is troubling you."

"Jean...," Harry sighed.

"Won't you admit that something doesn't sit well with you?"

Harry growled and looked at Jean with some annoyance. "You won't stop until you have an answer, will you?"

"No, I won't," Jean said as he moved closer to Harry and placed his hand on Harry's shoulder. "I care about you and I'm worried; you seem weirdly broody and silent."

"Jean," Harry said. "I have reasons to be broody. I'm just thinking about some things, there is nothing wrong with me."

Jean chuckled and Harry looked at him. "Learn how to lie better soon, mon chéri," he said. "You are obvious to read now, and I can't help but wonder how you can hide things from Atalanta."

Harry sighed. "Jean, can you leave her and me alone?"

"I will leave her alone once you give me an answer," Jean said. "It is nothing hard and you are dancing around the problem."

"Fine, some stuff relating to one of the customs in Asgard," Harry finally said. "It just worries me and I'm a bit nervous about it."

"What is it?" Jean asked and quickly added. "Not that I'm forcing you to tell me, if you don't want to, you don't need to tell me."

"If I won't tell you, you will annoy me until I tell you and you are content with the answer I give," Harry said with a faint smile.

"No," Jean said. "I will just convince you to open up."

Harry rolled his eyes and looking at Jean asked, "Still, it means the same, so will you stop annoying me if I tell you?"

"I will," Jean said and smiled. "I'm your friend and I won't do something you won't like, unnecessarily."

Harry smiled and looked at Jean. "I was chosen as a guardian for Volstagg's newest child, he is Hrolf's father, and it just surprised me."

"Guardian?" Jean frowned.

"Godparent," Harry said and frowned. "It is a bit different, I have more power over that child and a few other things when it comes to magic."

"And you are worried that you will fail?" Jean asked and Harry looked at him. "Mon chéri, it isn't hard to read you, especially when I know you so well."

"Really?" Harry asked, some shock and surprise in his voice.

"Yes, really," Jean said. "You can hide things, but when you know what to look for, it is obvious what you are attempting to hide. Anyways, mon chéri, you won't fail, have some confidence in you. How come when you are with Atalanta you are confident and arrogant, yet now you seem weak and fragile?"

"Jean," Harry said with a sigh. "I believe that I will be the same kind of a person my uncle and aunt were."

"Do you believe that you will be the same kind of person?" Jean asked. "Or do you fear it?"

Harry didn't say a word and instead looked at the city bustling with activity and energy, bathed in long sun rays. He finally sighed and looked at Jean. "I fear it," he quietly said.

"So you don't need to become one, since you just fear but not believe it," Jean said and Harry looked at him. "Be whoever you want to be and enjoy life."

Harry smiled and looked at Jean. "Enjoy life, that's your motto?" He asked. "If so, I have an idea you should like."

"Oh?"

"Going swimming," Harry said. "Ulf will probably join us and there are a few nice lakes not far from here."

Jean only smiled and nodded in approval.

"Meet me by the entry into my rooms in few moments," Harry said. "I will get the message to Ulf and get a few other things and we can go."

"Okay," Jean said and Harry rushed into the palace to get what they would need.

o-0-o

Atalanta smiled as she walked out of the Citadel, Laura by her side. This girl was an interesting and complicated one; she had a bright mind and was deadly in combat, yet she was also struggling with emotions and feelings that every sentient being had.

"Where are we going?" she asked, her voice faint as her eyes scanned the faces of people around them.

"To have fun," Atalanta smiled. "Asgard is a beautiful place and now is a good time to explore it, whilst you have the opportunity to do so."

Laura looked at her, her body tense and eyes scanning the crowd around them.

"You have nothing to worry about," Atalanta said, adding magic to her voice. "You are among friends and nobody will harm you here."

Laura relaxed a bit, releasing some tension from her muscles, she was still tense, but she was also more calm and relaxed.

"That's better," Atalanta said with approval and Laura looked at her. "You relaxed a bit, before you were all tense and nervous. Which would probably spoil all the fun for you."

"What fun?"

"Shopping and some other pleasant activities," Atalanta said with a smile. "There is no point in sitting for a whole day inside the palace."

Laura looked at her as if she was crazy.

Atalanta walked into one of the more quiet and empty streets before stopping and looking at Laura, her golden eyes meeting with Laura's green ones. "I know what they did to you," she quietly said. "But it doesn't mean that you cannot be a normal person and have some fun and enjoy yourself. The fact that you didn't have all this before, doesn't mean a single thing here and I think that you will like it."

"Thank you," Laura said weakly. "It's just so overwhelming."

"You will be fine, you are a big girl," Atalanta said, lightly hugging Laura and getting her closer to herself and the comfort that she provided. "So how does that sound?" she asked softly, looking into Laura's eyes.

"Quite nice," Laura said as she hold onto the hug. "It's just that I'm scared of everything and unsure of what is going on," she whispered.

"That's why I'm with you," Atalanta said with a smile. "So that you have someone who knows their way around the city and is familiar to you."

"Thank you," Laura said.

"No problem," Atalanta said, releasing her. "Can we go?"

"Yes."

Atalanta nodded and with a smile they walked back onto the main street where they headed towards the market district. It occupied a significant part of the Capitol, where was everything from food to slaves, from simple jewellery to pieces of art was sold. One was able to buy anything he wished and wanted to, the only question was how much he was willing to pay.

"Any wishes on where we should go?" Atalanta asked and Laura looked at her. "Treat this like a giant birthday gift, I know that you didn't have an opportunity to celebrate, but now you can indulge."

"Really?" Laura asked, shock, surprise and something else mixing in her voice.

"Yes, Laura," Atalanta said with a smile, "So choose what you want, or do you want me to choose first?"

"Go on," Laura said, small trickles of tears running down her cheeks.

Atalanta nodded, smiled reassuringly and walked into the district and its less used paths, walking towards fashion and jewellery stores and stands. They should have a lot of fun there.

o-0-o

Harry walked through the forests of Nordmark, his eyes focused on a trail ahead of them and hoping not to lose it; one step in the wrong direction and they could end in the wrong place. If he was alone or with Ulf, he wouldn't care about it, but not when Jean-Paul was with them, since he didn't know those forests.

"Where are we going?" Jean asked from behind. "You didn't say anything about the exact location and you are being weirdly mysterious, even for your usual broody self."

"The Five Bright Lakes," Harry said. "One of the best places to swim and have fun, easy to miss and hard to find if you are not careful, but otherwise a perfect place."

"How do you know about if?" Jean inquired.

"Ulf's father, we are in his domain and he was and technically still is my tutor, so I had time to discover nice places or nag Ulf's siblings to show them to me."

"Or me," Ulf grumbled. "Which wasn't fun at all."

Harry rolled his eyes and ignored that remark. They walked in comfortable silence for a few more moments and finally a large lake appeared in front of them; its waters a crystal blue, the beach was covered in perfect white sand and hundreds of trees were providing enjoyable shade. "So how does it look?" Harry asked as he stopped in a place where the grass turned into sand and looked at Jean. "Good enough or do you want something better?"

Jean looked at the lake and later at Harry. "It will do," he said and frowned. "In what are you going to swim?"

"Naked," Harry said, laughing and starting to undress. "That's normal here."

Jean blushed a bit and looked at them, as they easily and quickly shed their clothes. "I think that I like Asgard," he said with a smile, overcoming his embarrassment. "I think that I like it a lot."

"Then what are you waiting for?" Harry asked as he dropped his underwear onto the ground and, completely naked, ran into the lake, the water splashing around him. "We won't wait for you, so you better join us."

"You wouldn't do that, would you?" Jean asked, mock horror in his voice, before he undressed and joined them in the water.

"Maybe," Harry said with a mischievous smile as he sent a bit of water flying towards Jean's face.

Jean dodged and in a blur moved through the water. "Won't work on me, mon chéri," he said, coming to a stop by Harry's side.

"Right," Harry sighed and dived, he easily cut through the water, each move of his limbs pushing him further and further away from Jean, when he emerged back onto the surface he looked around.

"This also won't work," Jean said as he appeared in front of Harry, his hand accidentally brushing Harry's shoulder. "I'm too fast for you to run away from me."

"Too fast or just wanting to be close to him?" Ulf asked as he joined them. "I mean, you focus on him, try to kiss him whenever you know that Atalanta won't rip your balls and stuff them into your mouth, and attempt to flirt all the time."

Jean arched an eyebrow and looked at Ulf. "What can I do? He is a very desirable person and if I won't get to him, someone else will."

"I'm not saying that it is bad or good," Ulf said with a shrug. "I'm just stating the facts and that you might find yourself ballless and in pain if you cross the line."

"We will see," Jean said with a smirk and passed in a blur by Harry's sids.

Harry felt something touch his hips for a moment and when he looked at Jean, he saw him grinning. "What's so funny?" Harry asked.

"Nothing, I just think that I'm a lucky person."

"Because?"

"Because you and Ulf are highly appealing examples of Æsir teens," Jean said and Harry blushed a bit. "Both of you are muscular, tall and good looking, with a nice personality. I'm shocked that nobody has snatched you from me yet."

"I see," Harry said and smirked. "I'm off-limits to most potential interested lovers and I have Atalanta, so that's how."

"Who might not murder me if I manage to convince her not to," Jean said.

"Possibly," Harry nodded. "The qestion is how you are going to approach her and when; sometimes her mood is not safe."

"I see."

"Flirt later," Ulf cut in, almost tackling Harry and pushing him below the surface of the water. "We came here to have fun."

Harry tensed his muscles when he felt Ulf slam into him, his hands trying to limit his moves. Holding his breath Harry kicked Ulf and freed himself from the iron grip of his friend's hands, one that almost managed to get him. "Nice try," he said, emerging away from Ulf. "But you need to work harder."

"What was that?" Jean asked, confused by their behavior.

"Wrestling in the water," Harry said with a smile. "Everything is allowed and you try to submerge the other person"

"Sounds amusing and fun," Jean said, moments before Harry slammed into him, trying to do the same thing that Ulf did. However Jean managed to slip from his grip and lightly pushed him. Jean's fingers brushed against Harry's shoulders and arms before they parted from each other.

"It seems that you know the rules," Harry grinned and moved out of the way of a charging Ulf, he smiled and lightly kicked Ulf in the ass. He watched with some satisfaction as his friend landed face down , splashing water and growling furiously.

"They're not hard to learn," Jean said and moved towards Harry.

Harry smiled and looking out for Ulf's attempts to drown him focused on Jean, he missed the days when they could spend whole days in the water, emerging out of it only to get something to eat.

o-0-o

Atalanta smiled as she looked at Laura who now was wearing a tightly fitting deep red shirt that underlined her curves and breasts with a subtle embroidery pattern in silver and gold along the shoulder and breast area. This embroidery took the form of various flames, waves and ripples which flickered with every single move, creating the impression that they were alive. "It fits you and underlines your beauty," she said.

"Thanks," Laura said with a blush.

"No problem," Atalanta said and looked at her. "You deserve something from life, and besides, aren't you enjoying this?"

"I am," Laura said, stripping off the shirt and placing it on the already massive pile of things they had bought. "It's just that when I was with Weapon X this didn't happen."

"Forget about them and be yourself," Atalanta said and her eyes flickered to the pile of boxes and bags. "Well, carrying that with us will not be pleasant," she said and snapped her fingers, summoning one of the shop assistants.

"Yes, Your Highness?"

"Take all of those boxes and bags plus the bill, to my chambers in the Citadel," she said, a commanding edge to her voice.

"Of course, Your Highness," the shop assistant said with a deep bow.

Atalanta smiled and looked at Laura. "Lunch and then some more of this?"

"Why not," Laura nodded.

"I know a couple of good spots, you should also enjoy them," Atalanta said. "Also there is a jeweller on the way there and he is a good one."

Laura nodded and they walked out of the shop and towards the area where the jewellers resided. Atalanta looked at their workshops and stalls full of wonders of metalworking and jewellery, wonders that few knew how to make. However she ignored them and instead entered into the workshop that touched the wall of the district.

The inside was purely utilitarian with no fancy artworks covering the walls or sculptures anywhere, but it was tidy and there were many shelves full of various stones, cut gems and finished products. She let her gaze linger over them before she looked at the dwarf that was behind the counter, his beard was black, braided and held in place by many rings of various metals.

"Your Highness, how may I help you today?" He asked.

"Is what I ordered the last time ready?" she asked

"Indeed," dwarf said before disappearing through a door placed beyond the counter. When he emerged he was holding a small wooden box,which he placed on the counter and looked at her. "Making it was a nice break from boredom, Your Highness."

She nodded and opened the box, inside was a ring made out of pewter with a small citrine placed in the middle and held by four small claws or fangs of pewter. She carefully picked it up and slipping it onto her ring finger, she took a better look at it and she could see hundreds of reflections sent in every direction by the gem. It looked truly beautiful on her finger, like a miniature sun. "Thank you, it is perfect," she said and added after a moment. "Could you find or make something for my friend?"

"It was an honor to make a piece of jewellery for you, Your Highness," jeweller said with a bow and looked at Laura. "Her?"

"Indeed," Atalanta said and with a smile looked at Laura. "Choose what you want, I have more than enough cash to spend."

Laura smiled weakly, and Atalanta watched as the jeweller went over various metals and gems, showing examples and thousands of possible combinations. She was commented, from time to time, on how well they matched Laura's eyes or how well she would look with one of them. A long time passed before they finally reached a conclusion with which Laura agreed, they settled onto a pair of peridot tear-shaped earrings, held by filigree golden wires.

They spent several more moments mindlessly roaming the district before finally walking out of it. Then Atalanta took Laura to a small, cosy tavern located by one of major plazas of the city. A place where they could eat a good meal and talk in relative peace, while enjoying a glass of wine or some ale.

Atlanta blew a strand of hair out of her eyes and looked over the mostly empty dishes at Laura. "So what do you think about the day so far?"

"Not the worst one, I quite like ld it actually," Laura said and then added after a brief pause. "I never expected to have so much fun."

"And there is even more of this waiting for you in the future," Atalanta said with a mischievous smile. "So much fun you probably didn't think could even exist, yet is real."

"Oh?"

"You will see, and you will like it," Atalanta said. "So you have nothing to worry about."

"I know," Laura said and sighed. "Yet what they did to me is still there and haunts me."

Atalanta reached over the table and gently grabbed Laura's hand. "Harry showed me his memories of the time in their hands," she said. "While I don't know what they did to you, I can imagine, yet I will never be close to understanding it. I can only show you that the world is a lot different than what you remember and know."

Laura looked at her, their eyes met for the briefest period of time and Atalanta could see a huge gaping void inside of them, one of someone beyond their age that had seen too much. Yet there was also joy, friendship and warmth slowly filling it, along with good memories and experiences.

"So what do you say about some more fun?" Atalanta asked after a moment. "I want you to enjoy your time here and this is something that you should love."

Laura nodded and smiled.

"Than let's go," Atalanta said as she finished her wine. Laura got up and followed her out of the tavern.

They quickly walked through the city, Laura following Atalanta, a bit unsure about where they were going, however they quickly arrived where they wanted to. Atlanta smiled when she stopped in front of a large building, its front entrace lined with columns and several trees.

"Here we are," she said looking at Laura. "Lavender Water, one of the best places to relax in this city, you should love it."

"Oh?"

"Gym, large swimming pool, bathhouse, spa and a few other things," Atalanta said with a smile. "Harry and Ulf tend to spend a lot of time inside here after the longer training sessions, to relax and let their sore muscles rest."

"I like it," Laura said. "I like it a lot," she added after a moment.

"I thought so," Atalanta said with a smile as they walked inside.

o-0-o

Harry emerged from the lake and reached for one of the towels they had brought with them. As he was drying himself he could see Ulf and Jean-Paul walk towards him, water dripping from their naked bodies. "So did you like it?" Harry asked, throwing a towel at Jean.

"It was certainly interesting," the older boy said, snatching the towel from the air. "Fun too, but mostly interesting."

"Because you had the opportunity to see us naked?" Harry asked with a cheeky grin.

Jean smirked. "Maybe," he said. "But mainly because I haven't had many opportunities to have fun and swim recently."

"Not you only," Harry said, tying his hair into his usual ponytail. "Also I wanted to get away from the Capitol and the Citadel, too much noise and stiff atmosphere when you want to rest and relax."

"You don't like it?"

"It's not that," Harry said, shaking his head. "It's nice and I love it, but there are times when I want to be away from all that. Here I can be whoever I wish to be and I'm almost out of the reach of anyone who can tell me what I can or cannot do."

"My father could," Ulf pointed out.

"We both know that he usually allows us to have fun," Harry said. "So he probably knows that we are here, but he doesn't care."

"True," Ulf nodded. "As long as we did what we were supposed to, he allowed us to do whatever we wanted to."

Jean whistled loudly. "Laid back father."

"And knows how to teach," Harry commented as he finished dressing himself and rolled his towel into an easy to carry bundle. "Can we go?"

"Sure," Ulf said and Jean nodded in agreement.

o-0-o

Laura let out a sigh of approval as she slipped into a pool full of comfortably warm water. All of her muscles relaxing and releasing all of the tension they had. She saw Atalanta join her in the water moments later. "I can see why you love this."

"Yeah," Atalanta agreed with a smile. "You let the water deal with your aches and do nothing, it was one of the things I missed the most on Midgard."

"So you do that all the time after training?"

"Most of the time," Atalanta smiled. "The boys do it all the time, but if they didn't they would get kicked out of every room."

Laura laughed at her words. "They would stink so badly that you couldn't breathe, wouldn't they?" she asked, trying to contain her laughter.

"They won't admit it, but yes."

Laura smiled and relaxed completely. For the first time in a long, long time she was able to forget about everything; what Weapon X had done to her and all of her normal, mundane worries were washed away by the water.

o-0-o

Harry, Ulf and Jean-Paul walked into the Citadel when someone behind them said, "Just the two people I wanted to see."

Harry slowly turned around and came face to face with Hrolf, who was briskly walking towards them. "Yes?"

"We have a few things to talk about," Hrolf said with a shrug and glanced at Jean-Paul. "Go where you were going, they will join you after I talk with them."

Jean looked at Hrolf and later at Harry. "Should I listen to him?"

"Yes," Harry said and focused on Hrolf. "It won't be long, will it?"

"No," Hrolf said. "Just a few words between friends, nothing major."

Jean nodded and disappeared in a blur, leaving the three of them alone.

Hrolf didn't say a word, and instead motioned for them to follow him, they walked through the maze of corridors before Hrolf pulled then into a small room. "Now we can talk," he said and they looked at him.

"About what?" Ulf asked. "You don't give off a good vibe."

"About you," Hrolf smirked. "Or to be more specific, your smell. In short you stink, and badly at that," he stated bluntly and their eyes narrowed. "Don't pounce on me, I'm stating the truth and it's certainly better if you learn about it from me, than from your fathers, right?"

Harry shuffled his feet, trying to control the urge to beat Hrolf. "I guess so, so what do you want from us?"

"Keep your hairiness to a decent level, trim or shave every single hair that is in your armpits or the pubic area," Hrolf said. "How you do it, nobody will care, though I suggest razors. Just do it, since lovers tend to pay a lot of attention to how you look and how you smell. I know what I'm talking about from my own experience, so don't treat it as a command, more like a good advice."

Harry flushed at the word 'lovers', but nonetheless nodded in understanding, so that Hrolf would leave them alone and stop embarrassing them so badly.

"Will you do it?" He asked. "Or should I mention this fact to your fathers?"

"We will do it," they chorused.

"Good, you're free to go."

Harry didn't wait for Hrolf to finish, instead he vanished before Hrolf could say his very last word. Even with this small bit of embarrassment the holidays were going quite well and would be better, no matter the amount of embarrassment they suffered.

o-0-o

Reviews:

Coru 32 - he doesn't say that because he is Harry who is one of denser beings when it comes to feelings and because he wants to mostly have fun and enjoy his life.

WhiteElfElder - in the same way as if you took a sledgehammer and introduced it to an eggshell, those wards would be shattered and FAE are one of my choices, though at the moment my favorite is whole lot of napalm mixed with normal explosives.


	45. Life is good(more or less)

**A/N - Mostly laid back and lazy chapter, in terms of actual plot we move forward a bit and things happen.**

 **o-0-o**

Harry straightened himself as he carefully picked up a bundle of blankets, it was so light, yet felt so heavy, inside of it was Volstagg's the newest child, a son, named Einar. He had the same fiery red hair as his father, but his eyes were those of Gudrun, gray as the clouds before a storm. "He looks beautiful," Harry finally said and Volstagg laughed.

"He is my son, he is supposed to be beautiful," he said, but then he quickly became serious, looked at Harry and later at Sif. "Do both of you know what you need to say?"

"Yes," both of them said.

Volstagg nodded and carefully took the bundle with his son from Harry placed him on the altar, a large plate of jade carefully sculpted, encrusted with various gems and semi-precious stones, and inlaid with gold and silver. There were also twelve tall lit candles, each for each member of the closest family, one unlit one, and two small bowls, one from black onyx and one from jade. Finally in the middle was a small depression, its edge covered in brass runes. When he placed the bundle inside of it,the runes flickered alive, lightning up in hundreds of colors.

"Spirits of the ancestors," Volstagg said quietly and Harry could feel a slow build up of magic that thrummed in the air, filling everything and everyone with power. "Accept Einar Volstaggson as my son and bless him with fortitude, luck and strength to grow into a worthy member of the family and a strong warrior."

When those words were said the runes stopped flashing and settled on a light blue color, soft and inviting. Volstagg waited for a couple of moments before he spoke again, "I name Harald James Thorson and Sif Freyrdóttir, Einar's Volstaggson guardians."

Harry knew that it was his moment to speak, so he pushed a bit of magic out of himself and spoke, "I, Harald James Thorson, accept this responsibility and swear upon my magic and power to be a good guardian to Einar Volstaggson."

Sif said the same and fire flickered to life on top of the unlit candle, its flame long and bright, at the same time Einar cried quietly, before stopping as suddenly as he started. Harry glanced unsure of what was going on at Hrolf who stood behind him.

"It's a good sign," Hrolf whispered quietly. "Babies are much strongly attuned to magic than we are and cannot control it too well."

Harry nodded in understanding and looked at Volstagg who gently picked up a bundle with his son and handed it to his wife. "It is done," he said, joy visible in his voice. "They accepted him and now it is time for a feast."

Harry nodded and followed whole Volstagg's family, as he was leaving the room he felt Hrolf's hand stop him. "What?" He asked.

"Something you should know," Hrolf said. "You saw from my brother how attuned to magic babies are, if you don't want a baby to panic when you are close don't do any magic and push your magic as deep inside you as you can. Nurseries and the surrounding areas around them are covered in runes suppressing magic, but they don't always work, so..."

"So keep my magic under control," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "As if I didn't have enough of that at home."

"Well, magic is a gift and a curse," Hrolf said with a thin smile.

Harry ignored that remark and entered into the hall where the tables were set and the fires were happily roaring in their fireplaces, sending hundreds of flickers across the carved columns and walls. Every single surface was carved with scenes from Asgard's history, the careful and patient work of master craftsmen showing scenes with details not many thought were possible.

He walked across the whole room and to the high table, a place reserved for the family and guests of honor. When he got there he sat down to Volstagg's right and waited patiently for the rest few dozen guests to take their places. Once everybody was comfortably seated into the room a large group of servants carrying food and drinks for everybody entered.

The feast would last till the late nights hours as the whole household and the guests would celebrate the birth of Volstagg's youngest son.

o-0-o

Atalanta smiled as she looked at Laura who was cuddled to her side. "So what do you say about the offer Harry and I have made," she asked softly.

"I thought about it and I say yes," Laura whispered. "I like you both and you are both beautiful, attractive and want to be with me."

Atalanta smiled and gently pulled Laura closer to her, bringing their bodies as close to each other as possible. "I love you, Laura," she whispered and left a peck on her forehead. "And Harry also loves you."

In Laura's eyes swelled tears that trickled down her cheeks.

"Don't cry," Atalanta whispered. "I am with you and you are safe."

"I know," Laura whispered. "It's just that I never had someone who cared for me or who wanted me."

"Now you have," Atalanta whispered. "You have your father and us." She gently wiped Laura's tears and looked into her eyes. "You are beautiful and you deserve all of this and much more."

"Am I?"

"Yes," Atalanta said with a smile and leaned closer to kiss Laura.

Laura tensed when she felt Atalanta lips on her own, but then she melted and let her emotions control her. Atalanta noticed it and gently probed Laura's lips with her tongues and soon was rewarded with Laura's lips parting and allowing her tongue inside. They kissed for few moments, exploring each other mouths and enjoying the moment, finally Atalanta ended the kiss to catch some breath.

"How did it feel?" Atalanta asked, breathing a bit heavily.

"Weird and fantastic," Laura said. "I have never thought that something like this was possible."

Atalanta smiled knowingly and crawling onto Laura kissed her once again. "Because you didn't have time to explore and discover what you like and what you want, also you always think that physical contact is bad," Atalanta whispered as she laid on Laura, supporting herself with her hands. "So forget about everything and enjoy the time."

Laura smiled and Atalanta took it as a sign of approval and kissed her, lightly pushing her tongue into Laura's mouth, as they laid on each other she was able to feel how well muscled was their lover, which promised enjoyable times ahead of them.

"You are beautiful," Atalanta whispered between kisses, not giving chance for a reply she once again kissed Laura.

Laura tried to say something, but not a single sound left her mouth and instead Atalanta's tongue ventured inside, feeling out her mouth and exploring it, probing every single surface and trying to feel as much as possible.

Several moments later they laid on the bed, sprawled on top of each other and breathing heavily, their hair forming thick strands held by their sweat. Atalanta finally stirred and looked at Laura. "Wake up, love," she whispered.

"What?" Laura asked, slowly waking up.

"We better take bath," Atalanta said, getting up. "We stink of sweat and look even worse."

"It's not that bad," Laura muttered. "And I don't want to move."

"Take a bath together?" Atalanta suggested and Laura moved.

"Why not," Laura muttered as she got up.

Two of them walked across Atalanta's bedroom and into the adjacent bathroom, they quickly stripped off their clothes and jumped into the bath where already was warm water waiting for them.

o-0-o

Harry wrapped his arm around Atalanta as they walked towards the Observatory at the end of the crystalline bridge, bags slung over their shoulders. Laura was walking to their side, yet at a small distance, as he looked at her, he could tell that she wasn't totally comfortable with physical closeness and while Atalanta was happy to let him embrace her, she had issues with it.

"And you said that she was not your girlfriend," Sunspot shouted at them. "Yet you behave like a typical boyfriend and girlfriend."

Harry blushed at those words and looked at Atalanta. _"What should I tell them, At?"_ He asked in thoughts.

" _The truth,"_ she said. _"They will learn sooner or later and it is easier than keeping up a story that nothing is going on."_

" _What about Laura? She is as much a part of it as we are."_

" _They probably know and we can explain that it isn't an uncommon thing on Asgard, thing they need to accept or at least tolerate and that nothing will change it,"_ she said and added after a moment. _"Besides, if we do not mention her, she will feel missed and for her, especially for her, it will be bad, I spent a lot of time with her and she is an emotional mess. She is recovering from what she has suffered, but she clings to warmth and comfort she can find, we are one of its sources and she trusts us. If we betray her trust, she will revert to her previous state."_

" _I get it,"_ he said. _"We do not mention her and she is back to her robotic state, where she only dumbly follows orders and doesn't even have a percent of her current personality."_

" _More or less,"_ Atalanta said and smirked. _"She is a much better kisser than you are and has a nice, petite body."_

Harry blushed at those words and glanced at Laura. _"She is small and is fit, so she should have a nice body,"_ he agreed. _"But about kissing, I need to see it for myself. I don't trust your judgment, maybe you think that she is a good kisser, because she is a girl?"_

" _Mayhaps or mayhaps you are just a jealous, petty person that won't admit that someone can be better than you are in something."_

" _Fine,"_ he said in resignation. _"She is a better kisser than I am, are you happy with my answer?"_

" _Passable, so now explain things to them."_

He nodded and looked at Sunspot who was waiting with arms crossed over the chest. "It is a little bit more complicated than you think."

"Oh?" Sunspot asked. "Explain then."

Harry could see the rest of his friends lean closer and focus on him, ready to listen to the very next word he was to say. "Well, for starters, she isn't my only girlfriend," he said and gently placed his hand on Laura's shoulder. "She is also one," he said with a smile and Laura nodded.

He could see their jaws drop in shock and surprise, finally Warren shook his head and looked at him. "Two girlfriends at the same time? Isn't that too much?"

"On Asgard? For our age group, no," Harry said. "Actually it is the most common thing as we tend to be unsated and that's how we end up with two lovers."

"You just made me jealous," Warren said and bent over in pain when Jean's elbow slammed into his stomach. "I didn't say a single thing," he said with a look at Jean who looked as if she was ready to murder him. "Really, I didn't want to say those words."

"We will talk," Jean said, twisted Warren's hand and dragged him with her and walked towards the Observatory.

"As I was going to say," Harry said. "It is normal and nobody will look weirdly at it."

"Good luck," Sunspot said with a smile. "Also don't expect teasing to end."

Harry nodded and they walked to the Observatory, so that Bifrost could take them back to Midgard and the Institute there.

o-0-o

Fury finished reading last page from a large stack of papers that made its way onto his desk and then looked at Banshee who was sitting in front of his desk. "I want X-Men to have some real capabilities that would allow me to divert all cases with mutants to them," he said. "I know that you were one and still are, so tell me what would they need to work as an equal partner for SHIELD."

"Director, may I be completely honest and blunt with you?" Banshee asked.

"You may."

"They have muscles to do the job," Banshee said. "Not a lot of them, but Wolverine is doing his job and they are quite well, they have their planes from Stark and Worthington, as well as almost anything they need, excluding three things."

"What three things?" Fury asked.

"Satellite communication, precise navigation and easy access to high quality on demand photos of area where they are going to fly. Now we use those done by commercial satellites, but they aren't always of as high quality as we would want them and some places are impossible to get. Not to mention they are usually not the freshest ones."

"Photos and navigation are easy to get," Fury said. "We have our own satellites and there is also GPS which we use, communication won't be an easy, fast or cheap solution."

"What about our satellites?"

"Normally I would gave them access to them, but not now," Fury said and shook his head. "Moles and traitors everywhere, if they get access to communication between X-Men, it would be a nightmare. Few people will hate me for it, but Stark will be happy and X-Men too."

"Own satellite constellation?"

"More or less. It is expensive as hell, but redundancy never hurts and it will be a nice way to gain their trust."

Banshee nodded in agreement. "It will be a good gift many will enjoy," he said. "I remember first days and then it was tough, working with whatever was gained through whatever means that were at our disposal. Now we have much more, but satellites will be a very appreciated and useful gift."

"Well, you also will get new planes from Stark," Fury said and Banshee looked at him. "He met with Worthington and they talked about improvements for the Institute, one of them were planes."

"Honestly speaking, I won't complain, Blackbird is good, but is getting to the limits of what can be done to it."

Fury nodded and looked at Banshee. "That's everything I needed, you are dismissed, Agent Cassidy."

o-0-o

Harry entered into his room and stopped when he saw a large owl sitting on the headrest of his bed, really unhappy about something. "How did it get here?" He asked, looking at Atalanta. "It is a middle of the day and owls are nocturnal birds."

"Don't ask me," she said with a shrug. "I was with Laura and when I got back it was here."

He nodded and when he walked to the bird he noticed an envelope tied to its leg. "Messenger bird?" He tentatively asked and an owl bobbed its head.

He removed the envelope, the bird took off from the headrest and disappeared out of the room through an open window. Harry plopped down onto his bed and tore open the envelope, inside was a single piece of paper, his eyebrows arched when he saw who was the one to write them.

 _Harry,_

 _Sorry for not writing for so long, but I didn't have time or mind to write as last few months at Hogwarts were tough and there were things that occupied me. I don't know if you know, but we were raided by SHIELD and they arrested some students, on top of that I need to study to attempt to get for the second trip to Asgard and there is also Quidditch._

 _Anyways, we miss you at Hogwarts and we hope that you will be joining us next year. Are you still trying to date Atalanta or did you find someone else?_

 _Oliver_

"This is a thing I didn't expect," Harry said as he finished reading the letter and looked at Atalanta. "One of friends from Hogwarts remembered about me."

"They use owls to carry messages?" she asked.

"Looks like it," he said and once again looked at the paper. "SHIELD payed them a visit and raided the school, other than that the usual."

"After you were kidnapped?"

"Most likely," he said and added after a moment. "From what uncle told me, they aren't known for being rash or making mistakes, so if they attacked the school they had a good reason to do so."

"What are you going to tell him?"

"Probably I will ignore mention about SHIELD, it's not like everybody needs to know about events of this year," Harry said and reached for a piece of paper, a pen and a thick book on which he could write. "Other than that I'm going to be mostly honest."

"Mostly honest?" she arched an eyebrow.

"I won't lie, just be careful with what I say and very creative in how I say it."

"So that it sounds like a tale you cannot disagree with?"

He only smirked and started to write, choosing his words with care and consideration, he wanted to pass a message that would say just enough. He labored for over twenty minutes, but finally he was content with the way it was written. He rolled it and snapped his fingers, the moment he did it in the room appeared a large ball of light and when it was gone in its place was his pet eagle Hábrók. It softly landed on the bed in front of him and looked at him, waiting for a command.

"It was a long time since you last used it," Atalanta observed. "Finally decided that he has some uses?"

"Illyana was mostly using him to exchange messages with Piotr," Harry pointed out. "So he was a bit busy, but now he can be back mine."

Hábrók waited patiently as Harry tied the letter to its leg and once it was secured it took off into the air and disappeared in a ball of light.

"How does he do it?" Atalanta asked. "I felt magic of some kind when he did it and I know that I felt it somewhere."

"I'm not sure," Harry said. "Heimdall mentioned that he can use branches of Yggdrasil."

"It might be it," Atalanta said and he looked at her. "It felt like something fresh, yet ancient and powerful."

Harry looked at her and blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?" He asked after a moment. "For me it felt like every other magic, wave of power that appeared and vanished soon after."

"So you cannot feel and see colors and kinds of magic?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "I feel it, know direction from which it is used, usually by whom and that's all I can see or feel."

"I can tell people apart by magic," she said and he looked at her. "I don't know why or how, but I can usually feel subtleties in magic, who used it, how their magic looks and so on."

"So what can you tell about mine?"

She closed her eyes and was silent for a long moment, finally she opened them and looked at him. "A lot like your father, wild, hard to control and powerful," she said and paused for a moment. "But it is also more organized, as if it was capable of subtler tasks."

"Thanks," he said with a smile, moved to her side and looked at her. "You know that you are beautiful?"

She blushed lightly and smiled. "Thank you," she said and placed her hand on his. "You also look good."

He smiled and leaned closer to her, feeling comfortable warmth of her body. "I love you, At," he whispered as he placed his hand on her back.

She smiled and moved even closer to him, so close that their bodies were touching each other and placed her own hand on his wing. "Harry," she whispered, leaning towards his ear. "I love you."

He gently kissed her, his lips melted on her, sending jolts of pleasure across his whole body, he probed her lips with his tongue and she allowed him inside, where her tongue almost immediately met his. They kissed for a while, finally she ended it, pushed him onto the bed and her lips once again latched onto his. He felt her chest squeeze against his and she gave him a chance to explore some of her body, he took this opportunity and let his hands roam her back, exploring glorious curves and lines she possessed.

As they kissed he felt as if he landed in paradise, all of his worries were washed away and he wanted to just keep doing it and nothing more. Nothing else mattered, not the things he was given to do, nor the worries that haunted him or his nightmares.

o-0-o

Oliver was eating his lunch in the Great Hall when above his head appeared a ball of light, looking up he saw a large eagle glide towards him, a small scroll attached to its leg. It gracefully landed in front of him and extended its leg.

"Who the hell has magical birds and sends letters to you?" Percy Weasley asked.

"Friend of mine," Oliver said, cutting the topic before it could even start.

He carefully removed the rolled the letter and the moment he did it the eagle took off and disappeared, not even helping itself to something from the table. However he didn't pay it any attention, instead focused on the letter.

 _Oliver,_

 _Thanks for remembering about me, I'm certainly much better than you are at the moment and I'm sorry to hear that you were raided by SHIELD, from what I know they do it only when they have a valid reason._

 _I might be dating Atalanta, but you will see when I will be at Hogwarts, some of my friends might come with me, so it should be fun._

 _Harry_

"Same Harry as Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived?" Asked one of first year students that leaned over Oliver's shoulder.

Oliver looked in his direction and first year student fell silent. "Is it your letter? No, so sod off and leave it alone."

He focused back on the letter and tried to learn more from it than what was written, he could tell that there was more to it than what was written. He was sure that Harry wasn't telling the whole truth, but he couldn't figure out what was hidden and where. He folded the piece of paper and threw into his bag, he could worry about it later, now he had more important things than that.

o-0-o

Birth of new children in the royal family was a time of celebrations for the whole realm as it meant that the royal house was stable and growing. However it didn't mean that everybody was calm, patient and didn't feel an ounce of nervousness, in fact there were few that were nervous about it, really nervous. One of them was Thor, who paced nervously in front of the doors leading into the Purple Chamber of the Citadel, room where most of royal family arrived onto this world.

Loki chuckled, watching Thor, yet even he was serious and his usual mischievous smirk was gone. "You know that this pacing won't get you anywhere?"

"It's not your wife who is giving birth," Thor said softly.

"So? She has the best Healers that are available and they have centuries of experience."

"I know." Thor nodded and sighed "It's just that I'm worried about her."

"Who isn't?" Loki asked as he glanced at the doors of the chamber "She is going to be fine, so you might as well stop wearing down the floor."

Thor sighed, looked at Loki and after a moment he slowly nodded and sat down on one of the sofas that were placed in the corridor.

"Much better." Loki said approvingly. "Hopefully the floor will survive few more centuries thanks to you being able to sit in one place," he added with a chuckle.

"Brother, do not test my patience," Thor quietly said.

Loki nodded, but before he could say a word doors leading into the chamber opened and through them stepped out one of healers, she seemed exhausted, yet happy. She looked in Thor's direction and nodded. "It is finally done, Your Highness. Your wife, Lady Jane gave birth to two healthy children, a boy and a girl. If you want you can see her and the children, although she is tired and she will need rest."

"Thank you," Thor said and smiled getting up and walking past healer, Loki followed him a few steps behind entered the room.

As he entered the room be could see Jane laying on the bed and few healers fussing over her, but they stopped the moment they saw him enter the room. However they didn't leave it, instead they retreated away from the bed giving him and Jane some privacy. In Jane's arms were two small bundles of cloth from which were visible small heads of his children, one of them had a small tuft of golden hair, while second had a mix of black and golden hair. "They look beautiful," he whispered looking at them.

"They are," she said with a tired smile. "Any idea of names for them?"

He looked at them and thought for a moment, trying to think of names that could fit them, they discussed ideas for names, yet they didn't agree on any. As he looked at their children he noticed that while one had eyes as blue as the sky itself, second had darker blue eyes with tints of green. "Erik and Cassandra?" He asked.

"I always wanted Midgard names for them," She said, looking at the children. "But I like them and they do not sound so bad."

"Thank you," he said, lightly smiled and looked at them "May I hold them?"

"Of course," she said.

He carefully picked up one of the bundles she was cradling in her arms, it felt so light, yet he knew that it was a sign of massive changes to their lives and a beginning of a new chapter in their lives. Now they had two infant children that needed attention and care, and on top of that they had also Harry who was growing up, but still was his son. However it was also a time of joy and an opportunity for celebrations.

o-0-o

Harry sat on the roof of the Institute, not caring about the wind nor snow, his gaze was focused on Storm. "How am I supposed to do it," he asked. "I understand the concept, but now how I can do it."

"Like this," she said thrusting her hand in a direction of the forest surrounding the Institute.

He followed it with his eyes and could see a gust of wind being created the moment she moved her hand, then it swelled and the wind that slammed into the forest was strong enough to shake off the snow from the trees.

"It is a hard thing," she said and he looked at her. "Normally you only control the amount of power you use, here you need to control the very exact direction, flow and the amount you use."

"Which is a tough thing to combine," he said with a sigh.

"It is," she agreed. "But the effect is even more rewarding and it has other uses, ones you might enjoy when you are with a certain friend of yours."

Harry felt a tint of red creep up his cheeks, he dismissed it and focused on the exercise, slowly forcing winds into obedience, when he felt that he had gathered enough of them, he did the same gesture as Storm did. Wind roared as he thrust his hand forward and a pillar of air slammed into the forests, shaking trees and throwing snow onto the ground.

"A bit over the top, but works," Storm commented. "It is your first try and you have time to master it."

He nodded and knowing that it meant that he was supposed to work, he started to once again focus on summoning winds and forcing them into obedience and submission, not an easy task in its own right and one that took quite a substantial chunk of his energy.

o-0-o

"Lucky bastard," Roberto muttered looking at Harry and Atalanta. "How did he get her attention is beyond me, but he did it."

"Who is she?" Rick asked. "She looks hot, yet there is something alien and predatory to her, something we don't have."

"Atalanta, daughter of Hercules and Otrera, thus a Princess of the Amazons," Bobby explained with a sigh. "I wish she was mine, not his."

"Jealous, are we?"

"No," Bobby said and sighed. "It's just that they make me realise how old I am and how lucky he is. He is the oldest son of Thor, has Warren as a cousin, is the youngest X-Men on active roster and now this."

"Some people are just lucky and some aren't."

"That's a lot of luck," Bobby said. "He is a nice person and all, but seriously, sometimes he could let other people have a moment to shine."

"That's a thing I can agree upon," Rick said and Bobby looked at him. "I'm with him on a team and he is the best in everything he does, not letting us have our moment of glory and fame. He is so fast and so strong that it is sometimes hard to imagine or comprehend."

"He was my roommate during last year and I know what you mean, I saw him easily bench press something like ten or so tonnes of weight." Rick's eyes widened a bit. "There are people who can do much more, like our common Russian friend, Colossus, but Harry's strength is one of his powers."

"How powerful he truly is?"

"Honestly?" Bobby asked and Rick nodded. "He is powerful enough that he was almost murdered and Weapon X kidnapped him, also he is good enough that Vice Principal decided to personally train his mutant powers. It happens, but not often and we usually train in groups, assuming that we can find enough people with similar enough powers."

"So that's how he is so awesome to watch when using his powers?"

Bobby's lips quirked up into a smile. "Well, she is shock and awe, so probably, also his father is another shock and awe person, so probably that's why he is so fancy with his powers."

"Fancy and deadly," Danielle added and they looked at her. "He can summon storms, winds and can channel electricity through his body, that in my book is deadly, you can get torn to shreds or electrocuted or both, depending on what his mood at the moment is."

"O-Okay," Rick stuttered. "That's deadly enough, even for me."

"Well, if you can control all of the elements as well as he does his powers you will be as deadly as he is, if not more," Bobby said. "We all started in the same place, with only basic control or even lack of it. You know Kitty?"

"Yes."

"When she started to learn her powers, she tended to lose any control when embarrassed or stressed, which usually ended with her falling through the floor and landing on whatever or whoever was below," Bobby said and glanced at Danielle. "How many times did she end up on me when I tried to sleep?"

"Ten times or so," Danielle said and frowned. "Maybe more, but ten times your shouts woke up most of the school. Out of curiosity what were you doing at that time?"

"Nothing," Bobby said with a blush. "Just tried to sleep and she woke me up."

"Than why do you blush?" Rick asked. "I can think of two things you could have been doing at that time that make you blush at the moment. Don't you agree Danna?" He asked with a glance at Danielle.

"Yeah," she said with a nod. "I just can't guess which one of the two he was doing at the time."

"He could also do both, which is probably what was happening when she crashed through the floor."

Bobby sighed and looked at them. "Since when my personal life was the number one topic?" He asked and they focused on him. "I like when you pay some attention to me, but there are some lines not to be crossed and you just crossed one of them."

"Sorry," Rick said. "It's just you started it and we didn't know that you won't like it."

"No problem," Bobby said with a shrug. "Just don't do it again, we all have secrets and I'm not willing to talk about mine."

"Seems fair," Danielle said.

"Thank you," he said. "So what do you think about the Institute?" He asked, looking at Rick.

"It is a nice place and one where I actually want to stay, place where I feel that I belong to," Rick said. "I was on the run for something like four months, but now I have a home and I can be whoever I want to be."

"Well, it is one of the goals of the Institute," Bobby said. "But not the main one."

"So what is the main one?"

"How to use our powers and how to control them," Danielle said. "Which reminds me that we have training in ten minutes and Wolverine doesn't like people that are late."

Rick paled and Bobby laughed at it, Wolverine was a protector, self-defense teacher and one of team leaders, but was also dead serious. He watched as Danielle and Rick disappeared and reached out for the book he wanted to finish.

o-0-o

Harry sat on his bed, reading a book, Atalanta cuddled to his side when he saw Huginn appear in the room. He ignored the bird until he finished the chapter he was reading, then lightly nudged Atalanta to get her attention and focused on Huginn. "What news do you bring from home?"

"News that you will like," Huginn said and landed on Harry's arm. "Your grandfather sent me here, though message is coming from your father and his wife, Lady Jane, to be exact there are two messages, but one is far more important than the other is."

"Cut the chase and tell what do they want," Harry cut in. "I know that you like your games, but I don't have patience for them, so be a good bird and tell us what's the matter. Start from the less important one."

Huginn nodded and calmed. "Your rooms are being renovated and expanded, your grandfather decided that it would be prudent as your relationships are becoming a public knowledge, so he decided to allow you to officially share your rooms with any of your lovers and as such they are being renovated."

"It should be interesting," Atalanta said and Harry looked at her. "The final effect and how it will look, not to mention that it is interesting how the hell they learned about us."

"They aren't blind," he said with a sigh. "Grandfather even if has one eye, has various spies, agents and dozen of information sources and knows when someone is lying to him. Also you aren't going to survive on the throne if you are blind, so he probably saw us a couple of times and figured out what is going on."

"It's water under the bridge," she said and smirked. "It's not like it's far from truth, anyways let's see what our feathery friend has to say."

Harry nodded and looked at Huginn. "So what's the second part of the message you were asked to pass?"

"Your mother has given birth to long expected children of your father," Huginn said. "A boy and a girl, oh and he said that you are allowed to return to Asgard now and before all of the formal celebrations start."

Harry felt something appear in his mind, a feeling he couldn't quite place, yet it hurt him, hurt him on a level he never thought was real. "Which will be in how long?" he asked. "I always forgot when this whole circus is supposed to start."

"In two weeks or so," Huginn said. "Normally they start sooner, but all of the nobles need to be invited and messages to various groups need to be delivered so that they can be present or send envoys. Also your mother needs some rest before the start of celebrations."

"Would they mind if we traveled to Asgard?" Atalanta asked Harry, her head resting on his shoulder.

"If they know ahead of time, than no," he said after a moment. "They want to know where students are as it happened in the past that they were kidnapped, but if we tell them, they won't mind it."

"Than we should do it," she said and he looked at her. "They are your siblings," she whispered. "Even if they have a different mother, they are still family and you should see them."

Harry sighed and looked at her. "I know," he said and once again sighed. "It's just that I fear that I will be replaced in father's heart by them."

Atalanta looked at him and the next thing he felt was a stinging sensation on his cheek. "Are you a fool?" she asked with a snarl as she lowered her hand.

"For what that was?" He asked, rubbing his pained cheek. "It hurts."

"And is supposed to," she said, a snarl of disgust on her face. "You are a fool, a giant one at times, especially when it comes to emotions or feelings."

"What?"

"He is your father," she said, her gaze focused on Harry's face. "He showed that loved you multiple times and your stepmother also loves you, so why should they stop loving you? Because they have children on their own?"

"Y-yes," he said quietly.

Atalanta sighed and he looked at her. "Think about it for a moment, until now you were the sole child, now there are two more children. Answer this simple question for me, can they afford you the same kind of attention they did in the past?"

He was silent for a long moment before he gave his answer. "No, they won't be able to," he finally said.

"Does it mean that they won't love you as strongly as they do now?"

He looked at her, unsure of his answer. "No, I guess it doesn't mean it."

"Good boy," she smiled. "So what do you think about showing on Asgard?"

"If you are coming with me, why not."

"Of course I will come," she said and leaning to leave a peck on his forehead, she whispered. "Laura also should come with us."

"Indeed," he agreed with a smile. "She is as much a part of this as you and I are."

Atalanta nodded and looked at Huginn. "Can you find the Principal and tell him that we will be leaving with Laura for few days?"

Huginn only nodded and disappeared out of the room.

"Let's find Laura and get to Asgard," Harry said rolling off the bed.

o-0-o

Dumbledore was sorting through his paperwork when he felt a portal open in his office, right in the middle and in front of his desk. When he looked up, he saw Loki walk through the portal, expression of serene happiness and joy visible on his face. "How may I help you, Your Highness?" Dumbledore asked.

"By simply being an open-minded person," Loki said with a smile. "I wanted to ask you how the school is working with other changes I have suggested implemented? Better or worse?"

"Students certainly like them, especially the fact that Cuthbert Binns is no longer teaching history, but instead is one of the ghosts of the castle. One common room had some troubles with working, but now they seemed to be able to bury their differences and live with each other."

"It is certainly good," Loki nodded. "What about our dear Madam Umbridge? I have spoken with her and she promised not to get into the way, she promised just to watch and not do a single thing."

"She is certainly trying not to be seen, she watches how classes are conducted and makes notes, some she keeps for herself and some she passes onto me. Also she asks students questions and roams around the school."

"So she behaves and knows where are the borders," Loki mused. "Which considering what I designed as the next step is important."

"If I may know, what do you plan to do?"

"Actually I want you to know what I plan to introduce, after all you are Headmaster of the school and your input is appreciated," Loki said and conjured for himself a comfortable armchair. He sat down and looked at Dumbledore. "I could have forced all of those changes during our talk at the Academy, but I'm a patient person that can take their time and watch as their project develops."

"Indeed you are, you are also a sly and a dangerous one," Dumbledore pointed out. "Your brother prefers to be seen, while you work in the shadows, unseen and unheard of, yet effective."

Loki nodded in agreement. "And that's why I come to you, I could have force them on my own, but I think we both know that you won't mind more influence and good image as a wizard that took brave decisions and modernized Hogwarts."

"I'm all ears," Dumbledore said and corrected his robe. "Even if I opposed those things you forced during that stay on Asgard last year, I can see their good sides and the positive impact they have on school as a whole."

Loki smiled faintly. "It was their target, to make the school run as smoothly as possible and provide the very best education possible," he said. "Those improvements introduced during last year were merely the first step, one designed to prepare your students for even bigger changes, so that they are able to accept them."

"I knew that there was something more to your plan, you are one that has dozens of plans ready and thinks ten steps ahead."

"Someone needs to keep us ahead of our enemies," Loki pointed out and added. "Changes that I want to introduce will make Hogwarts shine in its knowledge and glory, as well as unify its students."

Dumbledore looked at him, keenly focused on each word.

"There are two things that will affect the curriculum and help them even more when it comes to magic and creation of spells. Not to mention it will help them in general with studying and academic performance as well as international cooperation, which will be very important considering the event to come, even if insane, it has some merits," Loki said and paused for a moment. "I'm talking about making Latin and Ancient Greek two compulsory subjects, as we both know that research without them can be tedious and not bearing too many fruits, not to mention that they are two main languages of international relations."

"Indeed, everything you said is true," Dumbledore nodded. "However my question is a bit different, how are you going to squeeze it into the whole timetable which is already stretched."

Loki loudly snorted. "Stretched? It's not like they cannot get one more hour per day," he said and added after a moment. "At the Academy they were able to survive its timetable, which also has a lot of physical activities and they are alive, so don't coddle them and think clearly."

"They are children and there is no need to overwork them," Dumbledore protested

"Children?" Loki asked incredulously. "They are fourteen when they start education, on Asgard in a year they would be considered adults and be eligible for military service and be granted all of the rights that come with adulthood. So wake up and understand that they are ready for it, in Muggle schools they study for longer and somehow are fine."

Dumbledore nodded. "I see your point, yet they are children."

"And ready for more work if they want to get proper education," Loki finished. "I'm discussing it with you, so that you are aware of what's to come and this is just one of things I plan to introduce, so accept it."

"Fine," Dumbledore finally said. "Perhaps some more work won't be a bad thing for them."

"Thank you," Loki said with a light bow of his head. "Second thing I plan on introducing is a nicer, more practical and friendly library as this one was last renovated I think in fifteenth century or so."

"Actually it was a thing I wanted to do, but the Board of Governors was never willing to give funds for it."

"Now it will be done, also change those bulky robes for something lighter as you live in a castle and heating shouldn't be a problem. They look good, but aren't that practical and perhaps for everybody's sake move Snape and Potions to some other part of the castle than dungeons where it is wet, nasty and uncomfortable for everybody other than that dungeon bat."

"Robes are a part of the tradition of the school, but perhaps a new material or new cut won't go amiss," Dumbledore mused. "I would need to speak with robe designers, but I think that they would be able to create something new."

"Perfect," Loki smiled. "Also get a proper Healer or two and introduce yearly checkups for all of the students as prevention is cheaper than reaction and it never hurts to keep an eye on the health of your students. At the Academy there is a small group of Healers all the time, ready to heal them, but also advise on their training, development of magic and what they should eat, as well as they do a check-up at the beginning and at the end of each year, with results kept in the Academy, but also given to the students."

"It seems to be running quite smoothly with just Poppy," Dumbledore said, musing quietly. "So I don't see any dire need to add more."

Loki sighed and Dumbledore looked at him. "The world is getting darker and darker with each passing moment, there is a slim chance that they will make a move against Hogwarts and if they make a move, you will want to have as many as you can. Besides, she is being overworked and if you hire additional let's say two actual Healers, she will have time to get a proper Healer's training and actually be able to catch some breath. I'm just suggesting things and it is your choice as the Headmaster of the school to decide if you accept them or not.

Dumbledore was silent for a long moment, thinking about what Loki said. "I will consider it and probably implement," he finally said. "Your Highness, may I know what else do you plan to introduce?"

"The last thing I want to introduce is a small surprise that will be revealed in September as it requires some thinking from me about how to carry it out."

"Do you have any other wishes or demands?" Dumbledore asked.

"No, as I doubt your students would survive more changes in one package, they need to get used to some before next package comes."

"How many such packages do you have planned?"

"Enough," Loki smirked and disappeared.

Dumbledore watched the spot that was occupied by Loki, he had a bad feeling about all of those changes that were going to happen to Hogwarts, he knew that some were needed, however he wasn't sure that they needed to be introduced so brutally.

o-0-o

Harry felt a bit of trepidation as he entered into the private rooms of his father in the Citadel, Atalanta and Laura was slightly behind him, keeping him company and providing some sort of comfort. They quickly passed through the outer, more official parts and into the parts where only selected few had access to.

"Is it wise for us to accompany you?" Laura asked him, concern mixing with fear in her voice. "I mean, it is your family, not ours."

"You are my lover," he whispered looking at her. "So you can be here and nothing will happen to you."

"He is right," Atalanta said and smiled reassuringly. "You will be fine and nothing ill will happen to you, as he said, you are his and mine lover, nothing will happen to you inside of those walls."

He could see Laura relax a bit, Atalanta's words soothing her worries, he nodded in thanks to Atalanta who only smiled and all of them entered the most private part of Thor's chambers. They could see there Jane sitting in one of comfortable armchairs and cradling two bundles of clothes in her arms. She looked up and smiled when she saw them approach. "Come closer," she said warmly. "I won't bite you."

He glanced at Atalanta who just smiled and walked forward, sitting down on the floor close to Jane. "Come on, don't be a pansy," Atalanta said, some amusement in her voice.

He laughed at her words and walked to the two of them, Laura following him, he sat down on the floor and close to Atalanta and Jane, who smiled at him. "Do you want to see your siblings?" she asked.

"May I?"

"You can," she said with a smile. "After all you are their older brother."

He only nodded and gently got up and moved closer to Jane, who smiled and gently moved bundles in her arms so that he could have a better view. His younger siblings looked so innocent and weak, completely dependant on other people, yet there was something strangely reassuring and warmth in them. "They look beautiful," he finally said.

Jane smiled and looked at him. "Do you want to hold one of them for a moment?"

Harry's eyes widened in surprise and he looked at his stepmother. "May I?"

"Of course, you can," she said. "As I said, you are their older brother, not some random person."

He smiled and gently took one of the bundles from Jane's hands, he looked at the face of the child, which was sleeping soundly, not caring about everything happening around them. "He looks kind of cute," Harry finally said.

"Give him a couple of years to grow and you will be trying to find an excuse to be away from him," Jane said with a chuckle and Harry looked at her as if she was crazy. "You will see what I mean."

He smiled and gently held his baby brother in hands, when he was forced to live with the Dursley's he hated the term family and anything associated with it. Here and now, his outlook was a different one, he came to appreciate and love it, help and support on which he could lean, as well as kindness and generosity that awaited him each time he returned home.

o-0-o

It took Harry, Atalanta and Laura over two weeks before they were able to return back to the Institute as they spent over a week before celebrations spending time with each other and discussing ideas for his rooms with the architect responsible for the redesign as well as being with his family. After that came celebrations worthy of celebrating birth of a member of the royal family and since there were two children, they were even louder and larger, resulting in few accidents when he got a bit drunk with his friends and things got slightly wild.

However now it was just the past as he wondered where Atalanta was walking with him, it took him a moment before he recognized it, but he knew that it was the corridor where Jean-Paul had his room. She stopped in front of Jean's door, gently knocked and opened it, not waiting for any invitation, with second hand dragging him inside.

"We need to speak," she said with finality, looking at Jean who was laying on his bed and Harry, as she closed the door behind.

"About what?" Jean asked.

"Something we should have done long ago," she said with a very sweet smile, making Harry and Jean gulp in fear and terror. "If you are cooperative, we will be done soon, if not, we will see and some might not leave this room whole." At those words their gulpes became even larger and some color disappeared from their faces. Mainly I think there is a need to have a small, pleasant chat about how relationships on Asgard look, especially in regard to you and Harry. _To be continued..._

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

 **Fury arming X-Men - he wants them have teeth that can bite and if need be can handle problems some of the Avengers cannot, also it doesn't cost him that much to give them those things. Besides, with Stark and Worthington splashing cash he needs to get a fancier bribe for them to appease them.**

 **HarryxLauraxAtalanta - While Harry and Laura are dense, Atalanta can read them at any time of a day and thus knows when to poke them in the right direction to get what she wants.**

 **Harry's chambers - Odin is playing the old and tested game of getting what he wants through subtler than normal means, he could be less subtle, but he has reasons to be delicate and surprisingly soft. Also not seeing that something is happening between Harry and few people would require being an idiot and Odin is far from that.**

 **Harry's reaction to birth of his siblings - he has reasons to fear, he is the first son of Thor, but some could claim that he is a bastard and thus he isn't eligible to get the throne and his siblings should get it…**

Reviews:

WhiteElfElder - Let's just say that they have plenty of options, which can be used though explosives are a crude option. They could even use Bifrost as a drill, that's what Loki did at the end of Thor and simply annihilate the part of the countryside with the mansion.


	46. End of a chapter

**A/N - Finally wrapping up the year and Hogwarts will be soonish. Before you burn me for the next scene, be kind and check my notes at the end of the chapter.**

 **o-0-o**

It took Harry, Atalanta and Laura over two weeks before they were able to return back to the Institute as they spent over a week before celebrations spending time with each other and discussing ideas for his rooms with the architect responsible for the redesign as well as being with his family. After that came celebrations worthy of celebrating birth of a member of the royal family and since there were two children, the celebrations were even louder and larger.

However now it was just the past as he wondered where Atalanta was walking with him, it took him a moment before he recognized it, but he knew that it was the corridor where Jean-Paul had his room. She stopped in front of Jean's door, gently knocked and opened them, not waiting for any invitation, with second hand dragging him inside.

"We need to speak," she said with finality, looking at Jean who was laying on his bed and Harry, as she closed door behind.

"About what?" Jean asked.

"Something we should have done long ago," she said with a very sweet smile, making Harry and Jean gulp in fear and terror. "If you are cooperative, we will be done soon, if not, we will see and some might not leave this room whole." At those words their gulpes became even larger and some color disappeared from their faces. Mainly I think there is a need to have a small, pleasant chat about how relationships on Asgard look, especially in regard to you and Harry."

Jean looked at her and later at Harry. "Can you clarify it?"

"I can," Atalanta said with a smile and sat down on the other bed and motioned for Harry to do the same. "As you probably know on Asgard relationships are open and usually a lot can pass as long as everybody is accepting it."

"So that's why you can be in a relationship with Harry and Laura," Jean said.

"Precisely," she nodded. "We are all equal and accepting of the relationship as a whole, if I want to be alone or just with Laura it is fine, if Harry wants to have a moment to sulk on his own or be with just Laura, it is also fine. It's the same for Laura, she wants to be alone, it is fine, she wants to be just with me, it is fine."

"It all sounds nice and all," Jean said. "But I don't see my part in it."

"Because I didn't get to that part," Atalanta smirked. "Lovers," she slowly said, carefully pronouncing that word. "I saw your and Harry's flirts, no matter how well you tried to hide them, they were quite amusing at times."

Harry blushed at those word and could see that Jean did it, too.

"You saw then, yet you didn't murder us, which means that you have something in mind," Jean finished. "Also it most likely doesn't end with me or Harry being castrated by you using a very blunt and rusty knife."

Atalanta chuckled softly at those words. "No, besides, I wouldn't use a knife, a hairpin would be better and he would see your fate," she said. "Even if I'm nice and friendly for most of the time, my patience also has some limits."

Harry felt a very, very large ball of ice form in his stomach, he knew she could be nasty, but this was on a completely new level of nastiness and suffering. He was used to pain, his training in hand to hand, wrestling and hundreds of other martial arts made sure of it, but there were some borders and usually he had some kind of protection over his crotch

"Terrible," Jean shuddered and looked at her. "So what's the offer you want to make that will allow both of us to retain our balls and for you to have your precious Harry and your relationship with him."

"Indeed," she smiled. "The deal is a simple one, Harry is first and foremost mine and Laura's, we spend most of our time and we come first, however you also count. While not as important as we are, as long as you will be considered enough to be able to share him with us, you will be allowed to keep flirting with Harry and maybe develop it even more."

"Sounds interesting," Jean said and mused. "So if I want to have sex with him, I will be allowed to have it as long as I don't steal all of his time and leave most of it for you?"

"In the very most basic form of it, yes," Atalanta said and smiled. "However those are not the only perks of it, on Asgard you will be allowed to stay in his chambers as if you were his lover and as long as you do not things that can get between us and Harry, you won't be killed by one of us."

"I like it, I really like it," Jean said and smiled. "So can I think about myself as a part of a very complicated relationship that on Midgard would be impossible to understand?"

"You can."

Jean smiled and moved to sit on the other side of Harry. "Would you mind the two of us be alone?" Jean asked Atalanta.

"You can," she smiled. "You can spend even the whole night as long as you do nothing nasty and behave like civilized people."

"We will," he promised. "I don't want to lose your trust so quickly."

"Well, have fun," Atalanta said with a smile. "In the meantime, when you have fun and enjoy each other, I will talk with Laura and explain her the things, while you can educate each other about your bodies."

"Can we?" Harry asked.

"You can," Atalanta said, kissing him on the forehead and leaving the room.

"So we are alone, for a whole night and she doesn't have any issues with me spending the time with you," Jean said and moved closer to Harry. "Do you mind it? If you feel uncomfortable I will leave you alone."

He glanced at Jean and could tell that his friend was sincere in his words. "No, I don't mind it, it's just that I'm shocked by her reaction," Harry finally said. "I expected her to kill both of us, or at least you, while forcing me to watch it."

Jean smiled and looked at Harry. "She is a jealous one, but she also knows the limits and knows that devil she knows is a better than one she doesn't know," he finally said and leaned closer to Harry. "So what do you say mon chéri about using the time she has given us to the best of our abilities?" Jean whispered.

"I won't mind it," Harry said and Jean smiled.

Jean lightly pushed Harry onto the bed. "You won't forget this day any time soon," he whispered, leaning to kiss Harry.

Harry felt Jean's lips touch his, it was a different feeling than when he kissed Atalanta, she was soft and delicate, while Jean was firm and demanding. Also Atalanta usually let him choose his pace, while here it was Jean who started to probe his lips, asking for entrance. Harry lightly parted his lips, allowing Jean's tongue inside and tried to enjoy it as much as possible.

"You are a good kisser, mon chéri," Jean whispered as they ended their kiss. "It will be a very enjoyable night for both of us."

"What do you plan?" Harry asked, feeling comfortable warmth of Jean's body on his own. "She said that we should behave like civilized people."

"And we will," Jean promised. "It's just that a night in one bed with the hottest guy at school, or one of them is a dream of many and I'm the lucky one."

"You are also looking quite beautiful," Harry said and Jean looked at him. "And certainly in a better, more interesting way than guys on Asgard, every single one is a hulking mountain of perfectly sculpted muscles, while you are a different one."

"And different means better," Jean whispered, his hands roaming over Harry's chest. "It's not like you lack any muscles."

"No," Harry smiled. "So what do you say, get into more comfortable clothes and get into the bed?"

Jean smirked. "It works well," he said. "I just never expected you to be so blunt and direct, mon chéri."

"What can I do? It's just me," Harry said, slipped from beneath Jean and sat up on the bed.

He quickly threw his shirt to the side, followed by his pants, leaving him just in his underwear, Jean looked at him and quickly shed his own clothes, letting Harry take a good look at the physique of his lover. Jean was thinner, but it didn't mean that he lacked muscles, in fact he had quite a lot of them, they were just less visible and more wiry.

"You look good," Harry said as he walked to Jean. "Not like an Asgardian, but better and alien."

Jean licked his lips, his gaze running over Harry's body. "I knew that you looked good, but this, this is something much better and clothes hid almost everything from my eyes."

"Thanks," Harry said, small blush on his cheeks.

"No problem, chéri, you deserve it," Jean said and lightly pushed Harry onto the bed.

Harry softly landed on it and moved to the side to make room for Jean, who softly landed on the bed and turned to look at him, not hiding gaze that was undressing Harry from the last piece of clothing. Jean reached out for the blanket and draped it over their bodies.

"How is it with those relationships on Asgard?" He asked, looking at Harry. "Could you expand on what the other of your lovers said?"

"If you want," Harry said with a shrug. "I can, it's just that she explained most of it."

"Maybe she did," Jean smiled and placed his hand on Harry's arm. "But I want to hear it from you, mon chéri."

"From where should I start?" Harry mused quietly

"From the very beginning," Jean said with a smile. "If you do well, we can kiss until you will be unable to breath."

"Well, that's a certainly good motivation," Harry said with a smile. "As she said, generally as long as every interested party knows what is going on, nothing bad should happen, just be careful and don't push into others people's territory and you will be fine. Also same sex relationships are accepted and not seen as something bad, if I wanted to I could ask you to be my date for an official ball or banquet and you would be accepted."

"So as long as I listen to her and what she wants to do, I will be fine?"

"Yes," Harry smiled.

"So if I want to have sex with you," Jean said and Harry arched an eyebrow. "Hypothetically speaking, of course, she won't murder me as long as I won't take all of your time and let her have a bigger part of you."

"Yes," Harry said and looked at Jean. "Satisfied with my answer or should I expand on something?"

"It was an excellent answer," Jean said and pulled Harry into a kiss.

Harry didn't fight Jean, instead fully focused on enjoying the kiss and gathering as much pleasure as possible out of it. He let his hands race all over Jean's body, feeling out muscles and shapes. Jean didn't fight it instead he moved closer to him, making them feel heat of their bodies. It seemed like a beginning of a very enjoyable night, one of the very last he would spend at the Institute as soon the school year was going to end.

o-0-o

Atalanta smiled as she looked at Laura, who looked unsure and confused about what was going on, they were both in hers and Harry's room and sitting on the bigger bed. "Easy, love," she whispered, placing her hand on Laura's hand.

Laura looked at her. "I know, it's just that emotions confuse me," she weakly said.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Atalanta asked with concern. "Or for that matter Harry? We both are telepaths and could help you control them, or even Professor who knows telepathy even better than we do."

"I don't want to be seen as a weak one," Laura whispered. "I'm used to being the best and not showing emotions."

"You won't be seen as a weak one," Atalanta said and Laura looked at her. "We all need to deal with our emotions and ask for help when we cannot deal with it on our own."

"You do?"

"Yes, love," Atalanta said as she gently embraced Laura. "It is not a sign of weakness, some even treat an ability to be able to ask for help as a sign of maturity."

"Really?" Laura asked surprised.

"Yes," Atalanta smiled and pulled Laura even closer. "You need to embrace who you are and forget about the time with Weapon X."

"I know," Laura said. "It's just hard and emotions are confusing for me."

"You are a beautiful, strong girl, one that deserves much more than she was given," Atalanta said and gently cupped Laura's head, making their gazes meet. "We love you, Laura," Atalanta whispered. "Harry and I and we will help you and give you what you need to be the person you should be."

Laura smiled and Atalanta gently pulled her into a kiss, Laura's eyes widened in surprise, but then she simply enjoyed their physical contact and closeness.

"I know that you think that physical contact is a bad thing," Atalanta said, ending the kiss. "But it is a lie, did you suffer here because someone touched you? Did you enjoy the kiss we shared and the time in the resort on Asgard?"

"No and yes," Laura said and looked at Atalanta. "It's just that in Weapon X they had beaten me and I never ever had a chance to feel something else from a physical contact than pain."

"So have I thought," Atalanta said and Laura focused on her. "That's why we are alone and Harry is minding his own business, so that we can have some fun on our own and so that I can show you that physical contact can be fun."

"Can it?"

"Yes," Atalanta grinned. "Kissing is an example of it, massage another, even simple hug is an example of this."

Laura looked at her and Atalanta gently moved her hand up Laura's arm and to her shoulder, her gentle fingers moving over Laura's skin.

"How does it feel?" she asked.

"Good," Laura whispered as she leaned back. "Really good."

Atalanta smiled and leaned to kiss Laura. "So how about you relax and enjoy the time while I show you what feels good?"

"You won't harm me?" Laura asked in concern.

"No, I won't," Atalanta whispered. "Just a word and I will stop."

"Thank you," Laura said. "I trust you, but..."

"But the past doesn't let you relax," Atalanta finished and started to gently move her fingers up and down Laura's arm and shoulder. "Here you will relax and enjoy the time."

Laura weakly smiled and leaned back, which Atalanta took as a sign of approval and decided to make it a special time for their lover. She was a bit jealous of Harry's small affair with Jean, so she decided to have fun with Laura, while he could have his day with Jean and get bored, giving her plenty of opportunities to tease and annoy him.

o-0-o

Tony Stark smirked looking at the planes that stood outside of one of his factories, getting them assembled without too many people finding out was a challenge, but one that he liked and the effect was worth the trouble. There were whole twelve planes parked in front of the factory, two much larger one and ten smaller, nimbler and more predatory.

Larger ones were named Brave Eagle and were a heavily redesigned version of a bomber plane that was previously developed for USAF, it was almost fifty meters long with a narrow, elongated hull with smooth, angular lines to help in hiding from radars. In front of the hull was a pair of small, stubby wings, while the main ones were quite long, slightly angled and were located around midsection and were designed with variable-sweep in mind. In place where wings transitioned into the tail section there were mounted engines, four of them, a pair of them on the each side of the hull. Just a pair was enough to allow the plane to fly, but the whole four of them was required for it to reach designed speed of Mach 3.3. Such speed required powerful control mechanism and that's why its tail possessed an uncommon cruciform shape. Even if the shape of the plane was unable to cause respect, its paint took care of that, it was matte black with radar absorbing coating placed on top of the paint.

"How well does it look?" Tony asked, walking towards it with Cyclops and Warren III. "Top of the line technology, some devices that even military won't have for the next few years and all of that with a yearly supply of all major parts and everything is for free."

"It looks good," Cyclops said, his hand trailing over the edge of one of wings. "What about those other ten planes standing here?"

Tony smirked and motioned for them to follow him to a group of ten, smaller planes named Black Widow, each one of them was a fighter-bomber two-seat plane with large trapezoid wings, a pair of engines and large, uncommon angled fins placed on both sides of its engines. Under wings were visible several hardpoints for mounting equipment or weapons, however it was not the main place for it as inside of wings and hull were placed large weapon slash cargo bays, normally they were hidden, yet at the moment their doors were opened, revealing their locations.

"Black Widows," Tony explained and they looked at him. "Designed for you to use when you either need to crash into a base of some mutant haters militia, tangle with HYDRA or need something smaller and easier to hide than Blackbird."

"Why do I have a feeling that I saw them somewhere else?" Warren asked.

"Your father's engineers did a similar one, while ago," Tony explained. "I used their design, modified it and added some of my toys, the final effect is in front of us and I'm quite proud of it."

"It looks good," Cyclops nodded. "We will need to test it, but if it is as good as your normal stuff, than we will take them all."

"Well, choose which one you want and take it for a spin," Tony said with a smile. "All of them are ready for a flight."

Cyclops looked at him and after a nod from Tony walked to one of Widows, opened its cockpit and jumped inside.

o-0-o

Silence fell over gathered wizards of the International Confederation of Wizards when into the room stepped in three people, two of them in black robes with purple stoles, however on this similarities ended. One of them was tall with wide shoulders, perfectly groomed white hair, long flowing silver beard and cold blue eyes. He held himself with an air of confidence backed by power and experience, his name was Arthur Langtry and he was the Merlin of the White Council, the most powerful wizard on the whole planet and one of the oldest, if not the oldest one.

To his side was walking a man that was a total physical opposition of the Merlin, he was short, stocky and almost completely bald with only small tufts of hair on his head and a large beard. His name was Ebenezar McCoy and he was the Blackstaff of the White Council, their wetwork man and a powerful wizard in his own right.

Between them walked Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme, on his chest shining Eye of Agamotto and a cloak flowing behind him. He looked calm and composed, grace and dignity visible in his moves, he walked into the meeting room as if he owned the place and had every right to be here.

Before wizards managed to snap out of their stupor they walked across the whole room and to the empty seats on the raised dais where was seat of the Supreme Mugwump. Seating himself comfortably Strange looked around the room and later at Dumbledore. "Supreme Mugwump, could you be kind enough to announce the reason why we are here?"

"Of course," Dumbledore said and fired several sparks from his wand. "Silence!" he bellowed "Silence! Silence!"

"Our meetings are very similar," Ebenezar commented. "Just a lot more of plotting and animosities."

"Normally we can behave with some grace," the Merlin said. "Those here behave far worse than the most irresponsible Apprentice."

Strange nodded and waited patiently for Dumbledore to silence the crowds of wizards, over ten minutes passed before some resemblance of order was achieved and silence fell over the room. Silence undermined with excitement and curiosity as to why the White Council was present at the meeting, not to mention Sorcerer Supreme.

"Topic of this meeting is to discuss an event preparations to which were made in secret by the Ministry of Magic from Britain," Dumbledore said and paused to let crowds shout. "This event, the Tri-Wizard Tournament, preparations to it were started by the Ministry of Magic without any consultation with other countries or bodies that have power to initiate it. Sorcerer Supreme and I have discussed it at length and reached a conclusion that this body and the White Council need to be consulted."

"We think that the Tournament isn't a bad idea, but the proposed shape of it needs to be changed as difficulty of tasks is above the level of knowledge and abilities of any students and apprentices that could be allowed to take part in it," the Merlin said. "Stealing an egg from a nesting dragon, swim in a lake in the middle of winter and a maze are both dangerous and hard to organize as well as can easily get out of control."

Strange smiled when he heard gasps of shock and surprise, however, honestly speaking nothing else was expected, nobody liked their secrets being so carelessly revealed. The fact that it was the Merlin who tore into them made it even harder for them to digest and accept, even if the White Council stayed out of the ICW meetings, it had seats and the Merlin was one of the most important members of it.

"Thank you, the Merlin," Dumbledore said. "Because of mistakes done by the Ministry, I suggest that an appropriate body will be assembled to oversee preparations for the Tournament as well as creation of tasks that are both challenging, yet entertaining to watch."

"I have taken liberty of choosing a proper place for the event to be held," Strange cut in. "Its location will be revealed to the group that will oversee preparations once it is assembled."

"Masterfully played," the Merlin commented. "You set this whole thing up, didn't you?"

"I might have helped them," Strange said and added with a smile. "But it was you who ensured that they would behave and that they would listen to us."

Merlin nodded and Strange leaned back in his seat, enjoying the show, even if he hated politics it didn't mean that he was unable to play them, here and now he could even enjoy them.

o-0-o

Harry sat on the branch of one of many trees surrounding the Institute, he was holding a piece of charcoal and carefully drawing things on a sheet of paper he had on his laps, on top of a large, thick book. He pursed his lips as he tried to focus on the image he had in front of his mind, carefully making rough lines on the paper.

"What are you doing?" someone asked.

He looked in the direction of the voice and smiled when he saw Rahne climb up the tree, her nails turned into claws and eyes the color of amber. "Drawing things," he said. "Not much else."

"Not bad," she said as she looked at them. "What are they supposed to show?"

"Some of us, X-Men, few animals of Asgard and whatever else I have an idea to draw," he said. "It is also a good way to kill time and do something more meaningful than lay on your back for a whole day."

"I suppose it is," she nodded. "Though better question is for whom you are doing them, as I can tell that you have a goal in mind."

"Do I need to have a goal?" He asked her. "Maybe I want to be carefree and do whatever the hell I want to do, not caring about what am I supposed to do or should do."

"Fair enough," Rahne said as she moved to stand directly behind him. "It's just that you usually have some goal in mind, but now you don't have."

"Sorry," he said and looked at her. "It's just that this year been a hectic one and I want to finally catch some breath and get rest."

"No problem, I'm just curious," she said as she moved to get a more sure position. "So how soon do you return to Asgard?"

"In two weeks or so," he said with a faraway voice. "I will miss those days spent here, I came to like this place and all of you."

"Where will you go next year?"

"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy in Scotland, one of the oldest one on Earth, thousand or so years old."

"You seem not really fond of it," she noticed. "You don't like it?"

"Not really," he said with a sigh. "It's just that I wouldn't mind studying magic at the Academy or even other schools of magic on Asgard as we have quite a few of them. There are three main, but there is also a lot more of smaller ones."

"So what's wrong with it?"

"Atmosphere of it, some of the rules there and the fact that the Headmaster seems to be a very active politician, oh, and SHIELD raided it."

"SHIELD, the SHIELD?" she asked.

"Very same, they did it during Weapon X thingy," he said and rubbed the scar on the back of his neck, he could still feel lingering phantom pain, even after all those months. "Not that I feel sorry for those that were arrested."

"They deserved it, didn't they?"

"They did," he sadly agreed. "It's just it doesn't make me feel too confident that there won't be a second raid on the school. I know that there shouldn't be, but..."

"You aren't sure and don't want get into the path of danger."

"Also Ulf and Atalanta will be coming," Harry said, changing the topic. "So hopefully it will be okay and I will learn a thing or two, or at least have a more enjoyable stay there."

"You should enjoy it," Rahne said and grinned. "If you get bored there is also the Institute where you can return when you want or desire to and there is also Skype and few other things. Though the time difference is a bummer as afternoon for us means midnight for you."

"Yeah, at least I will be able to stay in contact with you," he said and looked at her. "I would like to finish the drawing I'm making, so I won't talk."

Rahne nodded and changing into the wolf laid still to his side, her muzzle on his leg, he smiled and scratched her wolf form between its ears before focusing back on drawing. He wanted to finish it soon and give some of his drawings to one that taught him most of what he knew about mutant powers.

When he was done with the drawing, the sun was much lower that it used to be and everything was covered in a layer of shadows that extended and distorted shapes. Gathering his drawing utensils, papers and jumped down onto the ground. He headed for the Institute and once inside he walked into his room to gather few things.

When he entered inside he saw Atalanta and Laura on their bed, quietly talking with each other and trading kisses, Atalanta looked up and her gaze focused for a moment on him. _"What are you doing, love?"_

" _Nothing, just making a small gift for a friend of mine, one who taught me most about my powers,"_ he quickly replied back in thoughts. _"Keep doing what you are doing and later we can talk."_

" _Sure,"_ Atalanta replied before focusing back on Laura.

He gathered what he needed to gather, silently slipped out of the room and went on his search of Storm, who was one of more elusive X-Men unless trouble was happening or someone was dangerously close to breaking the rules. Then she was very easy to find and only the most foolhardy were able not to notice her.

Walking through the Institute he carefully looked around, trying to find any clue about her whereabouts, he wandered it aimlessly for over an hour, not finding a single clue about her location. He sighed and then it hit him. "I'm an idiot," he whispered to himself before quickly walking to place where was her room.

He climbed up several flights of stairs and walked down the corridor on the top floor of the Institute, floor which was occupied by most of the staff, he stopped in front of ones at the end of the corridor and gently knocked. He heard some rustling and almost immediately door were opened by Storm.

"What do you need?" she softly asked.

"Nothing," he said with a sheepish smile. "I just wanted to say thank you for all or the time you spend on teaching me about my powers and how to use them."

"There is no need for it," she said. "I did it because it should be done."

"Still," Harry said and showed her the folder he had brought with himself. "Please, Storm."

She nodded, took the folder and looked through the things inside of it. "They are beautiful," she said and looked at him. "All of this is your work?"

"Most of it, Atalanta started on few or few finished, but the rest is completely mine," he said. "I always loved to draw, but until I was on Asgard I didn't have time or means of exploring it. Now I have and those are the effects of it."

"Thank you," she said and gently hugged him. "Teaching you was an honor, I hope that I will be able to show you even more."

"Hopefully you will."

She nodded and released him with a smile. "Now, go to your room and behave."

He nodded and disappeared towards his room, when he got there, he saw Atalanta sitting on the bed and Laura cuddled to her side. Atalanta was slowly and gently stroking Laura's hair, but when she heard doors creak she looked up at him and smiled. _"Done?"_

" _Done,"_ he said and jumped onto the bed on the other side of Atalanta. "So what do you think about the time we spent here?"

"It wasn't a bad one," Atalanta said, her hand still moving through Laura's hair. "She on her own would be worth all the trouble, you and her..."

"Make it a much more enjoyable experience," he finished. "So who should be allowed to come with us to Asgard for holidays?"

"She is a must," Atalanta smiled. "Maybe also you will finally kiss her and if you want Jean can come and I won't murder you too badly."

"Thank you for that," Harry said with a smile and moved towards Laura. "Do you want to come to Asgard with us, for whole holidays?"

"Can I?" she asked, her voice a bit blurry and sleepy.

"Well, as long as Wolverine agrees, I don't see a single issue," Harry said and saw her smile. "Yes, I'm not joking as I can invite whoever I want and since you are my lover, I don't see a single reason why I shouldn't do it."

"Also you will have time to relax and enjoy the time," Atalanta added. "So I think it is a far better way to spend the time, than being stuck here and bored to death."

"It sounds way better than being here," Laura said as she moved. "So I will probably speak with dad and he should let me come with you."

"That's good," Harry said and gently placed his hand on her arm. "May I?"

"Yes."

"You should like the time we will spend there, three months of glorious rest and we will most likely share rooms," he said and glanced at Atalanta. "Did we discuss with the architect what we wanted inside of every room when it comes to colors, paneling and so on?"

"We did," Atalanta said. "But making modifications is also relatively easy, so if you don't like something it can be easily and quickly changed," she added in direction of Laura. "So if you don't like it, you need to just say and it will be changed for something you like."

"As well as have it fitted to your tastes and desires," Harry added. "Or if you want, you can share the main bedroom with me and At."

"Can I?"

"Yes, you can," he said and started to gently move his hand up and down Laura's shoulder. "You are my lover and have the same rights as she has, so you can also be in the same bed as we are."

"Also we won't do a single thing without your acceptance," Atalanta added and smiled. "So you don't need to fear of something untowards happening to you."

"I will come with you," Laura said and made them smile.

Harry moved to a more comfortable position on the other side of Laura, so that she was between him and Atalanta and lightly embraced her.

o-0-o

Harry gulped as he looked at Wolverine, even if he was a head taller and probably stronger, he still feared this old mutant grizzled by wars and life, as well as an extremely experienced and deadly combatant. "You will do a single thing to her," Wolverine gruffly said, indicating Laura. "And this will happen to you." At those words Wolverine extended his claws and pointed them at Harry's chest. "Is it clear?"

"Yes," Harry said with a gulp, eyeing the claws that were touching his shirt in front of his heart. "So could you kindly remove those claws?"

"Not yet," Wolverine said. "Are we clear I will hunt you to the edge of the universe and beyond it if something happens to her?"

"Crystal clear," Harry said, pushing those claws away from himself.

"Good," Wolverine nodded. "As I said, anything happens, your head rolls and if you do something to her without her consent, the same."

"I understand."

Wolverine nodded and finally retracted his claws, when he did it Harry took a couple of deep breaths to steady himself and forget about those pointy objects almost touching his chest, ready to bury themselves the moment he gave a wrong answer. He was able to understand why Wolverine was so protective of Laura, but he could do it in a subtler and less stressful manner, he almost shit himself once or twice during this conversation.

"So can I leave?"

"You can," Wolverine said dismissively and Harry nodded breathing out in relief.

He almost ran out of that room, his frantic steps carrying him further and further away from Wolverine, he stopped when he was almost in front of his room. Even after whole two years Wolverine was as scary as he used to be, maybe even more, it also made him realize with finality that those were his last few days at the Institute for a very long time, if ever.

o-0-o

Professor smiled when Harry entered into his office, he could feel some sadness in that boy, but it was a better than a massive whirlwind of emotions that were in him when he was freed from Weapon X. "Sit down," Professor said and waited for Harry to get comfortable before speaking once more. "I know that you won't return here for the next year and that you will be at Hogwarts, however that is not why I wanted to talk with you."

"So what's the reason?" Harry asked.

"Weapon X," Professor said quietly and Harry looked at him. "I'm almost certain that all of the longer term effects of what they did to you were healed, however it is impossible to be sure of it. So if you have any problems don't let them boil inside of you, but come and ask for help, I'm almost sure that nobody will not allow you to come and ask me for help or counseling."

"I understand," Harry said and bowed his head. "I feel fine, so I will probably won't ask for help, but I'm grateful for your offer of help and support. What about my time at Hogwarts?"

"It won't be a problem," Professor said with a smile. "I know Albus rather well and I know how to convince him to let you come here for a couple of days if it will be required, or even for more. So you have nothing to worry about as I will be able to get to you when situation will require it."

"Thank you,"

"No problem," Professor said. "Enjoy your last few days here and don't cause too much damage, if you ever want or need to come back you are welcomed to do so and don't need to ask if you can."

Harry nodded and walked out of the room, Professor watched him leave the room, while thinking about Dumbledore, his old friend was a mystery and a danger. Previously he didn't think about those events from the times of the Order of the Phoenix as something more serious, but looking at them from the perspective of over thirteen years made them look different.

o-0-o

"We will miss you," Rahne said as she embraced Harry.

"I will too," he said and smiled mischievously. "Maybe we will see sooner than you think."

"I hope so," she said as she released him. "So you need to travel to Asgard so soon?"

"Yeah," he said and sighed. "School year is over and I need to be home as soon as possible."

"I see," she said and looked at Atalanta and Laura. "Take care of him and make sure that he stays safe."

"We will make sure he stays alive," Atalanta promised. "Him dead would be of no use for us and that would make us sad, really sad."

"Good enough," Warren said as he dropped onto the ground. "I also expect you not to rape or murder him, as it would make me unhappy."

"Let me live," Harry sighed. "It's not like I won't return here, just not soon, so let me live."

"True enough," Danielle said, before hugging Harry. "Still we will miss you."

Harry smiled and looked at Atalanta and Laura. "Should we go?"

"We should," Atalanta nodded as they walked towards one spot, she looked at the sky and shouted. "Heimdall, open the Bifrost."

Rainbow beam of Bifrost descended from the heavens above and whisked them away to Asgard, starting their glorious holidays and break time when they could fully relax and not care about the world.

 **o-0-o**

 **A/N:**

 **Relationships - Harry and Atalanta subconsciously know that sooner or later their families will convince/lure/force/whatever into a marriage, so even if for all intents and purposes they are lovers, they also don't have many qualms about taking lovers and having fun. Also in royal family nobody really cares with whom someone sleep unless there are some children born out of the union, if there are no children, nobody will say no, that is as long as they don't show too openly how many lovers they had and have.**

 **Why did Atalanta accepted Jean - because she knows him and knows how she can threaten him and thus knows how she can keep Harry in line. She wouldn't have too many issues with chasing him away, but it would also mean that Harry might get angry, annoyed or simply find someone else and thus making her start the whole thing once again. Also she doesn't want to be like Hera who murdered several of Zeus' children and lovers getting nothing. She can defend her prize, but she also knows that she and Harry are from lines famous for sleeping around and indulgence, off top my head - Odin raped and murdered seven witches, had something like ten sons with various women and was able to devour insane amounts of food and drinks. Zeus, do I really need to mention his exploits? Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Hermes, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Castor, Pollux, Perseus, Minos, Nine Muses, Persephone, Moirai, Horae, Enyo and Eris. Does anybody have any questions about his escapades?**

 **Planes for X-Men - Larger one is based on B-1B, one of few nicer and newer designs in existence that can reach supersonic speed. It looks good and with small upgrades and redesigns will serve well and not many will be able to match its performance. An important factor is that it can pass as a plane belonging to the USA and at that not many will even think about shooting. Smaller planes are designed with missions when they don't want to be really seen and heard, but want to have teeth to scare anybody that might have other plans for them. One nice gift that comes with those planes is that trips onto LEO are a possibility and won't cost much.**

 **The White Council - It is an organization of wizards in Dresdenverse and its leaders form Senior Council, there are seven of them and they are the oldest wizards of the council. The Merlin is its leader and the most powerful wizard out of the whole council and many claim that he is the strongest in the whole world. Blackstaff is a member of the Senior Council who is allowed to break any laws and is its heavyweight champion when it comes to arguments with other groups.**

 **Reviews:**

 **WhiteElfElder - Why should they do it?**


	47. Domus Dulcis Domus

**A/N - Hogwarts is soonish, this and two more chapters are mostly laid back and relaxed, excluding few minor improvements made to Grimmauld Place.**

Harry hurried out of the Observatory and into the Citadel, he was eager to get back home, but he was also curious how big of a change happened to his rooms. He knew how it was supposed to look, but he was also thoroughly aware that schematics and blueprints rarely showed how well something looked. He finally calmed down when he stood in front of the doors leading into his rooms, he took deep breath and looked at Atalanta who smiled.

"It should look great," she said and gently pushed doors open. "So let's see how it looks."

He nodded and stepping inside he was a bit surprised, first thing that struck him was a wooden floor and walls covered in warm rose marble in which were carved scenes from the history of Asgard, surrounded by geometrical shapes. As they walked inside they quickly passed through this corridor and entered into a hexagonal room with three doorways visible from their entry point, one in front of them was a more official one, while those placed to the sides were almost flush with the walls and soon they discovered that beyond them were hidden stairs leading upwards.

"Looks like below is the boring, official part, while here is place to live and enjoy the time," he said as they climbed up the stairs. "I just suggested it, but I think they did it."

Arriving on top of stairs they were met by a wooden floor covered in thick rugs and pelts of various animals, walls too were made out of wood, or at least paneling was made out of it. He could recognize cherry, chestnut and many more kinds of wood. Paneling was covered in various tapestries and in some places carved, making it look more warm and welcoming than marble below.

"Not too shabby," he commented walking inside.

They passed through large lounge area, skylights placed in its roof, several sofas, armchairs and small tables scattered around the room, hunting trophies and tapestries on the walls. Beyond it were bedrooms and Harry smiled as he entered into one that he knew was his, not the master one, but his if he wanted to be alone.

It was quite big with a king sized bed placed by one wall, nightstands to its sides and several cupboards placed by the walls, a fireplace in the corner, a tapestry or two on the wall and two doors leading into more rooms, one revealed to lead into a large bathroom shared with one more bedroom and if he was right, Jean would claim the other bedroom the moment he was able to get here, while second led onto the balcony.

Next several minutes they spent roaming around his rooms and exploring them, including master bedroom which lived up to its name and was quite massive with a huge bed placed in the middle and several cupboards and wardrobes along the walls, on the floor were placed rugs and pelts of animals and in the corner by the fireplace was made a comfortable lair for his wolves who just looked at him and walked there before laying on the ground and curling into two large balls of fur.

"It seems that they love those rooms," Laura said with a small chuckle.

"They can sleep anywhere," Harry said. "It's just that they prefer something warm and comfortable."

"As we all," Atalanta pointed out. "So we can finish looking around and have some fun?"

"I like it," he said with a grin.

They finished looking around, quickly noticing second bathroom and french doors leading onto the balcony, stepping out onto it Harry could see a beautiful panoramic view of the city below and the massive form of the Academy in the distance. It was then when he noticed that his rooms actually had a large terrace on the level below, as well as an easier access to the gardens than he thought. Also a really nice and appreciated discovery were several large and old plants of ivy that were climbing the walls and providing some privacy and shadows that sometimes were a much needed escape from the scorching heat of sun.

He heard Laura walk onto the balcony and looked at her. "What do you think about those rooms?"

"They look good," she said and walked closer to him. "I never dreamed that I could have freedom, not even love and friends."

"Now you have," he said, gently wrapping his hand around her. "And I won't betray your trust."

"Thank you," she whispered. "You are one of my closest friends."

"And your lover," he added. "I won't leave you."

She smiled and they stood like that for a moment, enjoying the closeness and being with each other. He could tell that she wanted to be with him and Atalanta which promised a rather enjoyable holidays for all of them.

Several hours later, three times when his ribs almost were crushed by bear hugs from his friends and some time spent in taverns he was finally able to get into his bedroom and for some time with his lovers. He smiled as he dressed into loose shorts and slipped into the bed where he saw Laura waiting for him, while Atalanta was already deep asleep, tired by tavern hopping.

He moved to her side and looked into her eyes. "Since she is asleep, want to have some fun?"

"What do you mean?" she frowned.

"Kiss, explore our bodies and talk," he said and she looked at him. "I know that you were doing it with Atalanta."

"I don't know," Laura softly said.

"Trust me and you will be fine," he said and lightly placed his hand on her side. "I won't cause you any harm and you should enjoy it."

She relented and lightly nodded, making Harry smile, he lightly reached towards her body and gently moved her even closer to him. She didn't oppose and soon their bodies were touching each other.

"You are a beautiful girl," he whispered as he gently kissed her. "One that deserves all of this and much more."

"Am I?" she asked.

"Yes, you are," he said and started next kiss, he could feel her melt on him, her mind and body not used to such pleasures.

When they finally went to sleep she was laying over him, both of them exhausted, yet happy and he could feel that she loved things they did, even if at first she wasn't so sure about it.

o-0-o

Fury watched as a rocket took off from a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, weather was perfect, no clouds, no rain and a pleasant wind blowing from the ocean. However the launch was not the reason he was here, he needed a quiet meeting spot, away from the noise of the Triskelion. He heard a faint sound of footsteps and nodded in direction of person that approached him.

"Mr Laufeyson," he said towards an ordinary man that approached him, only standing out thing were his eyes, fully red and full of intelligence. "Why did you request a meeting with me in this place of all?"

"I don't think that I need to answer this question," Laufeyson said and shrugged. "I have the data you wanted me and my contacts to gather, but it is far worse than we thought."

"Snake is all over the place?"

"Unfortunately, yes, they are even in the highest echelons of your group, we cannot speak here honestly as they have ears and eyes everywhere," Laufeyson said and at the same time Fury could feel something land in one of the pockets of his coat. "I hope that in the future we will be able to talk more freely, in the meanwhile I suggest you enjoy this fine weather as soon it will get a lot colder and snowy, so snowy that being outside will be a very unhealthy thing."

"Snow in the middle of May in Florida?" Fury asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Weirder things were happening and weather as of recent was a bit unpredictable, so snow in May would be a passable thing, especially considering what are the stakes of our game."

"I suppose you could be right, Mr Laufeyson," Fury said and focused on watching the rocket that carried one of many satellites SHIELD needed onto its orbit.

o-0-o

Natasha looked at the STRIKE team leader and pointed at the door, he looked at her, later at the door and nodded in understanding. For one last time she looked around, her eyes slipping over upper class houses, perfectly cut hedges and expensive cars parked in front of many houses and a general feeling of peace and calmness. Only their black SUVs and vans parked haphazardly were disturbing this image.

She gave the signal and door in front of them flew of its hinges, momentarily followed by a dozen or so of flashbang grenades, she didn't envy anybody who was inside as the noise and light would cause a lot of harm to their senses. When explosions happened Natasha leaped into the building, closely followed by the team of STRIKE agents, next few moments were a blur of activity as doors were kicked open and their target dragged out of his bed.

Even if Weapon X was officially gone for few months, it still had some cells that were alive and this was one of those cases, however the question was how this person managed to stay out of sight for so long. And out of all places in plain sight, as this was one of more exclusive places to live and not many had funds to afford a house here.

She smiled when she saw quite an old man being dragged out of one of bedrooms, she walked towards agents that carried him and took a good, careful look of him. "Doctor Abraham Cornelius, what a pleasant surprise," she said.

"Black Widow," he spat. "I don't know how did you find me, but I won't tell you a single thing."

"You won't need to," she said. "We have everything we need, we are just gathering loose strands." She glanced at the agents. "Take him and make sure that this time he stays with us."

Agents nodded and dragged their captive with them, while letting search through the house and look for any evidence they could need, not that it would change anything as they had whole servers of Weapon X and copies of files from Red Room as they hacked its servers, along with taking whole collection of files from GRU and former KGB. Data gathered from them proved to be extremely valuable, even with just under ten percents of them decrypted and translated to English, there were so many dirty secrets there that they were able to figure out the how nets of Russian agents worked and many of them were _convinced_ to leave the USA and stay away from spying, while rest was dealt with in a more permanent manner.

o-0-o

Harry loudly yawned, stretching in bed, as first rays of the sun that got into the room woke him up, he felt something or someone move to his side and saw that Atalanta and Laura were also slowly waking up. He hated the fact that sleep for more than two or three hours after sunrise was a thing almost impossible to achieve for him, he looked towards the lair of Freki and Geri and saw that his pet wolves were still deep asleep.

"Morning," Atalanta muttered as she sat up, trying not to disturb Laura's whose limbs were all over her. "What do you plan to do today?"

"Relax," he said and looked at Laura, who slept peacefully between them. "Probably not much else, do the usual training and for the rest of the day do nothing."

"Nothing, that is kiss until you cannot breath and see what else can we do?"

He lightly blushed and looked at Atalanta. "Are you suggesting something?"

She chuckled lightly. "Harry, we both are Asgardian teens and we are both aware of how strong our urges and desires can get," she said, her eyes shining lightly in the sparse light of the morning. "So we both know what we will probably do."

"Fair enough," he said, trying to control his blush. "What about her?"

"What what about her?" Atalanta asked. "It's not like there aren't things we can do together, even when our bodies want attention."

"I guess so," Harry said and sighed quietly. "It will be so troublesome getting used to an idea of someone else to share time with."

"Says one who has one more lover," Atalanta pointed out with a smirk.

"Remind me to murder him."

"Why should I do it?" she asked. "It was you who dig yourself this hole, so deal with it on your own."

"Gee, thanks for your support."

"No problem," Atalanta said and smiled. "He is yours, so deal with it however you want, just remember about the order and we will be fine."

He nodded and looked at her, she possesed an ethereal beauty, but also was not shallow and behind pretty face had a sharp mind that first got his attention in her and now kept him attached to her. But in the morning light she looked even more beautiful with golden sunlight highlighting her charms, ebony hair, golden eyes and coppery skin. "I will remember about it," he said, finally snapping out of his stupor.

"Good boy," she said with a smile. "Now get done with your training, take a shower and we can have fun, maybe go to a city or do something else."

"Yes, Ma'am," he jokingly said.

He rolled of the bed, walked out of the room and across the hallway into a fully equipped gym that he discovered when they were exploring his rooms. The fact that he had it didn't surprise me as since the moment he started training in martial arts he was given a strict regime of other exercises to do every day and not doing them meant being talked to and other unpleasantries. So even if he disliked them, he needed to do them. However now they were just a habit that he subconsciously followed and a moment when he could think about whatever he wanted.

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy entered into one of the vaults hidden inside of his mansion and quickly walked across, completely ignoring various trinkets and dark arts artifacts his family had gathered over the generations. Yet he ignored them and walked deeper into the room, looking for a very ordinary looking diary with a very dangerous content, content that could help tilt the scales in his favor.

It took him a moment before he finally found what he wanted, it was thrown into a corner and hidden beneath used invisibility cloak, he carefully threw the cloak away and reached for the weathered thin leather diary hidden below. He firmly grasped it and walked out of the room, thinking who should be given it, it needed to be someone from Light family and not experienced.

"Weasley twins start Hogwarts this year," he said with a thin smile. "It seems that fate favors me and wants to hurt those that are against me. Quite fortunate."

He locked stone door behind and slid over it a piece of a fake wall, once it was done he walked into his study and placed the diary on his desk, he needed a way to deliver it in a manner that would be hard to connect to him, yet would make sure that a proper person would get the diary. If not a proper, than someone close to it, as for him it didn't matter if it was the girl or the boy that were given this thing, it would work equally well and would get the same effect.

o-0-o

Loki appeared in the office of Dumbledore, conjured for himself a comfortable armchair and sat down before finally speaking. "I see that the Ministry has been dealt with, from what I have heard the Merlin and Strange ripped their plans to shreds and made sure they stayed that way."

"Indeed, they did it," Dumbledore said, looking over his half glasses. "A group has been set up by the ICW and will oversee preparations for the Tournament, as well as will ensure that those tasks are doable for champions taking part in the Tournament."

"That's good," Loki nodded and smiled. "Maybe it will teach them not to jump into the water headfirst, but to check with what they are swimming and how everybody else will react to such an idea. However, that's not why I'm here."

"Than what is it?"

"One final small improvement to Hogwarts from incoming year," Loki said with a smirk. "Your students seem to lack any abilities at self-defense and their physical conditioning is subpar, which worries me as any wizard that wants to survive a duel needs to be agile and fast."

"If I may ask, what do you suggest?"

"I was thinking about making a new addition, not an actual class, but more of an extracurricular activity that would be compulsory for every student and would take place during Saturdays or Sundays, depending on groups. They would get somewhat fit, but that would be for them to do on their own and on weekends they would train, I also managed to find two people that will happily teach them and are quite good at what they do," Loki said and smiled. "Both of them are capable combatants and one of them trained my nephew for most of the last year, which speaks volumes about their abilities and experience."

"I know that the world has been getting darker and still is, but is there a point in introducing such things to Hogwarts?" Dumbledore carefully asked. "For past hundred years it had not be attacked and I don't see a reason why it should be now."

"What about raid done by SHIELD?" Loki asked. "If my memory serves me correctly it was less than a year ago and they easily took the castle, not even getting a single injured one."

"They weren't wizards."

"So? Lines between those societies are getting blurry and will sooner or later disappear, so also non-magicals might pay it a visit and if they do, they will be taught to watch out for wands. Which will make a lot of your magic pointless," Loki said and Dumbledore glared at him. "While you and few other, not to mention the White Council don't need a focus for their magic, most of wizards either need it or is much better with them. So nine out of ten competent fighters will go for the wand and the least you need to learn is how not to get it knocked out of your hand, which doesn't require a lot of training, but the more the better and physical fitness doesn't hurt."

"I suppose," Dumbledore said. "Still, many will protest against such thing being added to the curriculum, it was always a school where we didn't teach about martial arts."

"So?" Loki asked. "Don't add it as a compulsory thing, just as I said, as an extracurricular activity, one where attendance isn't required, but lack of it is being punished by a detention or points being removed. Technically speaking they don't need to attend them, but..."

"If they don't, their own house will make sure they need to attend it, nobody wants to lose points for things they didn't do, so everybody will ensure that the rest is attending," Dumbledore finished.

"Indeed, a dirty tactic, but it works and should also keep away our toad from it as I have a feeling she will try to show that she is the best and that everybody needs to listen to her," Loki said and shook his head. "She doesn't understand that in this game you need to be patient, so she will go for the jugular and be a nuisance, one that looks for every single reason it can get to discredit or attack you or me."

"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded in agreement.

"I hate playing this game, but I think that I will need to do it," Loki said and Dumbledore looked at him. "Use Harry as a bait and when she does anything that is a clear violation of school rules, she gives me a reason to pounce onto her or unleash mother onto her, yes that will work."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement and Loki could see the old goat agree with him, even if reluctantly.

"Didn't you think about splitting position of a Deputy Headmaster away from the Head of the House?" Loki asked, changing the topic. "For me position of the Head of House should be separate as it is supposed to be biased, while Deputy is supposed to be one who is impartial and doesn't favor any house."

"It has some merits, especially with Madam Umbridge lurking in the castle," Dumbledore said. "I would need to think about it, but perhaps it should be done."

Loki only smiled and with one last nod disappeared from the office, his job was done and there were many other duties and things which needed to be taken care of. While he had doubts about place where were loyalties of Dumbledore, that man was a capable one and could be trusted with some things, not many, but some.

o-0-o

Wanda smiled as she looked at Sirius, he was a completely different man than one they had freedom from Azkaban, gone was hated look from his eyes, his skin had a healthy tan to it as and he walked with a confidence of a free man, not a prisoner. "So goblins will take care of that cup?" she asked.

"Yes," he said and she saw his gaze dart to the diadem. "Rowena's diadem?"

"One and only," she said and grimaced. "He warped it, it was supposed to provide user with wisdom, but now thanks to the horcrux inside, it will slowly corrupt. We think that we can fix the enchantment, but first the horcrux needs to be gone."

"And you need it to triangulate position of other horcruxes," Sirius said and scratched his chin. "There might be something that I can do that will help you, my family home in London is a giant maze full of dark arts artifacts and lore, you could try digging there."

"One from which you had runaway?"

"The same one," he nodded. "Bloody maze that is so full of dangerous things that I don't want even get close to it, grimoires, books, artifacts, probably a human head or two, plenty of tools of torture, several summoning circles, an athame and many other things."

"Sounds charming and scary," she said and smiled. "Which is just a thing I want to explore, I want to get out of this mansion and do something more interesting than another tracking rituals, which are useful, but boring."

"Well," he said and looked at her. "Can you open a portal to Grimmauld Place? That's the location of it and that's the closest we can get using magic."

Wanda closed her eyes and focused on the name given to her, she pulled on her magic and soon in front of them was visible a swirling vortex of energy. "Ready," she said and walked to the portal. "Be careful as it isn't anchored to the ground."

Sirius nodded and together they stepped through the portal, once on the other side of it she took a moment to look around and she saw that they were standing in the most typical place in London or somewhere close to it and in front of them were old, stone buildings. "It looks normal," she finally said.

Sirius briefly smiled. "It is normal, because my family was paranoid and wanted to have some safety of their house," he explained and walked to a place between number 11 and 13. "So they used every single mean of hiding the house from both non-magicals and magicals, on top of that there are means of discouraging unwanted guests from exploring the house."

"How dangerous means?" she asked. "Things that will fry you or convince you to leave it?"

"What do you think would they choose?"

"Right," she sighed. "Things that will kill you in tens of different ways before you even know you are dead."

Sirius only nodded and waved his wand around, while muttering sentences in Latin, soon between the two houses appeared a third one. "Grimmauld Place 12, home of the most ancient and noble Black family," he said, opening doors and looking at her. "Be careful, there might or might not be a crazed house elf inside and my mother's portrait needs to be taken care of."

"Mother's portrait," she asked, stepping inside and almost knocking over a trolls leg.

"Don't ask," he said with a sigh. "If it screeches, blast it."

"That I can do," she said and summoned her staff.

"Since when did you use a staff?" Sirius asked. "From what I remember, you didn't use it during the war."

"Damage control and easier manipulation of magic," she explained. "I can do it without, but having it with me helps me not to blow up half of a house when I want to just remove a portrait with a wall behind it."

"Fair enough," he said and muttered a word, making a flicker of light appear at the tip of his wand. "Also there might be some supernatural predators and nasties hidden inside."

"How dangerous?"

"Nothing too extreme," he said and winced when they heard a loud rattling noise of a curtains from a portrait to the side, followed by a loud screech from a woman that was in the portrait, her appearance was hideous and that was the most pleasant adjective Wanda could come up with.

"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers."

"Lovely mother and her even sweeter voice," Sirius said and looked at Wanda. "Be kind and blast it."

She smiled, pointed her staff in the direction of the portrait, whispering a word, channeled magic through the weathered and carved oak wood of her staff and watched with some satisfaction as a lance of pure force rippled through the air and slammed into the portrait and the wall behind. Portrait was ripped to pieces and the wall behind it now sported a wide, gaping hole in the middle of what used to be occupied by the portrait.

"Not too shabby," he said and stepped over the rubble that spilled onto the floor. "Shall we get back to the tour and looking for things of interest?"

"We shall," she nodded, her scarlet eyes looking around. "If this search will be as good as your mother was welcoming I fear for what we will find."

"It shouldn't be that bad," he said and she nodded.

They spent next several hours carefully digging through the artifacts and memoirs left by his family, some of them creepy, some of them scary and even more outright dangerous, however the dominating trait was that all of them were dark in one way or another. Finally when they were checking the last room she managed to find a locket with a snake motif on the lid.

"What's that?" she asked, showing the locket to Sirius.

"Don't know," he shrugged. "Probably one of mother's ideas of showing how close to purity we are, she loved such useless trinket."

Wanda nodded and looked at the trinket, she had some ideas about what it could be, she found a similar one when she looked in that cave, this one looked really similar to one she had found and there was something evil within it. She reached out with her magic and almost instantly felt something trapped within it. "I think it is something more," she said and Sirius looked at her. "It is a trap for something, so I think we have our friend."

"How sure are you?"

"I would need to check it with those pieces that I have, but I think it is a part of him," she said and looked around. "Before I go, do you want my help with the rest of this mess?"

"Yeah," he said. "While I don't plan to live here permanently as I'm always welcomed on Asgard and I have a nice house in the US, it is still useful to have a base so close to Hogwarts."

She nodded and they returned back to work of cleansing this place from all of the dark arts and artifacts of it.

o-0-o

Thor looked at his oldest son and had troubles believing how strongly Harry had changed, he remembered when he was a scrawny child scared of almost everything, now Harry turned into a fine young man that made him proud. One that was a ferocious warrior, yet had a softer side for his family and friends, one that was shown at the moment by him willing to hold one of his baby siblings.

"You know that's your fourteenth birthday is close?" Thor asked and Harry looked at him.

"I know it, dad," Harry said, diverting his eyes from Erik. "Something like a month away, isn't it?"

"Yes," Thor said with a faint smile. "But it is also a very special birthday for every Æsir and it is one of kind."

"Hrolf mentioned it, but didn't say what it is," Harry said and sighed. "Which is weird, as he normally tells everything, not hiding a single thing, he told me about circumcision and a lot about other customs, but never about it."

"Because it is a tradition that you should learn about it few weeks before it, no earlier," Thor patiently explained. "It is done so that they can tease younger ones and so that there is some surprise for you."

"Surprise?" Harry asked with an arched eyebrow. "What kind of it?"

"A good one," Thor said and Harry looked at him. "A party for you and selected few of the guest you want to invite and it is one of those rare moments when you are allowed to indulge in everything you want to. Drugs, alcohol, food, carnal pleasures, all is allowed and you can have as much fun as you want to have."

Harry's eyes shone at those words. "Dad, tell me that's not a joke."

"It is not a joke, while you can invite how many you wish or want, I suggest that you limit the number and choose them with care. Seven or so is the best number and the easiest to manage."

"I see," Harry mused quietly and finally looked at Thor. "How soon should I make a decision and can I invite X-Men that I like?"

"The sooner it is done, the better," Thor said and paused for a moment. "Normally list of guest is limited to Asgard, but you spent past two years on Midgard and that is a reason good enough to invite them. However you need to make sure that they understand what comes with ut ans that they are willing to take part in it."

"I understand."

"Good," Thor smiled.

o-0-o

Harry sat on the terrace of his chambers and looked at Atalanta and Laura who were with him here, he quickly explained the thing to come so that they could discuss possible people to be invited.

"I want all of you to be there," he said looking at them. "Which means five more spots to fill, Ulf will murder if I omit him, Hrolf and Jarl also want to be there, which limits it to two spots."

"Two X-Men?" Atalanta asked, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes. "At the moment we have two females and four males, if you want it symmetrical, you need two more females."

"I know," Harry said and sighed. "As much as I like Jean, she is a stickler for the rules, sure she breaks them when she needs to, but she will have issues with being a part of it."

"What about Rahne and Kitty?" Laura suggested and they looked at her. "Kitty is an open one and loves fun, while Rahne is more of a wild one that can change into a wolf and you were with her on a team for last two years."

"It has merits," Atalanta said. "Also they are probably the best choices," she said and looked at Harry. "Are you going to invite Jean to Asgard?"

"Yeah, he wanted to come here, but couldn't with us as he wanted to spend time with his family," Harry said and looked at them. "While dad said about eight people being the best number, nine or ten should also pass and Jean would want to be a part of it, not to mention Illyana is here and she is one of my closer friends."

"It should be an interesting time," she commented as she poured herself wine mixed with water and slowly drunk it. "He is a charming person, one that you cannot like and it's probably why I was so quick to accept him."

"Or because arguments with him would make me unhappy," Harry suggested with a smile. "Which isn't a thing you would like to do, wouldn't you."

"No, I wouldn't," Atalanta said after a moment. "Anyways, where do you want to have it? Here or in the Wolf Hall?"

"Drugs and alcohol? Definely not here, too much of an issue with some people, mother is going to be a problem with it," he said and sighed. "She is from Earth and while she accepted some things, some things are not accepted by her and with this I want to stay out of her way as much as possible."

"So Wolf Hall?"

"Yeah," Harry said and smiled. "It was built with being a summer palace, so it would suit it and there are some rooms where we could have all the privacy we want."

"Wolf Hall?" Laura asked.

"Summer palace that I have," Harry quickly explained. "Used when I or the family want privacy and relax without annoyances nearby, which means that it has everything you might dream of when it comes to pleasures and having a good time."

"Also it is in a nice location, so if you want to swim in a lake or a river instead of a pool you can, if you want to have fun in the forest, you can," Atalanta added. "So we could go there before the party, let's say a week or so and have some fun."

"We could do it," he said and looked at Laura. "How does it sound?"

"Quite well," she said after a moment. "So it might be a thing worth doing, I will do whatever you want to do. When with Weapon X I didn't have anything to say, now I can do waver I want and I'm not sure what to choose."

"Choose what you want and what you like," Harry said after a moment and she focused on him. "You're not the first one to be shocked that their opinion matters and that they can express themselves and their opinion."

"No?"

"No," Atalanta slowly said. "Harry had the same issue, his guardians weren't the best of people and because of whom he is, they abused him, I remember that when I met him for the first time he wasn't as sure of himself as he is now. He was more scared of his surroundings and withdrawn."

"I wasn't that bad," Harry said with a pout, making the two of them laugh. "What?" He asked, a bit confused.

"Nothing," Atalanta said. "You just look cute when you pout."

He smiled at those words and relaxed in his seat, thinking about the future and that party, as well as about his beautiful lovers, ones with whom he planned to spend most of his holidays.

o-0-o

Sound of wood slamming against wood echoed across the whole arena as a pair of fighters dueled with each other, staffs flashing in their hands as they tried to land a successful strike on their opponent. Their bodies were glistening from sweat and breathing was quickened from the effort they were putting in what they were doing, finally one of them found a hole in the defense of their opponent and a sharp crack of wood smashing into skin and bone was heard. Soon followed by a short cry of pain as the fighter was thrown onto the sand of the arena.

"You are getting better," Harry said as he got up from the floor and spat out blood from cut lip. "Better, faster and much, much more vicious."

Illyana smirked and walking closer to him offered him her hand to help him get up. "Someone needs to and that last spar made me train harder," she said and hauled him of the floor. "Also this year we had much more close combat training."

"Which doesn't make this defeat any less sour," Harry grumbled, but it quickly went away. "There is a reason why I wanted to talk with you and have this spar."

"Oh?" she asked as they walked into the armory to leave staffs inside. "What's that?"

"A party around my fourteenth birthday," he said and she looked at him. "Yes, I'm about to invite you for it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," he said and ruffled her hair, getting an angry look from her. "You are one of few people that I trust and you deserve something from a person that caused you to land here."

"Is this party the kind of a party I'm thinking about?" she asked and he looked at her. "What? I'm fifteen and was living on Asgard for most of the year for last two years, it isn't hard to notice your customs or be invited by one of your friends for such thing."

"Right," he said. "I forgot that you could have been invited by one of your friends for it."

"I will be there," she finally said. "Just don't forget about it."

He rolled his eyes at her antics and walked into males' changing room to get dressed into his normal clothes, she was probably the most dangerous one out of the people he wanted to invite, but could be also a lot of fun during the party.

o-0-o

"Lucky bastard," Ulf muttered and Harry arched an eyebrow. "Don't arch an eyebrow at me, you have two lovers are on top of the list of the hottest people I have seen and you seen not to notice reaction everybody has."

"What can I do?" Harry asked. "They want to be with me and I love them, so I'm using the opportunity to its fullest, not like you would have any troubles with finding a lover if you wanted and Kitty got your attention when she was on Asgard."

Ulf growled and playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Maybe I don't want to find any, at least at the moment," he said. "I'm happy to be a free person, with no need to care about attachments."

"And easy to anger," Harry said with a chuckle as he caught fist flying towards his head. "Aren't you frustrated and in need of finding a lover?"

"No," Ulf said and looked at Harry. "Release my fist."

"Once we finish this talk," Harry said and shrugged. "I don't want to block your attacks all the time, anyways how does sound a party on the day of my birthday?"

"Quite well."

"Well, then you are invited for it," Harry said and released Ulf's fist. "Just don't kill everybody during the party, it would be a bit unhealthy."

"I won't," Ulf promised and Harry smiled.

o-0-o

Fury nodded to Wisdom when he saw his old friend and trainee approach him. "Did you see my message?"

"Yes," Wisdom said and winced. "Wizards won't be happy if you release those news and probably they won't reach a lot of people as the Prophet is a giant propaganda machine for the Ministry."

"Wasn't Stark and Worthington supposed to do a small project that would undermine position of the Prophet and the Ministry in general?" Fury asked, his eye scanning their surroundings and looking for trouble.

"They are doing it," Wisdom nodded. "But it is a low priority project and since they decided to fund X-Men new building and other things, it got dumped to the bottom of their list of things to do."

"Which means that they will take ages before it is working," Fury said and smirked. "Is there any newspaper that would happily print it and is somewhat independent?"

"The Quibbler," Wisdom said with a wince. "It is an eccentric one, so not many read it, but it will print the truth, along with a whole lot of trash and rubbish, but the truth will be there."

"How much would cost getting it to print whole lot of things for me?"

"Not much. I know the owner and I will approach him in your name, I assume that you want articles about raids on Durmstrang, Hogwarts and whole story behind them."

"That much will work," Fury said and looked at Wisdom. "How will they react to those stories?"

"Hard to predict," Wisdom said and paused. "Some, especially those that follow what is happening in our world will understand that it is a warning and will be scared and terrified, those that don't care about our world, will think it is a giant steaming pile of lies."

"And the Ministry?"

"Officially, will condemn such behavior and treatment, while in reality, trying to plot and find a way to hurt us for showing that they look like fools and are unable to do anything substantial."

"So not much changes and I can still do what I want and how I want," Fury finished. "If they possessed a working brain, they would stop me, but it seems that they lack anything that is useful."

"I might have helped them as I poached most of useful aurors out of their ranks," Wisdom said with a smirk. "As well as most of Unspeakables, hefty pay, good and friendly workplace, no discrimination and they will work for you."

"How much do you pay for all of them?" Fury asked, arching an eyebrow. "It's not like your budget is infinite."

"After show funded by Russia and Weapon X I got small increase in my budget size, as every other agency and military."

"How small is small?"

"Twenty percents more for the official one and hundred percents for the black one," Wisdom said and looked at his watch. "In thirty minutes I have a meeting with the White Council, my own staff and few of our allies to discuss how to deal with Fomor."

"How bad is it?" Fury asked. "As in the US I'm forced to divert most of my wizards and sorcerers to fight them and support the Council."

"Ireland is the worst," Wisdom said. "It was their seat of power, so they come in droves, the rest is calmer, but tensions are in the air and we are discussing more forceful replies to their attacks."

"More forceful?"

"Assaults on their bases, alliance with the Courts, push in the Nevernever and few other things."

Fury nodded and ran his hand over his bald head. "I will discuss it with my staff and see what can we do to help you and Europe in general. Mediterranean is holding and the Council is pushing back, but they need time to catch their breath and rest."

Wisdom nodded and with a wave of his wand was gone, leaving Fury alone. He slowly walked to a car that was waiting for him and the moment he was inside he pulled out a phone and made few calls, arrangements needed to be made.

o-0-o

The rest of the time before his birthday passed in a one, large blur, so fast that Harry had troubles believing that it would be tomorrow and now he was with his friends and it was the time for the most important thing short of an actual party, that is gifts and presents. All of them were gathered on a small terrace outside of the Wolf's Hall and he looked at them with trepidation and curiosity, wondering what would they give him.

It was Jean who broke the silence and moved forward. "I think that since nobody is willing to be the brave one, I need to be the one," he said and in his hands manifested a large bundle wrapped in colorful paper and tied with a ribbon. "Something you should enjoy," he said, handing it to Harry and kissing him. "Happy birthday, chéri."

Harry blushed at those words and took the bundle from Jean, he weighted it in his hands and was a bit surprised when he discovered how light it was. He ripped the paper apart and on his face appeared a surprise when he discovered that it was a book, a thing he didn't expect to get. "A book?" he asked with a frown.

"More than just a book," Jean said with a chuckle. "Poetry that I wrote and some of your favorite ones."

"I like it, I really like it," Harry said with a smile.

"From us you will get a gift or two later," Atalanta said with a weird smile, her hand was on Laura's shoulder.

Hrolf chuckled at it and Harry arched an eyebrow in a question. "You will learn in due time, Your Highness," he said and produced a small, wooden box covered in runic writing. "A thing that you should enjoy, Harald," he said and Harry looked at him. "Open it," he grinned.

Harry nodded and taking the box from Hrolf carefully opened it, inside he found a lot of velvet and several things placed between it. It took him a while before his mind was able to make a connection. "Are those?" he asked, looking at Hrolf.

"Yes," his friend grinned. "The best sex toys you can get on Asgard."

Harry quickly closed the lid of the box and blushed furiously as he placed it on top of a book from Jean, which resulted in bouts of laughter from his friends that seemed to be amused by his behavior and reaction to such a gift. He looked at Hrolf as if he wanted to murder his friend.

"You will soon discover how useful they can be when you are in a bedchamber with your lovers," Hrolf said, not caring about the look sent by Harry. "So don't murder me and actually use them."

"Before you murder Hrolf," Ulf said and Harry looked at him. "Maybe you will focus on gifts."

Harry blushed a bit and looked at his friend.

"I have this for you," Ulf said, showing him a small box carved out of jade. "I know that you don't care about perfumes, but perhaps you should start caring. Here you have Pine Forest ones, oh, and Happy Birthday, Harry."

Harry took the box and carefully opened it, inside he found several vials, few carved from various kinds of quartz, several a few from jade and a couple from glass. "Thank you," Harry said with a small blush.

The rest of gifts was fun and amusing, from Rahne and Kitty he got a huge stack of books he loved from Midgard and an even bigger stack of sweets that he knew wouldn't last for an awful lot of time and finally from Jarl he got several large bottles of his favorite mead.

o-0-o

Laying in his bed with only Atalanta to the side, as Laura wanted to have some time alone, that in few hours he would be fourteen and in few more months he would be an adult.

"Excited about the party?" Atalanta asked, her body close to his. "Or more nervous about it?"

"Kind of both," he said and looked at her. "I'm more nervous that so soon I will be an adult with all of the responsibilities that come with it."

"You will be fine," she whispered, kissed him and they tumbled on the bed so that she was straddling him. "Harry," she whispered. "We both know that you are more than ready for most of the responsibilities of adulthood."

"I know," he said and sighed. "It's just that the past still haunts me from time to time and makes me question if I'm ready for all of those things."

She moved in his lap and smiled. "Maybe I should help you with some of your worries, as a birthday present?" she asked.

"What do you plan?" He asked, reaching to kiss her.

"You will see, love," she whispered, kissing him, their lips meeting for the briefest moment. "You have nothing to worry about and it will feel well, also it will help you forget about all of your worries and troubles."

He moved on the bed and looked at her, she looked beautiful with a perfectly proportional body, eyes that shined with life and joy, ebony hair that seemed to be as black the night could be and her soft coppery skin. She moved on him, placed herself between his legs and removed her clothes. As she did it his eyes widened, he saw her breasts naked when they were younger, but not now and they looked magnificent. Two round mounds of flesh that just asked to be touched, his gaze darted between her legs and he could see the most sacred part of her body, her womanhood a thin slit surrounded by a small patch of trimmed pubic hair.

As he looked at her and marveled her body, her hands managed to made their way to his belly and he could feel her fingers fumble around looking for the waistband of his shorts. She found it and slowly pulled them down, her fingers gently slipping over his skin.

He could see her eyes widen as she looked at his crotch and then she gently touched his manhood with her hands, touch of her soft fingers sending jolts of electricity all over his body and making him moan in pleasure at the feeling. It was strong, new and much better than one when he did it himself.

A soft moan escaped his lips as her fingers started to slowly stroke his manhood, he could tell that she didn't have an ounce of experience, but her enthusiasm and will to make him feel well were more than enough.

"How do you like this birthday present?" she asked him, her eyes shining with joy.

"I like it," he said, between moans. "I like it a lot."

She only smiled and leaned closer to his manhood, her lips left a peck on top of it before she opened her mouth and enveloped head of his hardness. When she did it, he almost lost control of himself, it felt so so good that it was almost impossible to believe that it was a real thing. Then she started to suck him, her tongue swirling around, exploring nook and crannies of his manhood, as she did it, he could see her breasts move in a hypnotising way.

He could feel his orgasm quickly approach, each move of her tongue and lips bringing him closer and closer to the edge and orgasm. His breathing was getting uneven and shallower, louder and louder moans and groans were leaving his mouth. "At, I'm close to cumming," he managed to say, she looked at him and nodded.

She released his manhood from her mouth and quickly finished the job with few quick strokes of her hand, for one last time he moaned and then his orgasm came, it came like a wave of pure emotions and pleasure, washing over his mind. When it was over his breathing and heartbeat returned to their proper paces and she looked at him. "Did you like your birthday gift?" she asked, cleaning her hands from his cum.

"Yes, it was awesome," he said and she smiled. "I have never ever had a better birthday gift."

"Thank you," she smiled and dragged a fur to cover both of them. "Sleep well, love," she whispered as she slipped beneath the fur and snuggled against him.

He smiled and wrapping one hand around her hot body he closed his eyes and they went to sleep, ahead of them was a busy day, one for which they would need a lot of energy.

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

 **Sirius and ability to travel to Asgard as he pleases - it is a highly efficient monarchy and anything said by Odin and to an extent Thor is law, is sacred and should be obeyed without any questions. And Sirius was a friend of James Potter aka Thor and is godfather of Harry which makes it a rather valid reason for one of them ordering guards and Heimdall to let him come as he pleases.**

 **Decadence and hedonism amongst nobility and aristocracy was a thing that was quite normal and here Harry simply has Thor's blessing to do what he wants and that also means that nobody will judge him for what he does. Also it is safer to do a lot of things in a controlled environment than let them happen on their own in the wild. There is this factor that if you let someone taste vices there's a good chance that they won't be doing insanely stupid things because of them as you won't trigger forbidden fruit reaction in our mind. If we cannot get something because of some ban we will do everything to get it, which implies, no ban, no troubles or at least lesser amount of them. Also it is safer as the things they will take will be more or less safe and won't cause any unplanned effects as it is officially acquired. Also state doesn't want its income to run away so it will monitor any place making those things.**

 **Harry and Atalanta - they are almost of age and it was a small miracle it didn't happen when they were at the Institute. Also as long as he doesn't make any bastards nobody will inquire into his relationships, same for her.**

 **If I forgot about something, beat me in the reviews and I shall fix it.**

 **Reviews:**

WhiteElfElder - Laura will get a lot of training for Sif, but it will take time before it is revealed to the world.

Laws of Magic and Malfoy, excluding second and sixth, everything else could be proven.


	48. Carpe Diem

**A/N - Mostly focused on Harry, though some other characters have quite a lot of screen time. One more chapter and Hogwarts shall begin, as always read and enjoy.**

 **o-0-o**

Harry looked around the room and nodded with a smile. Everything was prepared for a party as he could see trays of food so that they could sate their hunger, bottles of mead, beer and wine, ten goblets and the most important thing for the evening a stack of thin, long cylindrical shapes wrapped in delicate paper placed on low tables. They were allowed to indulge in whatever they wanted to indulge in and nobody would ask questions about what they had done during this night.

Decor of the room was also changed, gone were tables and chairs that normally dominated it. Instead on the floor were scattered pillows of various sizes and shapes, they formed a loose circle, place where they would sit for most of the night, in a hands reach from them were placed tables with things they would need or desire.

As he looked out of the window he could see sun slowly reaching the horizon and when it would reach it, it would be the time to start it. He heard footsteps and when he looked in their direction he saw Atalanta walk towards him, behind her was walking Laura and when he looked at them he felt his cheeks redden. They were both wearing tight tank tops that showed a good part of their belly and shorts which didn't leave a lot of room for imagination tightly wrapping around their legs. Finally into their hair were braided wires of gold and silver, Harry arched an eyebrow for a moment when he saw them in Laura's hair, but then Atalanta smiled knowingly and he nodded with a smile.

"You look beautiful as ever," he said in their direction.

"Thank you," Atalanta smiled. "You also look good."

He smiled at those words and nodded in agreement, he wore a tight short-sleeved shirt and a pair of loose shorts. Both of them a bit used up and not really precious to him. He had heard more than enough things about this rite to know that his clothes would need to be thrown out, so he chose ones that were the least precious to him and as plain as possible.

"Are you ready for the the party?"

"Who isn't," Atalanta said and left a peck on his cheek, making him blush and causing to remember last night. "We were born ready for it and it should be a great idea."

"It is," Hrolf said as he joined them. "At least my party was such, wild, loud and crazy and after it I spent most of the day getting over the effects of it."

"And you didn't invite me," Harry huffed

"I couldn't," Hrolf said apologetically and Harry looked at him. "There is a law that bans inviting anybody that is younger than fourteen and there is a really good reason for it."

"Drugs?" Harry asked, indicating a small stash laying between trays of food.

"Indeed, your body developed enough to deal with the long term effects of them, while younger no and the things that happen later aren't suitable for youngsters. So even if I wanted I couldn't do it."

Harry looked at Hrolf and could tell that his friend was sincere. "I guess that I need to accept it," he said and added with a roll of his eyes. "Even if I don't like it."

"You need," Hrolf said and smiled. "It is fun and you will enjoy it, by the way who else is also coming?"

"Ulf, Jarl, Illyana, Rahne, Jean-Paul and Kitty, I didn't want to invite more as I want it to be a smaller party and some are occupied on Midgard."

"This is a good approach," Hrolf said and Harry looked at him. "You will understand, but believe me a smaller amount of people is the best thing."

"And a smaller chance that someone will leak something," Atalanta added and he glanced at her. "We all trust everybody that will be here, but we can say something even with the voe we take and when we are careless."

"Among other things," Hrolf said. "I'm more curious how your friends will react to the vow we make at the beginning of it, I hope that you know the words of it."

Harry rolled his eyes and looked at Hrolf. "I know it, I, my name, swear not to reveal any of the things done, seen or heard in this room, so mote be it."

"Does it work without me possessing magic?" Laura asked

"It does," Atalanta said and explained. "It links to your life force or however you want to call it, generally when you break it, you die in a very painful manner."

"And you don't want to see it," Harry said, correcting his hair. "Anyways, it is not a topic for today or tomorrow. I want to have fun, not brood about such things."

He saw her and with a smile looked towards the doors through which walked in Ulf, Jarl, Jean-Paul, Rahne, Kitty and Illyana. It seemed that everybody was finally here and it was a time to start a party. They sat down on the floor and waited until the red shield of the sun almost wholly crawled below the horizon and shadows casted by the very last rays of light were long and dark. They were reaching deep into the room and covering everything in various shades of darkness and mystery, making lines on their faces look mysterious and harder to read. As Harry waited for the sun to fully hide behind the horizon he felt his heartbeat quicken as he started to feel excitement, a lot of excitement. It was one of those few celebrations that announced his passage into adulthood. Not to mention that it was the most enjoyable out of all of them and one that allowed to relax and do crazy things normally he would be unwilling or unable to do.

"Nervous?" Hrolf teased him. "Or eager to get started?"

"Both," he said and looked out of the window to see sun reach the point where it was needed to start the thing. He took a deep breath and looked at them "I think it is the time."

At the moment he felt as if he knew it was a point of no return and once there he wouldn't be able to retreat, but he also was aware that it was probably going to be one of the best memories he was going to have.

"Yes," Hrolf said. "This is the last moment when you can retreat, but I don't think you want to and miss all of the fun that will follow it."

"We won't," Laura said after glances at Rahne, Kitty, Illyana and Jean-Paul. "We will stay."

"If so, than let's make an oath," Harry said and all of them looked at him. "So that everything done here, stays here and in our minds."

He brushed his finger against one of the innocuously looking runes set in the wall and saw a field of gold flicker in every entry point into the room. It disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared, but the noise of the world was dulled and it gave them privacy, a lot of it. Nobody would be able to see or hear what was happening inside of the room.

Having done that he walked across the floor and sat down on one of pillows, he waited for them to sit down before looking over their faces and in most of them seeing expectation and in case of his mutant friends curiosity, a lot of it. Though in Illyana case he also could see that she was at a similar party and had most likely already did it. "I will make an oath and person to my right," he said and looked at Laura who sat there. "does the same, and we do it until it gets back to me." He took a deep breath and slowly said, "I, Harald James Thorson, swear not to reveal any of the things done, seen or heard in this room, so mote be it."

When he finished saying words of an oath he felt a rush of warm wind pass past his ear. He glanced at Laura and saw her take a deep, calming breath. She was still dealing with her past, but it was a lot better than it used to be.

"I, Laura Howlett, swear not to reveal any of the things done, seen or heard in this room, so mote be it."

He smiled reassuringly at her and looked at Illyana.

"I, Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina, swear not to reveal any of the things done, seen or heard in this room, so mote be it."

As each and every person said their oaths Harry could feel the temperature rise, along with the tensions and excitement, he looked to Ulf who sat to his left and saw him say the oath. "I, Ulf Ullrson, swear not to reveal any of the things done, seen or heard in this room, so mote be it."

Harry nodded and quietly spoke. "As sworn by everybody, the knowledge of the event happening here, stays here, so mote be it."

There was heard by them a loud snapping noise and he saw Rahne, Kitty, Laura and Jean-Paul look at him. "Oath took effect," Illyana explained. "From now on we are unable to speak about it to anybody that wasn't in this room, so I think that Harry we may start."

"Thank you for your blessing," Harry smiled in her direction, for one last time before the beginning of the party his eyes swept over the faces of his friends.

Ulf looked as if he was excited and curious, eager to get things started, Kitty seemed happy because she just was here and was close to Ulf, Jean-Paul had an air of his usual confidence around, but it was underlined with curiosity. Rahne who was the next one seemed mostly curious and other than that she was hard to read. Atalanta was as unreadable as she usually was, maybe even more so, her face was a blank mask devoid of emotions. Hrolf seemed as at ease as he usually was, not a hint of other emotions, it made Harry realize that his friend probably saw a couple more of such parties and was used to them. Jarl was at ease and some happiness was visible on his face, he was hard to read and guessing what he felt was a gamble. Illyana seemed to be her usual self with a happy expression on her face, while Laura was unsure if she should be in the room.

He reached out to one of those thin sticks, he put the end of it in his mouth and lit it with a an extremely small bit of magic. He inhaled and felt a pleasant feeling spread over his body as the drug almost immediately started to take effect, he pulled the stick away and slowly exhaled the smoke that flew towards the ceiling, starting formation of a large cloud of it that would take few days to fully disperse. He passed the stick to Laura who did the same thing as he did, with a bit of coughing along the way and passed it further along the line. He was a bit surprised that she didn't question him and simply followed what he had done, Illyana took it with a wide smile and indulged herself in it.

"You can indulge yourself later," he chuckled looking at her. "This one is supposed to make a circle."

"Sorry," she said with a sheepish smile as she passed it to Jarl. "I forgot about this little fact."

"No problem," Harry said and looked at her. "That's just a tradition, that all of us are connected in a way and that it isn't poisoned. Tradition from the times when poison was common."

"Also it is a sign of unity," Atalanta added, he could see that her mask started to crack slowly as she inhaled the smoke. "And a sign of friendship and trust between us."

He smiled slightly and nodded in thanks to her, having done that he watched as it made a circle, each and every one of them smoked it and finally when it made a full round and came to Ulf it was a short stub, most of it already burned. Son of Ullr took a long draught and passed it to Harry who finished it and threw into a bowl in the middle where the remains burned out.

"What's the purpose of starting with this weed?" Illyana asked. "I was at Idunn's party and we did the same, but I'm curious why."

"Because it is the thing that compels us to speak truth and truth only," Atalanta said with a small smile. "My uncle first created it and from the realm of Olympus it came here and became popular, so everybody uses it during those parties, it's name is saying a lot about it and what it is, Herb of Aletheia."

"Herb of Truth," Harry mindlessly translated from Ancient Greek.

"Indeed," she nodded with a smile. "It works as advertised and adds some nice side-effects, as well as it can be mixed with alcohol and you will be fine or mostly fine."

"Those are probably only side-effects that I won't mind," Harry said as he lit another and started to slowly smoke it. He felt warmth and a sense of peace spread across his body.

"Try drinking mead," Hrolf suggested as he opened for himself a bottle and poured a goblet from it. "It will feel even better."

Harry looked at his friend, but nodded after a moment and placing his stick in a bowl. He reached out, opened the bottle poured some into a goblet and when he drunk the content of it, he felt even more at ease and even more confident. "Yes, it does, it feels a lot better than it used to."

"Yes," Hrolf nodded with a wide grin as he took a big draught and slowly released a long plume of smoke. "So don't shy away from doing so."

"I won't," Harry said and looked around, he saw that almost everybody was starting to indulge. He was curious how long the girls and Jean would survive as even if they spent a lot of time on Asgard they didn't get as used to alcohol as Æsir had gotten.

"Good," Hrolf smiled, hints of mischief and danger in it. "Since everybody is enjoying themselves, maybe we will start playing something."

"What would you suggest?" Ulf asked

"Truth or Dare?"

"I like it," son of Ullr smiled. "So what do you say?" All of them nodded in agreement and made Hrolf smirk.

"Since spinning the bottle would be boring, unpredictable and there would be a high chance of some people influencing where and when it stops." Harry felt gaze of the oldest teen swipe over him, Jarl, Ulf, Illyana and Atalanta. "So one that answered will choose who is the next one, so Your Highness be a good host and a friend and start the game."

Harry nodded to those words and with a smile looked over faces of each and every of his friend, thinking whom to ask. He knew that they wouldn't lie, but the drug didn't force them not to twist the words the way they wanted or liked. He looked over their faces and thought whom to choose. He smirked and turned to look at Illyana. "What do you choose? Truth or Dare?"

She didn't need to think for a long time and almost immediately said. "Truth."

He smiled and looked at her. "Since you are starting, you will get an easy one. What is your most prized possession?"

She was silent for a moment, thinking about the answer, then she smiled and looked at him. "A battle staff that you gave me."

"Not a bad choice," he said and she smiled. "Now it's your turn."

She gave him a curt nod and looked around, her eyes looking over their faces. Looking for her victim, one that would have a questionable pleasure of answering. Harry avoided her gaze and saw that everybody else was doing the same thing. Nobody wanted to be the one chosen to answer a rather embarrassing or annoying question.

She smirked and indicated Ulf. "What do you choose?"

"Dare," he firmly said. "I don't think you will come up with something nasty."

Harry whistled and looked at him. "You're sure? It might end badly."

"Nah, I will be fine," Ulf said as he emptied his goblet. "Besides, someone needs to be first."

"Don't tempt the fate," Hrolf quipped in. "It might end badly."

Ulf only laughed and Harry winced when he saw Illyana's eyes darken a bit, it never ended well. And if she was mad, it could range from mildly embarrassing to deadly.

"Well, if you are so brave and sure of himself," she slowly said, making sure that each word was perfectly pronounced. "I dare you to… I dare you to kiss Kitty."

Everybody laughed, while Kitty blushed and Ulf growled loudly. "What?"

"Yes, you need to kiss her," Illyana said, trying not to chuckle. "You are supposed to be brave, so what's your problem in doing it?"

Ulf shifted uncomfortably and Harry tried not to laugh at his friends reaction. Glare of the son of Ullr swept over them and then landed on Illyana. "I will kill you later for it," he muttered, looked at Kitty and leaned towards her.

She smiled and allowed him to kiss her, it was a short kiss, but enough to sate Illyana's demand.

"That's passable," Illyana said and made them laugh. "It also seems that we know who is his crush."

Ulf's face turned to beet red at those words, which made them laugh even more. He growled and emptying another goblet looked around, searching for a target of his revenge. Harry breathed out in relief when Ulf's gaze swept over him and kept going. It also gave him some precious time to get a better look of everybody else. Atalanta's mask was mostly cracked, it was cracking and she seemed less composed than she usually was, while everybody else was freely indulging in everything they could.

"Maybe it is a time for the oldest one to say something about himself," Ulf drawled and everybody looked at Hrolf. "So you are the oldest and the most daring one out of the whole room."

"Yes," Hrolf confirmed with a smirk. "So I doubt that you will find something too embarrassing for me."

"Than choose what do you want. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Hrolf said, confident smirk on his lips.

"Well, than who is the most desirable girl in this room?"

Harry looked at Ulf. "Are you sure?"

"Well, any kind of a question is allowed," Ulf said and looked at Hrolf. "What's your answer?"

Hrolf was silent for a moment, his gaze sweeping over everybody. "It's a hard choice, every girl in this room is exceptional in one way or another. If I was forced to name one that I think is the hottest, I would choose…," he paused and his eyes moved over them. "I would choose Atalanta."

Harry saw Atalanta blush, but she bowed her head in thanks. "Thank you, Hrolf."

There was a brief moment of silence as Hrolf considered his options and looking for a suitable target. Harry slowly smoked his stick and enjoyed the company, it definitely was turning out to be one of the best parties he ever seen.

Finally Hrolf cleared his throat and they looked at him. "Rahne, what do you choose?" He asked.

"Dare," she said and made Hrolf smirk.

"If you are sure that you want a dare I dare you to remove your shirt."

Rahne blushed at those words, but nodded and standing up slowly removed her shirt, revealing a toned body and a pair of breasts wrapped in a bra. "Is it good enough?" she asked.

"Good enough," Hrolf said with a bow of his head. "And now it is your turn."

She smiled and Harry gulped when he felt her eyes focus on him and narrow. "Harry, it seems that it is finally your turn. What do you choose?"

"Truth," he said and emptying his goblet looked at her. "I don't have anything to hide."

"Well," she smiled, her fangs appearing. "Than amuse us and tell us who is your crush."

He blushed and took a long draught before looking at them. "It is a hard question to answer, but if I have to answer I would say Laura," he said and felt an even bigger blush appear on his cheeks. "While I love her and Atalanta exactly the same, but if I'm forced to name just a single person, it's her."

There was a round of laughter and comments that soon died down and Rahne nodded towards him. "I accept the answer, choose who's the next one."

He looked around, trying to find an interesting person that should be a good candidate for an annoying or funny question. His eyes swept over their faces until they stopped on Jean-Paul. "Jean, you can have an honor of being the next one to be asked," Harry said with a smile.

"Of course, mon chéri," Jean said, bowing his head. "I will answer any question you will ask."

"So what do you choose? Truth or Dare?"

"Truth, only truth."

Harry nodded and thought for a moment, trying to find something that he could use on Jean, then he smiled and looked at his friend. "Who is the hottest person at the Institute?"

"Your cousin, chéri, you are right behind him, but he is a tiny, tiny bit better than you."

Harry sighed and looked at Jean. "I know that you are saying truth, but it is a sad thing."

"Sorry, but that's how harsh the life can be."

"Anyways, your turn now."

Jean nodded and his gaze swept over the room, before stopping at Hrolf. "Truth or Dare."

"Dare," Hrolf said. "Truth is only for cowards."

Jean smirked at those words and Harry could see that his friend had a devilish idea. "I saw all of those lovely muscles below your shirt, so could you be kind enough to remove it."

"That's all?" Hrolf asked, throwing his shirt to the side and revealing his ripped chest covered in a thick layer of muscles over which were dozens of tattoos. "You didn't need to use it as a dare, pretty lame one at that."

"The sight is more than enough of a reason for this dare," Jean said, licking his lips. "I have thought that Harry was a hulking mountain of muscles, but you are a completely different world, a better one."

"I'm here," Harry grumbled. "Don't ignore me."

"I'm not ignoring you," Jean said with a smile. "Just marveling a piece of art, one that looks magnifique."

"Thank you," Hrolf said and looked at Illyana. "Truth or Dare?"

"Since it is getting steamy and we all are probably a bit drunk, I will say truth."

Hrolf smiled and Harry focused on Illyana. "Are you a virgin?" Hrolf asked.

Harry looked at his friend as if he was crazy and then looked at Illyana, awaiting her answer, he saw her blush and even without his telepathy he could tell that she wasn't too surprised by this question.

"No," she said. "I've lost it few months ago."

"That's an answer I didn't expect to hear," Hrolf said and they looked at him. "You always looked prim and proper."

"Maybe because I want to project such an image?" Illyana asked, correcting her hair. "Or maybe you just see the outer layer."

"Probably," Hrolf said, emptied the goblet and looked at her. "Satisfactory answer, choose who should be next."

"I was going to say Jean," Illyana said and Harry followed her gaze. "But there is person that gathers attention, yet stays out of sight. Kitty what do you choose?"

She was silent for a moment, thinking deeply, before she looked at Illyana and nodded. "I will choose dare."

"It is just what I wanted to hear," Illyana said with a wide smile. "Make out with Ulf."

Kitty flushed and looked at Illyana. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, rules are rules and we need to accept them," Illyana said with a shrug. "So do it."

Harry looked at Ulf and could see that his friend was on one hand embarrassed, yet on the other seemed quite happy and wanted it to happen. Kitty leaned to Ulf and they kissed, allowing them to see that it was not a simple peck, but actual making out.

"It is acceptable," Illyana said and smiled. "Now it is your turn and you can have your revenge."

Kitty nodded and looked around, before she stopped on Laura. "Sorry, but now it is your turn, we avoided you, but it now ends," she said and looked at Laura. "Truth or dare."

"Dare."

"Well," Kitty mused. "All over the Institute there were rumors that you were seen kissing with Atalanta, yet nobody was able to confirm or deny them. So make out with Atalanta."

Harry loudly whistled at it, he saw them kiss few times, but he was curious how would they behave here and now. Laura looked around uncomfortably, but nodded and walked to Atalanta and sat down in front of her. Atalanta reached out to Laura and they slowly kissed in front of everybody, Harry licked his lips at the sight and couldn't wait to have a moment on his own with one of them.

"Good job," he whispered to Laura when she returned to her place, her face red from embarrassment.

She smiled in thanks and looked around. "Jean, what do you choose?"

"Truth, chère, I'm an honest person."

"Did you kiss Harry?" Laura asked, her cheeks red.

"I did," Jean smiled. "At the Institute and few times before it."

"That's not a thing I expected to happen," Ulf said, laughing loudly. "That's the thing I would have never expected from you, I know that we are supposed to be bisexual, but you behaved like a guy straight like an arrow."

"Thank you," Harry said with a huff. "I never knew you thought so low about me and who I am."

"Harsh words," Jean said, chuckling "Anyways since it is my turn, Atalanta, I don't know how it is that we had omitted you, but it should be solved. So what do you choose?"

"Truth," she said, throwing her hair backwards. "I'm in no mood for dares, especially after last few ones."

Jean pouted at those words, but quickly nodded. "Virginity is a boring question," he mused and then his eyes flashed. "Name the hottest guy in the room."

Atalanta snorted at the question and Harry could feel a lot of amusement in this gesture. "Harry," she finally said. "I have thought that it was an obvious thing."

"Maybe for you," Jean said with a smirk. "Not for everybody else."

Atalanta smiled and Harry felt a wave of cold creep up his body. "Ulf," she said after a moment, taking some time to lit another stick and finish content of her goblet. "What do you choose?"

"Dare," Ulf said and Harry could see Atalanta's smile turn into a dangerous smirk.

She grabbed a bottle of mead from a nearby table and threw it at Ulf who snatched it out of the air. "Drink it, whole in one go," she said, seeing his puzzled expression.

Ulf looked at her, then at the bottle and then once again at her. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said, smiling devilishly. "Dare is a dare, of course I can change it, but it will be a lot worse and I doubt that you want to be seen as a coward."

"No," he said, before opening the bottle. "Or they won't let me live," he added pointing with it at Harry, Hrolf and Jarl, next he started to drink out of the bottle, quickly and hungrily as if it was water or ale, not mead. "Done," he said few moments later when bottle was open and on his lips were visible some traces of mead. "Now time for Jarl," he said. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," Jarl said.

"Would you sleep with Atalanta?" Ulf asked and Harry's eyes widened as he looked at his friend.

"She is a very desirable girl with an extremely hot body," Jarl drawled. "So the answer is yes."

Harry could see Atalanta blush at those words and he leaned back, it was still early in the evening and it so far it was a lot of fun for all of them. At first he wasn't too sure about the party, but now it was the best thing he had done. He was brought out of his musings when Jarl cleared his throat to get his attention, he shook his head and looked at Jarl.

"Laura," Jarl said. "What do you choose?"

"Truth," she said.

"Who is your crush?"

Laura blushed at those words and looked around, before her eyes stopped at Harry, then swept to Atalanta and focused once again on him. "Harry," she said.

He smiled and fully relaxed, enjoying the evening and not even trying to think about how massive hangover would hit him in the morning. Now fun and enjoyment were more important and he didn't care about anything else as he poured himself another goblet of mead and slowly drank it.

Whole party lasted well beyond midnight and as he managed to made his way into his bedroom he could see moons hiding behind the horizon. He managed enough clarity of mind to get out of his clothes before he slipped under the furs covering his bed and fell asleep. On that night he slept like a baby, his mind in a haze induced by alcohol and drugs, two things that on their own would be quickly dealt with by his organism, combined took time, a lot of it.

o-0-o

Harry groaned as he opened his eyes and harsh sunlight slammed into them, he blinked few times, taking his time in getting over the harshness of light on his face. Finally he sat up and threw the furs away before getting out of the way and walking across the room and into the bathroom, everything throbbed him, there was a massive headache drilling through his head and he needed to piss.

Several minutes later he emerged out of the bathroom and finally he didn't have a very annoying headache drilling through his head and was able to think somewhat clearly. Out of the bag he brought with himself he grabbed some underwear and clothes, as he was putting them on into the room entered Atalanta who seemed weirdly happy.

"Where did you disappear?" He asked. "Right at the end of the party, you and Laura disappeared."

She blushed a bit and looked at him. "We were a bit... busy," she finally said.

"I see," he said, as realization dawned onto his mind. "I hope that you had fun being busy."

"We had," she said and sitting down on the bed, she whispered into his ear. "One night I will tell you more about it."

He blushed at it and looked at her. "I cannot wait for that moment to come," he said and sighed. "But I think it needs to wait, today we need to return to the Citadel as my uncle said that there is something important that cannot be moved in time, too much."

She pouted. "Does he need to be a spoilsport?"

"He is a God of Magic and the Trickster," Harry said with a smile. "He is supposed to be such."

She looked at him, but then she nodded and smirked. "So you will need to wait for it some longer, not much, but a bit longer."

"I guess I will need to do it," he said and sighed as he got up and everything in his body protested. "It hurts, it hurts badly."

"Well, overindulgence is a bad thing," she said and he nodded in agreement as they walked out of the room and towards the terrace where usually was served breakfast.

"It is," he said in agreement. "But sometimes it feels good and you don't want to stop."

"True enough," she said, faint blush on her cheeks.

o-0-o

Loki smiled when he saw Harry enter the room, then pause when his gaze landed on a thick, long wooden stick laying in front of Loki. "Yes, it is the time," he said, walking to Harry and throwing him the stick. "Carve runes into the surface of it, in the way I have taught you and once they are done and I'm happy with them and the way they were done you can do the same with a staff carved out of Yggdrasil."

"Why can't I do it on Yggdrasil now?" Harry asked.

"Because you can't use a lot of it and first attempt needs to be perfect and because there is not enough time for it at the moment. Your Hogwarts letter got to the Tower and I picked it up, so tomorrow you, your mother, Ulf and Atalanta go to the Diagon Alley to meet one of Hogwarts professors that are supposed to give you a tour. However once you are back from the trip, you can take all the time you need or want to carve it."

"Do we need to go?" Harry asked, looking at the piece of wood in his hands. "I know that I'm about to start Hogwarts, but what's the point of this shopping there, instead of using supplies from here?"

"So that you can see their world and it is a tradition," Loki said with a smile. "Besides, don't you want to be away from all of the etiquette of the court and with your mother and friends?"

"Uncle, you could have said it that way from the beginning. Now it seems as a thing I want to do," Harry said, making him smile. "So, uncle, what runes would you suggest that I should carve?"

"It's your choice," Loki shrugged. "I won't influence your choices as it is supposed to serve you well, not me, so choose ones you like or want to use."

"Fine," Harry said with a huff, before he walked out of the room, staff in his hands.

Loki followed his nephew with his eyes for a moment before he turned to look at Odin. "And what do you think, father?"

"He is much more mature than Thor was at his age and knows when to submit to someone's commands," Odin said. "Perhaps the idea that he should spend some time on Midgard is a good one, even with all of the attempts on his life, as well as that of his friends and lovers."

"I think that no more attempts will be made on his life," Loki said with a confident smirk. "Last attempt on his life and fallout of it scared many, so few will be able to think about doing anything against him and even few will have any means of doing it. So he is safe, or at least should be safe."

"You said that last year, before he was kidnapped by those creatures and subjected to things," Odin said with a growl.

"I made a mistake," Loki said with a shallow bow of his head. "Mistake that have been fixed and measures were taken to ensure that he is safe, as well as those that even think about it know what can happen to them and Fury will soon release a report about ones that kidnapped him, with all of the details of what had been happening because of them and what happened to them."

"I see," Odin said. "Clever plan that should work and spread fear amongst those things that want to harm my family."

"Indeed, that was its main goal, father. They need to once again remember that there are lines not to be crossed, that there are consequences to be felt for their actions and that there are names to be feared."

Odin nodded and was silent for a moment. "I will leave you to ensuring that he is safe and nothing happens to him."

Loki nodded, walked out of the chamber and headed for Bifrost, if someone was supposed to keep an eye on his nephew, measures needed to be taken.

o-0-o

Harry weighted the piece of wood he was holding and placed it on the table in lounge area of his chambers, he needed to start working on it now as it could take him a couple of hours to get all of the runes and sigils carved into the wood.

"What's that?" Jean asked, as he walked out of the bedroom, he was using and walked across the whole lounge, or better would be ran. "It looks like a staff, similar to what Gambit uses."

"Because it is a staff," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "Or at least piece of wood that can become a staff."

"So what's the difference between the two?"

"Staff has runes and sigils engraved into its surface, this is just a piece of wood," Harry said and rapped his knuckles against the wood. "Engraving should be done by one that is supposed to use it."

"So you should do it yourself?"

"Yes," Harry said and sighed. "I need to do all of it by hand and I have a deadline, tomorrow."

"Oh."

"Yes, oh," Harry agreed with a thin smile. "A lot of work and not much time to do it."

"Have fun," Jean said. "I will leave you alone if you want."

"Yes, that's a good idea," Harry said, getting up. "I will get my tools and start working on it, probably before someone murders my for all of the sawdust that will be in the air."

Jean smiled and leaving him alone Harry walked into his study and rummaged through things there looking for tools that were used to work in wood and to carve staffs. Having a good staff was a nice thing, carving it not so much as it meant several hours of work and ending covered in whole lot of sawdust.

Several hours, few large goblets of ale, a lot of snacks and even more sweat later he looked at the straight shaft of wood and nodded in approval, it was done and its surface was covered in dozens, if not hundreds of runes and sigils. He gently touched the wood and channeled a miniscule amount of magic, if he did something wrong the staff would turn into a whirlwind of splinters and chunks of wood that would rip him into pieces. However nothing like that happened, only sigils carved in wood started to glow faintly.

"Seems like you did it," Atalanta said, lowering shield that protected her, Laura and Jean. "No explosions of magic and wood, so it works, question is how good it will be once you do it with a branch of Yggdrasil."

"Pretty powerful," Harry said, grabbed the staff and walking away from them made few swings with it. "It should also sit well, this one is out of the same wood and I like the way it lays in my hand, so there should be no difference between the two of them and it means that finally I will be able to use some of the most powerful magic I was taught."

"Why now?" Laura asked. "Why didn't you use it earlier?"

"I could," he said and they looked at him. "Just staff or my sword make it easier to focus and channel it in a direction that I want, not all over the place."

"We use basic magic all the time as we don't need much concentration for them," Atalanta added. "It is a part of us and what we are, but anything more than it takes training and in case of the most powerful battle magic good focus point."

"Or we might fry ourselves," Harry finished. "Or if not, end up with painful burns that won't heal for a really long time."

"Why do I have a feeling that you ended with those burns?" Laura asked.

"Because he did," Atalanta said with a chuckle. "He tried to shock my during training with a bit of lightning magic, but it decided to attack him. It did nothing to me, while he had most of skin on his hand and arm burned."

"That must have been an amusing sight to see," Jean quipped.

"It was," she agreed. "Not that Harry will agree with us."

"I'm here and I hear all of that," he grumbled. "Also, At, my uncle told me that we are supposed to go shopping tomorrow. You, I, Ulf and my mother because of Hogwarts and stuff related to it."

"Tomorrow?" she asked. "We have almost a whole month before the beginning of September and start of it."

"Yes," he said with a sigh. "Tomorrow, murder my uncle if you want, not me."

She nodded, clearly unhappy that their careless holidays needed to be disrupted by something that could wait. Harry looked at her and nodded in agreement, for him shopping could wait as he wanted to relax and have fun.

o-0-o

Fury activated protections placed around his office and deactivated surveillance systems placed inside of it before he activated his laptop and pulled out a data stick dropped into his pocket by Laufeyson. For a moment he looked at the stick, looking for any suspicious things that could be hidden on it, finding none he inserted it into one of ports of his laptop and waited for decryption software to do the job.

When files were decrypted and accessible he arched an eyebrow looking at them, he suspected a lot of data, but not that much. If they were true, there were going to be changes happening in the world, probably few loud murders or arrests and a lot more dirty work behind the scenes. His lone eye scanned the list before it stopped on one line of text. "Slimy, clever bastard," he muttered. "You will be the first one to be removed when the time comes for it."

He spent next several minutes analyzing data and looking for any interesting pieces that should be forwarded to one of his hired assassins so that some cells could be removed before they could cause chaos. Finally he closed those files, made several copies of them and uploaded one onto server accessible only to him and sent second to the Rock, Maria Hill was clear and she had free reign in Europe, so she could remove some targets. Also it was the time to dust off some of his old and deadly contacts that could help in removal of all of those snakes.

o-0-o

Harry stepped out of Bifrost and looked around, it looked normal, excluding some trash cans in the corner of brick wall and a small man waiting for them. Man which was strangely familiar to him, Filius Flitwick was his name.

"Impressive," he said and Harry looked at him in confusion. "Bifrost, seeing it work is a completely different thing than using it."

"Indeed," Jane agreed as she joined them, Flitwick looked at her and arched one of his eyebrows in question. "I'm Harry's stepmother, his father and I thought it would be prudent for me to come with him, also his friends that will come to Hogwarts with him are here."

"As long as they behave I don't see a single issue why they shouldn't be with us," Flitwick said and Harry smiled at those words.

"Thank you, Professor," he said with a light tilt of his head.

"No problem," Flitwick said and walked to a brick wall. "Watch carefully where I will touch the wall."

Harry focused on Flitwick who pulled out his wand and walked to a wall, he counted bricks with his wand before finally touching one that was three up and two across from the bin placed in the corner. When Professor's wand connected with the brick, whole wall moved and revealed an alley, long and wide alley lined with hundreds of shops and swarming with people.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley, center of wizarding life in Britain," Flitwick said, stepping through the hole in the wall. "Place where you can buy everything you will need for Hogwarts and studying magic."

They nodded and followed Flitwick through the hole and into the Alley, as they entered into the proper alley Harry could feel strong feeling of mystery and secrets wash over them. As they walked down the wide cobblestone alley Flitwick explained to them what they would need to buy and what things were those most important ones and what in his opinion could wait. After several long minutes of walk and retrieving small amount of money from Gringotts they finally stopped in front of a small, cozy building with several wands on display.

"Place where you can acquire your wands," he explained. "Ollivander's, in my opinion and of many other wizards and witches one of the best wandmakers in the world."

They followed Flitwick into the shop and as the door opened, small silver bell rung and before they had a good chance to look around they were met by a tall, thin man with a mane of silver hair and pale silvery eyes. "Filius," he said. "Twelve inches mahogany and a dragon heartstring, how does she serves you?"

"Quite well," Flitwick said. "But that's not why I'm here, those three need wands for Hogwarts."

Ollivander nodded and Harry could feel gaze of the elder man slip over him and his two friends. "I'm sure we will find something," Ollivander said and the his gaze flickered to Harry and focused on his forehead. "Boy-Who-Lived?!" Ollivander exclaimed.

"Yes," Flitwick said with a sigh. "Can you not mention that he was here, the less noise we have the better."

"Of course," Ollivander nodded and then once again looked at Harry and his friends. "Ladies first?"

"Why not," Atalanta said and walked forward.

"Which hand is dominant?" Ollivander asked.

"Left."

He nodded and mused quietly before reaching for one of many boxes which filled shelves that were in the room, he pulled out a wand out of it and rolled it between his fingers. "Peculiar combination that I usually avoid, but might work for you. Twelve inches, laurel and thunderbird feather from the USA."

The moment Atalanta's fingers wrapped around the wand, from the tip of it shot a long stream of multi-colored sparks and Harry noticed a light tremor pass through her arm. At the same Ollivander clapped and they looked at him.

"It is a very unusual for a wizard or a witch to find their wand on the first attempt," he explained. "Normally it takes few more attempts and in very rare case it can take hours before a proper wand is found."

"Also it should be a strong match that can be of great help when working with finer magic," Flitwick added. "So you will have a lot of use out of this wand and it will help you when you will be at Hogwarts."

"Indeed, indeed," Ollivander nodded and looked at Harry. "Now maybe it should be your turn?"

"Why not," Harry said.

"Which hand is the stronger one?"

"Right," he said.

Next few minutes were spent with Harry trying various wands, none of which seemed to fit him, which made Ollivander frustrated, yet he looked as if he was more annoyed than frustrated as he patiently dug through hundreds, if not thousands of wands that soon created a large pile on the ground.

"This one might work," Ollivander said, after almost an hour of unsuccessful attempts. "Eleven inches, holly and a phoenix feather."

Harry nodded and took the wand from Ollivander, when his fingers connected with the wood from the trip of the wand shot a large, long shower of sparks.

"Perfect," Ollivander said. "Finally she found a worthy owner and should serve you well. Her sister wand did great things, great, yet terrible things."

"Sister wand was his?" Flitwick asked.

"Yes," Ollivander said and seeing their confusion explained. "There are rare cases when a phoenix drops two feathers at the same time, for us wandmakers they are extremely precious as two wands made with them might share a bond. Second feather from this phoenix is in the wand that was used by You-Know-Who."

"You-Know-Who?" Jane asked.

"One that murdered Harry's mother and injured Thor," Flitwick softly explained. "Even if he did terrible things, he was also a powerful wizard, some even call him a genius."

Jane nodded. "So how does it make Harry a powerful wizard?" she asked after a moment. "I can use magic and I learned that family connections usually don't matter when it comes to power of a wizard."

"It is because of a wand," Ollivander explained. "They are picky and finicky things that are hard to predict, however there is one pattern in them. When there is a pair of them, made with the core from the same piece of hair, feather or whatever else was used as a core, they will choose very similar people. Either in personality or power."

"So because he chose one pair of the two and was a genius and a powerful wizard, Harry is supposed to be a powerful wizard?" she asked.

"Exactly," Ollivander nodded. "However it isn't a thing set in stone, there were events when it didn't happen, but what I had said is true for most of the time and most of wizards. Anyways, can we find a matching wand for the last person?"

Jane nodded and they spent several more minutes, waiting patiently for Ulf to find a wand that would match him, he finally choose or more properly was chosen by a thirteen inches long ash wand with horned serpent horn as a core. They paid twenty-one galleons for their wands and left Ollivander's and entered back onto the Diagon Alley.

"Since wands are bought, next stop should be Flourish and Blotts," Flitwick said. "Textbooks and books that should help in the first year, they aren't required, but make clear several blurry things."

"Which means a lot of books," Jane commented and Flitwick looked at her. "I was once a student and I know how many books need to be bought."

"Normally there aren't so many, but this year they added several things to the list and some of them are thick," Flitwick said and added with disgust. "Also we have self-loving ponce as this year teacher of the Defense Against the Dark Arts and he assigned seven of his books as this year textbooks."

"This year?" Jane asked, arching an eyebrow.

"They usually don't survive a whole year and if this keeps going, we will run out of candidates to teach this subject. But I doubt that this one survives until the end of the year, more likely is him being fired or removed in the first month."

"That bad?" Jane asked.

"He is supposed to be an acclaimed dueler, but somehow he turned down an offer for an official duel with me," Flitwick said. "Dueling champion for almost ten seasons, achievement not many are able to get."

"Probably uncle will get interested in him," Harry said with a grin. "He will be lucky to survive an encounter with him."

"More than likely," Jane nodded. "Your uncle is a cruel and an vindictive person, yet one that expects some standards, so he will ensure that this ponce has either a very short stay or is good in what he does."

"I hope so," Flitwick said and sighed. "There is a new Head of Hufflepuff that has more than good qualifications to teach or even White Magic teacher, yet our ponce was hired."

"Hufflepuff?" Ulf asked.

"One of four houses into which students are sorted. Other three are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin, each of them praises certain qualities and traits. Hufflepuff loyalty and hard work, Gryffindor courage and chivalry, Ravenclaw quick wit and intelligence, Slytherin cunning and devious mind," Flitwick explained and paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "Many will tell you that one house is better than other houses, but it is a lie. Every single house has its quirks and desired traits, I am Head of Ravenclaw, yet I don't have a single problem in working with Gryffindor or Slytherin."

"So in which house were my parents, dad fell weirdly silent about Hogwarts once I met Sirius?" Harry asked. "And I didn't have time to get it out of Sirius or Wanda."

"Both of them were from Gryffindor," Flitwick said, some amusement in his eyes. "Your father, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were close friends and caused a lot of troubles. They get detentions, were losing points for their house, yet they did it, not to mention several owls to their parents."

"One owl about you causing troubles and we will talk," Jane said looking at Harry who gulped in fear.

"Of course, mother," he said with a bow of his head.

"Perhaps we should continue the trip?" Flitwick suggested. "You will have time to discuss personal matters later, now I would like to get done with shopping before the book signing event of our new DADA teacher."

For the next hour they finished their shopping and once done they were loaded with dozens of bags, things in some of them were peculiar or outright strange, while in some were ones that seemed interesting. Flitwick showed them out of the Diagon Alley and they used Bifrost to get back to Asgard so that they could enjoy their holidays, last few precious weeks of doing nothing and relaxing away from the world. It also made Harry kind of eager to go to Hogwarts, place where his parents spent several years studying and where they met each other and their friends.

o-0-o

 **A/N - Body modifications, a very common trait among warrior cultures, showed a lot of information about a warrior and their achievements.**

 **Staff - it is also a handy weapon as six feet long piece of very hard wood can cause insane amounts of damage and can pass as a stick, not a weapon.**

 **Ulf and Atalanta getting wands - yes, they use different kind of magic, but it is mostly amount of force they use and while they won't be able to use them as easily as wizards, they are useful thing and can be a weapon.**

 **Reviews:**

 **WhiteElfElder - He did strengthen them, but horcrucis(at least that's how Latin suggests it) are thing that's on Asgard is almost forgotten, so he didn't care about it that much. Mad Wizard is a bigger problem as he has a track record of wreaking havoc with his sheer presence.**


	49. A beginning of something new

**A/N - Hogwarts is finally here, or at least beginning of it. Also there's a lemon close to the middle of the chapter and generally soon it will be getting darker and edgier. As always read, enjoy and review.**

 **o-0-o**

Harry worked on his staff, carefully carving runes in the surface of the wood, making sure that each cut was perfect and that the shape wasn't deformed, while Atalanta was slowly making her way through the various textbooks they would have at Hogwarts.

"You know that this supposed new teacher of DADA is either a bad writer or a liar?" she asked and he looked at her. "I read first dozen of pages of his book and there are plot holes where you could fit a dragon or two."

"Wow," he whistled loudly. "Which means that my uncle will have a lot of fun tearing into him and making sure that he doesn't remain a teacher for a long time."

"Who is supposed not to be a teacher for long?" Loki asked, appearing in the room.

"One Gilderoy Lockhart," Atalanta said, looking at the cover of the book.

Loki's face turned into a blank mask then he looked at her. "It seems that I will need to have a talk with Dumbledore about teachers, but first I will let this one fail."

"Do you know him?" Harry asked.

"Know? No," Loki said, shaking his head. "But Sirius knows him well enough and I spent time with your godfather asking him questions about various wizards. Comment about this one was a fraud, a ponce and an idiot that shouldn't pass his tests."

"So sleep through and focus on whatever else catches our mind?"

"No," he said and they looked at him. "You are there to learn, but in this case prove that he is an idiot that doesn't know his trade and that he shouldn't be allowed to teach. It shouldn't be hard and you should like it."

Harry grinned, but it was not a pleasant grin, it was one that was capable of making many run away in fear and terror. "That's a thing we can do," he said.

"Good," Loki said, crossing the room and coming to stop in front of him. "How the carving is going?"

"Slowly, very slowly," Harry said, blowing dust from one of sigils he cut into the wood. "I thought that it would go as easily as normal ash, but it is far harder and cutting into it isn't easy."

"That's Yggdrasil for you," Loki said and focused on the staff that was tediously carved by Harry. "You are doing it good and should work, but you better not hurry or..."

"Or it will turn into a whirlwind of splinters and magic," Harry finished. "Tearing me apart and making my life unpleasant."

"Indeed, so don't hurry and you will be fine."

Harry sighed and nodded, before returning to carving the wood and watching as a pile of sawdust was steadily growing and covering more and more things.

o-0-o

Loki hovered above Hogwarts, his hands spread wide, pulling on his massive reserves of magic he reached towards the building of the school and ripped open dormitory tower. He levitated towers housing dormitories of their houses to the side and out of the way and above the common room added new space, four stories tall and it would be a thing that at the Academy was probably the most used part of the whole complex and once was a part of Hogwarts. A Roman style bathhouse that was more of a recreation and fitness centre than anything else, which would be really important this year as self-defense was being a mandatory class, not to mention that it helped to integrate people. Thing that could be even more crucial as Hogwarts as of recent was a fractured school.

Looking at the space available for him Loki sighed and snapping his fingers expanded it using magic as to make squeezing it into the size of the tower a possibility. It was probably the best place for it to sit, so he needed a bigger place to work with. Content with the size, he quickly conjured and threw into the space all of the sanitary facilities they would need, followed by plumbing and other infrastructure necessary for it to work.

Once everything was done he focused on the magical aspects of the place, heavy wards to separate genders from each other, after all teens would mostly use it and it was better to be safe than wonder how did something happened. He snapped his fingers and hundreds of runes appeared all over the place, forming swirling patterns that would be easily mistaken for simple decorations, while in truth they hid runes, powerful runes, ones that would ensure that they stay separate or consequences would happen. Consequences that would make almost anybody unwilling to try to do it once again and would discourage everybody else. He also just in case added wards that would stop most kinds of fire magic, if that person was going to stay at Hogwarts, he wanted to ensure that fire wouldn't burn down the whole building.

"If they are hiring him," Loki said. "I think that siege wards won't be amiss and I will need to speak with Dumbledore about his choice of a teacher. Dresden has a certain reputation and this castle might not survive his presence."

As soon as the wards were set he moved the towers with dormitories onto their proper places and added stairs that would connect them with the common room below the bathhouse and quickly added small common rooms for each house for meetings of them and moments when they wanted to celebrate something without rubbing it in. Once those were set next thing to get done were portals connecting dorms to the bathhouse below, simple bit of extremely advanced thaumaturgy connected with few more obscure disciplines of magic.

For one last time Loki looked at his work and with a snap of his fingers teleported into the office of Dumbledore. "We need to talk about your new choice of a teacher," he flatly said, glaring at the Headmaster of Hogwarts. "Dresden, Warden Dresden or Winter Knight Dresden or Warden of Demonreach Dresden is a person that I have a lot of respect for, but he has a talent for destruction and even more destruction, part of which I would love to stay away from Hogwarts."

"He was not my first candidate, but my hand was forced in the matter by person with whom I don't want to argue," Dumbledore said. "The Merlin gave me a choice Dresden or Warden Ramirez and I prefer someone who can get their respect more easily."

"And is in the top five percent of the strongest wizards on the planet."

"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded. "He also should temper Madam Umbridge as I want to get rid of her and he as a Warden has quite a lot to say when it comes to the Laws of Magic."

"Laws which are more lenient for you as you have a safer channel for your magic, wand, that insulates you better against energies of black magic. Though it is only for the first three laws, last four ones are still as strict as they are for the Council," Loki pointed out, but then smirked. "You hope to catch her with a toe out of the line and then bring down Dresden or me onto her."

"Indeed," Dumbledore nodded. "She is a menace and Dresden hates such things, so the sooner they meet, one of them will explode and get out of the castle."

"Also Dresden might help with any black magic issues, from what I know about him, he is quite capable and Mab is impressed with his performance as her Winter Knight."

"How angry will she be if I steal him for few years?"

"As long as he can attend to his duties as a Winter Knight, she will accept why he needs to be here," Loki said. "She is a logical one, so she can guess why do you want him teaching at this school."

"Good, good," Dumbledore said, stroking his beard. "Filius mentioned that Harry will be bringing friends with him."

"Indeed," Loki smirked. "Friends and quite capable warriors, just in case he needs to get out of a hairy situation, also it won't hurt them to learn some wanded magic. I assure you that they will behave and play by the rules."

"They won't blow up or destroy anything?"

"Unprovoked? No, but if one of braver students will have a desire to test them, well, things can happen and they can have problems," Loki said. "But I hope that most of your wizards will be reasonable enough not to cause problems. As I'm sure that Harry won't cause troubles first, he was taught to think first and then react, not charge into battle head first and get out of it in pieces and dead."

Dumbledore nodded and Loki smiled.

"Good, that should solve our issues and Dresden should be a good addition to your teaching staff," Loki said and snapped his fingers, vanishing from the office.

o-0-o

Harry blew the dust of the staff and looked at the effect of his work, six feet of hard ash wood was covered in sigils and runes that helped to channel magic and would allow him to easily channel it through the staff. He spent over a week cutting those marks in the wood, making sure that each line was smooth and even, that each sign meant what it was supposed to mean and that there were no taints that would cause troubles with magic.

He lifted it and channeled a miniscule amount of magic through the wood, almost instantly he was rewarded by an almost impossible to hear humming noise and runes starting to glow. "It seems that you finally did it," Atalanta said as she walked to him. "Which means time for us and away from your work."

"Yes," he agreed. "Finally done and no more work for those holidays."

She smiled and sat down on the couch to his side. "So what do you plan to do?"

"Nothing," he said and kissed her, making her blush lightly. "Enjoy the time with people I like and care about."

She trailed her fingers up his arm and smiled. "I like the answer and we will have a lot of fun with each other."

He took a long, careful look at her. "Are you thinking about those things?"

"Maybe," she smiled. "We have almost three weeks of time to kill, so we might do it."

Harry blushed and smiled. "I like the way you speak and I won't mind it."

"Which teen would mind it?"

"None," he quickly answered and got up. "I will show it to my uncle so that he can check it and I will be back."

She nodded and he quickly walked out of the room, heading for the area of the Citadel where his uncle was most likely to be. Several moments later he was standing in front of Loki who took his staff and carefully rolled it between his fingers.

"Quite a nice work," Loki said, rolling the wood between his fingers. "It will work decently and should serve you well."

"Uncle, if I may ask, why didn't you give me a staff when you started to teach me magic?" Harry asked

"Because it is too helpful and a young sorcerer needs to learn how to use his magic without any props to help him channel," Loki explained. "Without a staff you need to not only focus, channel and shape magic, but also give it direction, which is a lot harder than it seems. So when you get a staff you can use finer magic as it takes off your shoulders burden of working on direction."

"I see," Harry said with a sigh of resignation.

"At Hogwarts you will be allowed to use wands or staffs all the time," Loki said and Harry perked up. "Yes, I'm not joking, though first few weeks will be mostly about theory and rules that govern magic."

"Still, it shouldn't be that bad," Harry said and Loki nodded.

"It will be fine," he said and summoned a folded piece of parchment. "speaking about Hogwarts I have something for you." He handed piece of parchment to Harry who just arched an eyebrow. "It's a map, based on what your father and his friends did when they were at Hogwarts, I created a similar one, with few small gifts hidden inside. At the moment it tracks every being in school and shows all commonly known corridors, hallways and rooms. As you will use it, there will be riddles showing up and once you figure them out hidden parts will show."

"Sounds interesting," Harry said, carefully unfolded the map and almost immediately on the surface of parchment appeared lines. "It looks cool."

"Thank you," Loki smiled. "You can set password that will protect its content from curious people and show it only to those that know it. Also you can use it to find the shortest round from one point to another."

Harry's smile turned into a grin. "Please tell me that it tell me when someone is near."

"Maybe," Loki smirked. "You need to figure out that for yourself, but who knows. Maybe there is something like that hidden there."

Harry grinned and disappeared out of his uncle's rooms.

o-0-o

Holidays passed in a very fast blur and Harry realized that they were almost over when he walked into the Healer's Halls to get a check-up from Eir and probably a really long talk about not returning in pieces and staying away from dangerous situations that could kill or injure him. He walked through the common area and headed for smaller, more private examination rooms, he stopped in front of door leading inside and gently knocked.

Door opened on its own and he took it as a cue to step inside, Eir looked at him and indicated at the bed placed in the corner. "You know what to do," she said.

"Right," he said with a sigh. "Undress down to the underwear, lay down on the bed and answer any questions you might have."

"Indeed," she said with a small smile. "After all of those years and of checkups and being patched up after training accident you would know what to do without being told."

He got out of his clothes and placed them to the side before laying on the bed and looking at her. She walked to him and leaned over, at the same time placing her hand, that glowed green, above his head and slowly moving downwards. "Well, you are healthy and fit as any Æsir teen should be," she commented and brushed her fingers against the scars on his chest. "But, there are some things happening to you that will show up soon."

"What's it?" He asked, some concern visible in his voice.

"Nothing bad," she said. "Just will cause you a lot of headaches and sleepless nights, parts of it are already awake, telepathy that you are developing is the first step of it. So you have nothing to fear from it."

"At least that's good," Harry said with a thin smile. "One good thing they did to me."

"You could say so," she agreed and looked at him. "Remember about three things, don't get shot or cut to pieces, take the drug, as bastards aren't approved and you are of age to actually have sex, and last, but not least keep working out."

"I know," he said with a sigh. "No fun for me, only responsibilities and duties."

"Well, you are healthy so you are free to go," she said, shooing him out of the room. "Just don't get back in pieces as I don't plan on patching you up or pulling bullets out of your wounds. So stay out of troubles."

"I will try," he said as he finished dressing up and disappeared out of the room.

o-0-o

Harry looked at the city bathed in orange rays of evening sun and sighed, he came to love Asgard yet in the past two years he spent here less time than he spent on Midgard and while he loved Midgard and the Institute, he wasn't so sure about Hogwarts, place where he was supposed to spend seven long years. All of their trunks were packed and ready, just waiting to be taken to Midgard and Hogwarts.

"Do you need to be so broody?" Atalanta asked, walking to him and placing hand on his shoulder. "You think and sigh for almost half of the day."

"I'm just not sure about Hogwarts and being there," he said and looked at her. "Please tell me you have some good news."

"Well, I might have," she said, kissing him on the cheek. "Laura and Jean returned to Midgard and now it's just you and me."

He blushed and looked at her. "Tomorrow we will travel there, what do you plan to do now?"

"Spend the time with you. At Hogwarts we won't have that much time to be with each other, so I want to use as much of it as I can."

"Well, dusk is soon," he said, looking at the sun. "Maybe an hour or two before it hides behind the horizon and we are alone, so what do you suggest?"

"Spend most of the time in bed and with each other?" she suggested with a smirk. "It's not like we will have an opportunity to do it, so how does it sound?"

"Quite well," he said with a smile.

"Get changed into your sleeping clothes and get into the bed," she said, before kissing him and walking into the room.

He felt his cheeks redden even more, but he shrugged it off and few moments later he laid in his massive bed snuggled against Atalanta and covered by few large furs. "I will miss those moments," he whispered and kissed her.

"The soonest we can have fun will be Yuletide," she said and trailed her fingers along his muscled arm. "Which is three, no, four months away."

"We will enjoy our company more, then."

"Maybe we will," she smiled. "But I think that we can have some fun with each other and do something that I wanted to do on your birthday."

"What?" He asked her.

She kissed him, her tongue pushing into his mouth and exploring it, his eyes widened in surprise at her aggressiveness and desire. "Give you a very special gift," she whispered, ending the kiss. "One only I can give you. My virginity."

He sharply inhaled and looked at her, not sure if she was joking. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she said, her fingers tenderly moving across his chest. "I trust you and I know that you are a special person, one with whom I want to have this moment."

"I will be honored," he said and kissed her, "But I don't want to cause you pain."

"You won't," she whispered, leaning closer to his ear, her hot breath caressing his skin. "It will be a very enjoyable moment," she kept on whispering as she caressed his torso. "Harry, I want you to take me. I want you to take me and my virginity on this day. I want to give you myself and my virginity as the most special gift for you."

He felt his heartbeat get faster with each word she had spoken, each word was heating up flames of passion and lust inside of his mind. "At," he whispered and kissed her. "I love you and if you want to give me your virginity I will take it and cherish the moment."

"Harry," she whispered, sending shivers across his body. "You are a person that I treated like a brother and now is my lover. I was the one that was the first one to make out with you and I want you to be the one that takes my virginity."

"At," he whispered, leaning closer to her ear. "You were like a sister to me and now you are my lover, person whom I love and desire, if you want to give me your virginity, I will take it."

"I want to," she whispered before kissing him, her tongue pushing into his mouth. "I want you to take me," she whispered, catching her breath. "So take me," she whispered as her lips melted against his.

He felt his hormones getting out of control, her body was enough to get them restless. She was just under six feet tall with a beautifully sculpted body, every single inch covered in muscles and wrapped in a perfect coppery skin. Her breasts were quite large and just asking for a squeeze or two, overall she looked like a goddess you wanted to worship. That was enough to get his hormones and urges restless, the kiss set his whole body on fire.

"I will take you," he whispered as he threw furs covering them to the side. "I will take you and make you mine."

She smiled and allowed his gaze to explore her and take into account her shirt and shorts, as well as his own shorts, three highly unnecessary pieces of garment. "I want you to take my virginity and to remember this day," she whispered. "The day when we became true lovers."

He let out a moan of arousal and pushing her onto the bed, climbed onto her. "You will be mine," he whispered, kissing her. "Do you want it?"

"I want you," she whispered and parted her lips, inviting his tongue inside. "I want you inside of me, I want you!"

He ended the kiss and slowly, sensually rolled her shirt up, revealing her belly and parts of her breasts, she looked beautifully, not a single blemish on her skin, her breast two perfect mounds of flesh, round and soft. "You are a goddess," he whispered and touched her breasts. "Being that should be worshipped and adored."

"You are a sweet lover," she whispered and chuckled. "Worship me and my whole body."

He smiled and rolled up her shirt even more, she looked at him and eagerly raised her hands to let him remove it, revealing her whole upper body to the world. His gaze ran over her breasts and he started to fondle with them, his moves careful and unsure at first. However the moment she started to moan and groan he smiled and started to be more sure of what he was doing. 'Do you like it?" he asked huskily.

"Yes," she said between one hitched breath and another. "Play with them and make me feel well."

He smiled and moved closer, his hot breath caressing her flesh and sending shivers all over her body. "You are a gorgeous goddess," he whispered, his hands fondling with her breasts. "One who is a perfect lover for me," he whispered as he grabbed one of her nipples with his mouth and started to suck it.

"Harry," she whispered, her hands buried in his long, black hair. "You are a perfect lover, one that every girl desires to have, you are brave, smart, strong, good-looking, sweet, considerate, yet passionate and unsated."

He felt his cheeks get hot from her praise, she knew how to make him feel well and how to stroke his ego. "At," he whispered, releasing her nipple. "You are an ideal lover for me," he kept on whispering as his fingers caressed her breasts, slowly, but surely kneading them. "Gentle, nice, sweet, strong, intelligent, wild and passionate as well as understanding."

She only smiled and pulled him into a kiss, her breasts mashing against his torso, their soft flesh squeezed by his chest. He let go of her mouth and looked into her golden eyes. "Do you want to keep going?" He asked in a whisper.

"Harry," she said and her breath hitched. "I want you, I want you to take my virginity," she whispered and made him smile.

He kissed her and slowly moved downwards, his fingers grazing sides of her body, feeling out every shape and curve, his lips leaving a trail of kisses down her chest and stopping at her belly button. "Your wish is my command, Princess," he whispered and slowly pulled down her shorts.

The sight which was revealed to his eyes was a magnificent one, her pubic area, her slit surrounded by a small patch of trimmed pubic hair. There was already some wetness visible, showing how aroused she was. "You are a goddess," he whispered.

"Thank you," she smiled and reached for his shorts. "Let me help you," she said pulling them down.

He breathed in relief as previously they were constraining him and now he was free. His manhood was free to go and nothing restrained it. "Thank you, love," he whispered.

"No problem," she smiled and looked into his eyes. "I want both of us to enjoy the moment."

He smiled and placed his hand on her crotch. "You are wet," he said, amused twinkle to his eyes.

She chuckled and looked at him. "I'm aroused and my body wants you," she whispered and touched his hard manhood. "You also want to have fun."

He shuddered at the touch and lightly bobbed his head. "Are you ready?" He asked her.

"Yes," she said as she laid on the bed and spread her legs apart. "Take me," she whispered. "Take me and my virginity."

He crawled onto her, using one of his hands guided his manhood into her and then he slowly lowered himself onto her. "Tell me when it will hurt," he whispered into her ear as his manhood pushed into her pussy. "I don't want to cause you any pain."

She gasped at the feeling of him entering her virgin pussy, but then she relaxed and moved a bit. "I'm fine," she said, "Just be slow and careful, let me adjust to having you inside."

He smiled, placed her hands on his wings and started to move, his thrusts slow and even. "You are mine," he whispered and kissed her. "Mine and Laura's, we will make love when we want to and when we desire you."

She moaned at the feeling of him inside of her and started to caress his wings, her fingers carefully and softly touching them, yet easily sending shivers through his body and not helping him in enjoying their first sex. "I love you," he whispered and looked into her eyes. "I love you and I desire your body."

"I want you," she whispered between one hitched breath and another. "Leave your seed inside of me."

He looked at her, at the same time trying to keep his thrusts slow and even. "Do you want to have it?"

"Yes, please," she whispered and he nodded.

He kissed her and started to make his thrusts faster, his manhood emerging from and burying inside of her snatch, his balls slapping against her flesh. Suddenly her legs wrapped around his waist and pulled him deeper into her. He looked at her in surprise, only to see an amused expression on her face

He could feel his orgasm approach, it felt like a slowly building wave of emotions and pleasure that boiled and grew. He thrust few more times and then it came, washing over him and setting his nerves on fire. At the same time his manhood started to twitch and streams of his seed left it and started to fill her, which triggered an orgasm for her and made her shake and shudder below him as from their mouths were escaping moans of lust and pleasure. Through the orgasmic haze he was able to feel and notice a mark appearing on his and hers bellies and a new presence in his mind.

He crashed against her and laid there, his manhood still inside of her, both of them covered in sweat, breathing heavily and basked in the afterglow of sex.

"I love you," Atalanta whispered and pulled him into a kiss.

As they kissed it felt for him even better than previously, as if previous kisses were diluted version of the liquid pleasure he was now feeling. Their tongues were exchanging saliva and dueling.

"We are lovers," he whispered ending the kiss and slipping out of her.

"We are," she agreed. "We always were, but now we are fully."

He smiled and looked at her face, her golden eyes shining with happiness and joy. "We need to do it more often," he finally said.

"Indeed," she said with a sultry smile. "Especially since at Hogwarts we will lack an opportunity."

"One more?" He asked as he started to knead her breasts.

She smiled and grabbing him by the shoulders rolled on the bed, so that she was mounting his hips, it also gave him a view onto her belly where he noticed faintly glowing pink tattoo, he glanced at his own and saw a blue one.

"This time I will ride you," she purred, kissed him full on the lips making tattoos flare up and then she grabbed his manhood and inserted into her snatch, groaning as she lowered herself.

He smiled and moaned as she fully lowered herself onto him and then leaned forward to kiss him. He enjoyed the kiss, at the same time his hands snaked to her hips and started to knead her buttocks.

"You are mine," she whispered as she started to ride him, he smiled and started to thrust into her, synchronizing their paces.

He moaned as the first wave of sensation washed over him, it was a much stronger and more powerful sensation than during their first time.

"No," he whispered. "You are ours." He kissed her, pressing their bodies against each other. "We will share ourselves with each other and Laura."

She moaned as she rode him, her body in a synchronization with him, bringing both of them closer and closer to their releases. With each move their breathing quickened as they felt their orgasms come to them, she finally loudly moaned and fluids gushed out of her pussy and onto his hardness. This was too much for him and with one final moan he buried his manhood inside of her and came, streams of his seed left his loins and started to fill her pussy. This one was a much, much stronger orgasm than his first one, as well as a more lasting one.

Wave of pleasure and lust washed over his mind, setting his whole body on fire. Glow from their tattoos connected into one, but after a moment it started to die down.

"It was fantastic," she said, sloppily kissing him. "I love you, Harry."

He smiled at those words and looked into her eyes. "I will miss those moments when we will be at Hogwarts."

"We will have time to be with each other," she promised him and moved so that his manhood left her. "Now sleep, love," she whispered, pressing her hot body against him.

He embraced her and with her soft breasts pressing against his torso he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep, it was one of last few moments of their true freedom before they needed to go to Hogwarts.

o-0-o

On the next day they used Bifrost to travel to Midgard and to be exact to King's Cross Station in London, Loki was with them as he was the one that could keep crowds from not noticing them. Harry felt a gentle squeeze on the shoulder and looked at his uncle. "Stay out of trouble, nephew," Loki said. "I don't want to explain to your Headmaster why some of his students are dismembered and I even less want to explain to your mother why were you expelled."

"I understand," Harry said with a roll of his eyes. "I was fine at the Institute, so I should be fine here."

"If you say so," Loki said as they passed onto Platform 9¾. "Wizards are a lot different than mutants, but there might be some familiar or known faces, not only wizards."

"Oh?"

"You will see," he said, before pulling to a side. "Atalanta, Ulf," he said, getting their attention. "You will be in the same house as Harry and your main duty is to protect him, but also learn. While many things will be familiar to you, many will be new and knowledge is power, power that you will need to survive in the world. So don't slander this chance and treat it as an opportunity to learn something."

"We understand," they chorused, making Loki smile.

"Good," he said, before focusing on Harry. "Nephew, those same things apply to you, but also treat it as an opportunity to have fun and learn things about your parents and their exploits. There are many things you will learn about them, some of them merely interesting, but many are also amusing and useful for you to know. So learn, have fun and cause mischief."

"Won't mother murder me for causing mischief?" Harry asked. "She mentioned something about it."

"If you cause troubles that get noticed," Loki pointed out with a smirk. "Now tell me if something innocent and playful will be reported?"

"No."

"Exactly," he said ruffled Harry's hair. "So be yourself and have fun."

Harry smiled and hugged his uncle before walking back into the crowd of young wizards, witches and their families, all of whom were swarming around the train with a massive crimson steam engine, on the side of which in golden letters was stenciled 'Hogwarts Express'.

"That's the way to get to Hogwarts?" Atalanta asked, her keen eyes sweeping over the crowds.

"Looks like it and we were told it was supposed to be a train," Harry said. "I'm more curious who is this familiar face mentioned by my uncle."

"We will see," Ulf said, as they pushed through the crowd and towards the train. "That is if I don't kill them if they don't move out of my way."

"Easy," Harry said quietly. "You will have time to kill later, now we need more peaceful solution."

Ulf grumbled, but nodded and followed Harry who shoved out of his way a wizard and they managed to get onto the train. For a moment they walked down the corridor, looking for an empty compartment or at least one where they could all fit.

Suddenly Harry stopped when he saw a teen with auburn hair and scarred face sitting in one of them. "I think we found one," he said, making them look at him. "It's Gambit and it is probably the best we can find."

They nodded and piled into the compartment, getting attention of Gambit who until now was dozing off, but was woken up by the noise caused by them. He got up and helped them with stowing away their trunks.

"So what are you doing here?" Harry asked, taking a good look at Gambit.

"Well, Fury needed someone that knows martial arts and could teach at Hogwarts," Gambit said with a grin. "So he chose me and I got a job there, paid rather handsomely, not that I need the money."

"I guess that's good," Harry said and smiled. "I won't mind some familiar and known faces, my uncle mentioned that there was someone more that I should know."

"Banshee is also at Hogwarts, or will," Gambit said. "Officially to ensure that the school is safe, in truth..."

"To keep a very close eye on what is happening inside of the school," Atalanta finished and they looked at her. "What? I got the same education as the two of you got, it's not hard to guess what is he doing here."

"Fair enough," Harry said and leaned back. "So Professor LeBeau or Gambit or Remy?"

"Officially Professor LeBeau, unofficially Gambit or Remy," Gambit said with a smile. "You know that authority is important and how well would sound you using name of the teacher, instead of a honorific and his surname?"

"Right," Harry said with a sigh as the train started to pull away from the station. "Need to show respect, proper decorum and use formal titles, did I miss something?"

"No," Gambit said with a smile. "You just listed all of them, though until we are at Hogwarts, we can ignore it."

"Good, you are here to take a look at your future students?"

"Maybe," he smiled. "Or maybe I want to do it?"

Harry nodded and relaxed in his seat, knowledge that Gambit was going to be at school had a soothing effect on him. Even if at first he had doubt about the place where were Gambit loyalties, after six months of living under the same roof and being forced to spend time together, he came to trust this Cajun teen.

He was about to ask Gambit about something when doors of the compartment opened and through them stepped in two teens with red hair and freckled faces that looked like the surface of the moon. One of them was a tall boy, thin and lanky, while second was a girl petite and small, yet somewhat attractive.

"May we sit here?" the boy asked. "There are no other free compartments on the train."

"At, Ulf, Gambit?" Harry asked.

"As long as they do not cause troubles, why not," Gambit said. "It's not that we can be picky."

"You heard him," Harry said, looking at the teens. "As long as you behave you can stay."

They nodded and filled into the compartment, yet it surprised Harry that they didn't have any trunks with them. He filled away that piece of data for later usage and focused on them. They behaved as if they owned the place and nobody mattered to them.

"What are your names?" the boy asked.

"Harry Potter."

"The Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived," he demanded and Harry's eyes almost immediately narrowed.

"Yes, why does it matter?" he asked.

"Because you are a supposed savior of wizarding world," the boy said and extended his hand. "I'm Ron Weasley, can we be friends?"

"Why should I be your friend?" Harry asked. "You did it only after I told you that my name was Harry Potter."

"Because I know who is good and who is bad in the world to which you are a foreigner and know nothing about," Ron said.

Before Harry opened his mouth Ginny launched herself at him. "Also you should stay only with light families, us, those good ones," she said, sitting in his lap and moving her hips in a sensual manner. "I'm Ginny Weasley and you deserve me, not anybody else."

"Leave. Him. Alone," Atalanta hissed, her eyes narrowed and ablaze. "Or I won't be responsible for my actions."

"What will you do to me?" Ginny asked.

Atalanta growled and moved, she was so fast that Harry had troubles following her moves, the next thing he saw was Ginny pinned against the wall with a dagger against her throat. "One cut, it will be enough," Atalanta whispered into Ginny's ear. "You will slowly choke on your own blood, so choose. Leave him alone or that will happen to you."

"She is my sister, remove that thing from her throat!" Ron shouted as he pulled out his wand.

Harry sighed and looked at Ulf. "Can you be so kind and take out the trash? Both of them if you could, they are annoyances and I'm in no mood to deal with them."

Ulf grinned in reply and with one hand grabbed Ron by the collar of his shirt, while with the other reached for Ginny. Atalanta looked at Ulf's hand and then just moved away to let him grab Ginny, he walked out of the compartment, before giving Ron a powerful kick up his ass and tumbling him down the corridor, where he soon was joined by Ginny. "Trash is out," Ulf cheerfully reported, getting back and dusting off his hands.

"Nicely done," Gambit said with a smile. "Tell me the next time you will do it as I need to watch it."

"No problem."

Before Harry had a chance to get comfortable doors were once again open and through them stepped in two extremely similar people to the two that were removed by Ulf. However they were also a lot different, more stocky and had an air of confidence and mischief around them. They stepped inside and cautiously looked around. "Who was the one who kicked our brother so hard that he cannot walk straight?" one of them asked.

"I," Ulf said. "Why does it matter?"

"We wanted to congratulate you," one of them laughed. "I'm Fred and this is George," he said, indicating his companion. "We never saw him in such a bad shape."

"I'm glad that I could help you," Ulf smiled. "Maybe you will join us."

Fred looked at George who just nodded and together they took the last two seats that were free. "So what did they do?" Fred asked.

"Started to cause troubles," Harry said. "So Ulf was kind enough to remove them out of the compartment."

"We like you," George said. "But I think we don't know who you are."

This time proper introductions were made and Fred and George looked at Harry, their gazes focused on him.

"What?" He asked. "If you want my fame, Ulf will send you the same way your siblings came out."

"No," George said. "It's just that our older brother mentioned you and was quite impressed, which is a thing that happens rarely. Also we don't want your fame, we much more prefer friendship, having fun and causing mischief."

"A much better answer," Harry said with a grin. "And I think that I like you."

"As we like you," Fred said. "I kind of wonder into which house you will be sorted."

"We will see," Harry said and smiled. "From what uncle told me each house is interesting in a way."

"It is mostly true," George said.

"We are proud and brave Gryffindors, but we don't have a single issue with other houses," Fred continued. "But we ask you for one thing."

"Yes?" Harry asked.

"Don't murder our siblings, even if we dislike them, they are family, which means not killing each other and our mother would be angry if she learnt that Ginny or her Ronniekins were injured. So for everybody's sake, injure them, but don't kill or maim."

"I think it is doable," Atalanta said. "But when she gets close to Harry, I won't be responsible for my actions."

Fred and George winced. "Our sister is a rather tough person when it comes to convincing her not to do something," George said. "And she believes that you are supposed to be hers."

Harry loudly snorted and looked at them. "That's a joke?"

"Unfortunately no," Fred said with a wince. "You can say thank you to our dear mother and her ideas."

"It seems that she needs to be convinced to stay away from him," Atalanta said viciously. "He is mine and I don't plan on sharing him with that red haired nightmare, if she wants someone, she can have anybody else than him."

"Can we not talk about all of this?" Gambit cut in. "You will have plenty of time later at school and I would prefer more enjoyable topics."

Harry looked at Gambit in thanks and nodded, it was enough to make them move to nicer topics as the train moved closer and closer to Scotland and Hogwarts.

o-0-o

Atmosphere in the staff room was dense as I looked at the pink menace sitting on the other side of the room. If Justin had any siblings, they would look just like her, ugly, squat, unpleasant and power hungry or prime examples of local wizarding community. "I'm here on the orders from the Council and I will carry them out," I growled, she thought that she could push me around. She was so wrong about it. "You have nothing to say about them."

She cleared her throat and coughed unpleasantly. "I fear not," she said, her voice dripping with venomous sweetness. "Wardens have no interest in Hogwarts and you are one, so you have no reason to be here."

"No reason to be?" I snorted. "Maybe you want to see what happens when the Council learns about breaking the Laws by your wizards and sends a cadre or two of Wardens."

"We are exempt from those laws of yours," she croaked. "So you have no authority over us."

I wanted to yell at her and shove her words down her throat, but thankfully I was saved by an intervention from what it looked like my least expected ally in this room, Severus Snape, resident dungeon bat and Potion Master.

"Unfortunately for you, Madam Umbridge, Warden Dresden is correct," Snape cut in with his sneer, he was a man that I came to like, even with his evil guy vibe, he was a person that knew a lot and knew which battles to pick. "He has authority over us, we have more lenient treatment when it comes to the first three laws, the rest is as strict as for the Council."

"Thank you," I said in direction of Snape and focused on the pink menace. "As he said, three first laws, the rest applies the same and the treatment is the same. Execution with a very. Sharp. Sword."

I smiled thinly when she paled. "You wouldn't dare?"

"Oh yes, I would dare," I snarled, keeping power of Winter Knight Mantle in check, it was a powerful tool that also loved messing with my mind. "Last year from what I know Asgard moved and they blew up Durmstrang, while murdering most of its students for black magic. You might be their next target, so either you deal with Odin or let me be here. And I assure you that you don't want to deal with that one-eyed guy when he is mad, even his normal persona is scary."

"We won't be attacked, this school stood for thousand years and will stand for thousand more."

"Dolores, perhaps more peaceful voice would be appreciated," Dumbledore cut in and I focused on him, even if he was eccentric I could feel his connection to the castle and while not as powerful as me, with the castle backing him up, he was perhaps as dangerous as one of the Senior Council. "What do you plan to teach them? Merlin was vague about it."

"Things they should know not to get executed by a Warden," I said. "And so that they can survive in the world." I could see the pink toad open her mouth, so I glared at her and she stopped. "Good, stay silent. It will be easier for us, as I said, things they need to survive in the world, including how to defend against magic and various things they might encounter."

"They are children and they are safe within those walls," Dumbledore said and made me sight.

Those wizards were illogical and I wondered how did I get convinced by my grandfather and the Merlin to take this job, I should have let Carlos have fun and turn down the offer. I thought that the Senior Council lacked intelligence, but those people were the purest morons I ever saw. They were self-centered, narrow-minded morons that didn't see further than the end of their own nose and lived in a gilded cage. "I don't know if you noticed, but there is a fucking war happening in the world and once they leave those walls they won't be children, they will be wizards that need to know as much as they can," I said through clenched teeth. "If you don't like what I will teach, stay away from my class and what I will be teaching, otherwise I won't be responsible for my actions and someone might get harmed."

"Are you threatening us?" the toad croaked.

"Yes, test me if you wish," I said and leaned against the wall. "But you might not come out of it alive. I don't expect you to love me or even like, I just want to have peace when I will be teaching."

"You will have peace," Dumbledore said with a sigh. "Do you need something else?"

"No," I said and with a snarl stormed out of the room. "Bloody idiots, one day they will get me killed. There is a war and they think it is raining."

I walked through the halls, my duster billowing behind me, scabbard of my new Warden sword clacking against my leg. I needed to have some fresh air or I was going to explode, they were idiots and morons that lived in their perfect world and didn't want to acknowledge the fact that something could be wrong. I shook my head and slowly exhaled, pushing down the power of Winter, it wanted to kill and murder and I actually agreed with it. But I forced it to behave. I was Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden a wizard, not some petty thug of Mab.

o-0-o

Hogwarts Express came to a stop in the rain and darkness somewhere int Scotland and they filled out onto the station. "First year have a different entrance," Fred and George said before joining their friends and leaving Harry's group alone, Gambit disappeared earlier, thus leaving them on their own.

They followed the crowd of overexcited wizards and a hulking man that must have some blood of giants in his veins towards the lake and hundreds of boats anchored there. "Three people per boat," the man called.

They took seats in one of the boats and were able to take the very first look at the massive form of Hogwarts castle, hundreds of buildings and towers built on top of a peninsula cutting into the lake.

"Not as impressive as the Citadel back home," Harry said, taking a better look.

"Cut them some slack," Atalanta chided him. "The Citadel was built by your family for several millennia, this was created by your uncle in a moment, also the Citadel is supposed to shine and blind everybody looking at it."

"Fair enough," he said as boats started to sail.

They sailed across the lake and passed through a naturally formed tunnel in the rock on which the castle sat and before their eyes appeared Hogwarts in all of its glory. The image they had seen from the shore was a bleak one, here they could see hundreds of buildings with thousands of windows placed in them from where was pouring out amber light, warm and welcoming.

"Not the worst castle," Ulf commented and Harry looked at his friend. "The Citadel is nicer and bigger, but it looks good."

He nodded and they got out of their boats, the man led them up the stone stairs and towards the biggest building of the castle where they were met by a tall, seriously looking with with gray hair.

"First years, Professor McGonagall," the man said, nodding to the witch.

"Thank you, Hagrid," she said. "I will take it from here." She turned to look at them. "I'm Professor Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and Professor of Transfiguration, now if you could follow me."

They followed her up few more stairs and into a small chamber with several high arch windows placed in the walls of it.

"Soon you will join the rest of the school for the Welcoming Feast, but first you will need to pass Sorting Ceremony. You will be placed in one of four houses, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin, during your stay at the school they will be your family, you will attend classes with your housemates, your misdeeds will bring shame onto your house, your achievements fame," she said and her gaze swept over their faces. "Now, tidy up yourself and in a moment I will be back."

Harry looked around and could feel someone's gaze focused on him, he followed it to the source and noticed a blond teen starting intently at him.

"What?" Ulf asked.

"Nothing," Harry shrugged and at the same time McGonagall came back and motioned for them to follow her. And cut, to be continued…

 **o-0-o**

 **A/N - Loki once again playing with Hogwarts - he has his goals and wants to bring wizards in line as otherwise it could end badly for them, badly in the homicidal murder kind of way.**

 **Dresden being saddled with Hogwarts - he always was disliked by the Senior Council so the Merlin would happily throw him at Hogwarts, also with Fomor around nobody wants to let them dig their claws into this particular castle and students inside of it. Attack on Dresden means that Mab can also interfere and that's a person that's good at scaring people away and even Fomor that have a grudge against wizards will actually pause and think.**

 **Loki making a copy of the Map - he's the Trickster and even if this particular thing was done by his idiotic brother, it is a good thing and he likes those things. So giving it to Harry to let him have fun is a rather good idea. And that's without any additional features he added to it.**

 **Harry and Atalanta - they are both as high on various drugs as you can make it without risking side-effects from showing up, so they can fuck as much as they wish to and nothing will happen. Besides, they want to enjoy their last night on Asgard and have some fun.**

 **Ginny's behavior - she was Harry obsessed fangirl when she was eleven, here she's fourteen and had few more years to dream about her and Harry.**

 **Dresden's threat about raid made by Wardens - very real and for damage level imagine a band of special forces storming your house and shooting at everybody that doesn't obey their command. They are antsy, trigger-happy, most of them saw so many evils that they prefer murdering suspects on the spot and generally are closer to military forces than law enforcement.**

 **Warden sword - yes, in canon they didn't make new ones, but that was because Luccio was incapable of making new ones after body swap, she had the knowledge inside and I think that finding a person that could make them would be her goal.**

 **Reviews:**

 **WhiteElfElder - indeed, he will have a very painful time is prepared for him. The only question is who will be responsible for his fall.**


	50. Hogwarts

**A/N - They officially begun Hogwarts and plots start to unfold, I officially started uni, so there might be delays in me posting stuff right on time as my supply of unpublished stories isn't infinite and sooner or later it will run out.**

 **o-0-o**

They followed Professor McGonagall and entered into the Great Hall, massive hall with an enchanted ceiling that showed the sky above and thousands of candles floating right under it. It was filled with four long tables, with golden plates and cutlery, around which were seated hundreds of students. Above those tables floated dozens of ghosts, their wispy silvery forms passing through one another and through the walls. As they entered the room Harry could feel noise die down with whole attention focused on them, stares of over a thousand people focused mostly on him.

"I knew that you were famous," Ulf whispered. "But this makes me jealous of you."

"Kill a dark lord as an infant and you will have the same kind of fame," Harry said with a snort. "I would much more prefer not to have this fame."

Ulf fell silent and trailed behind Harry as they walked across the hall and towards the front of the room where at the high table sat staff of the school. In the middle Harry immediately recognized Dumbledore in his purple robes and half glasses, seated in the biggest chair that looked more like a throne than anything else, especially with all of the gilding and carvings. To his right side was an empty seat, presumably McGonagall's followed by a seat occupied by a short, squat woman. Next two seats were occupied by a wizard and a witch with snow-white hair that looked as if they were several centuries old and if the power they were giving off was anything to go by they were powerful. To their side sat a person that could only be the ponce mentioned by Professor Flitwick during a tour of Diagon Alley, as Harry looked at him he felt a bit queasy and wondered how the heck this guy was able to do half of the things he claimed to get done. That side of the table was finished by Gambit and Banshee who behaved completely normal and Gambit winked in his direction.

On the other side of the table from Dumbledore first seat was occupied by Flitwick, followed by a pink menace that looked hideous, followed by a greasy man that must have been Snape, mentioned more than a dozen of times by Sirius or dad. Next person looked like a walrus and seemed to enjoy the time, after him sat person that looked too tired and too thin to be healthy, yet there was something lupine to him.

"At?" Harry asked, indicating that person.

She followed his gaze and let out a low hiss. "A werewolf or one of Wolf People, hard to say," she whispered. "Nonetheless a dangerous being, be careful around him."

Harry nodded and his eyes swept over the rest of the table, taking into account one, impossible to miss face of a certain Warden and as of recent a thug on Mab's payroll. If anything was to be said about this year, he would say that it was going to be fun. Probably dangerous, but fun.

When they stopped in front of the high table Professor McGonagall placed in front of them a three-legged stool with a worn out hat on it, a stitched hole that looked like a mouth opened and it started to sing. Harry muted it out and waited patiently for the song to finish. "I will call your name and you will sit down on the stool and put on the Sorting Hat that will assign you to a house," Sprout said once the song was over. "Abbott Hannah!"

A girl walked to the stool, sat down, placed hat on her head and waited. Hat almost immediately screamed "HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Bones Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Sorting moved forward with Lavender Brown being the first person to land in Gryffindor, while Gregory Goyle was the first Slytherin. Harry muted it mostly out, paying only some attention to it, while trying not to punch a bushy haired girl that stood behind him and rattled about what she had read about Hogwarts. He let out a sigh and looked at the ceiling, slowly pronouncing in his mind names of all major fae he knew, followed by the names of gods and his whole family tree. His musings were cut short when his name was called. "Harry Potter!" McGonagall called.

As he walked to the stool he could feel whispers grow around him as the whole room seemed completely focused on him. He didn't pay any attention to them and simply sat down on the stool and the moment the Hat was placed on his head he felt something probing his mind.

"Brave, loyal, cunning, smart and humble," the Hat said in his mind. "Where should I place you? You have traits of all of the houses and you will fit equally well in all of them. Tough person to sort, all of those traits and a half-Æsir on top of that. Gryffindor would give you strength and courage, Slytherin cunning mind, Ravenclaw an opportunity to study more, Hufflepuff values loyalty and diligence, but I think that there is a house where you would fit better. Yes, yes, Gryffindor is just the house for you."

"GRYFFINDOR!" The Hat screamed.

He removed the Hat of his head and walked to the table of the lion, one where he could see Weasley twins howling in excitement and joy, while from other tables were mainly heard voices of disappointment and sadness that he wasn't theirs. He sat down by one of Weasley twins as they made space for him and looked curiously around, recognizing faces of people he knew, yet the most of them was new and foreign to him.

"It is a good feeling not to be at the high table," he said as Atalanta and Ulf appeared to his sides without a single noise.

"On Asgard you sit there?" Oliver asked.

"Whole family and its wards, which makes everybody look at you and what you do."

"So how do you deal with pressure?"

"We get used to it and ignore it," Atalanta said and Harry smiled in thanks. "Unless it is a major feast we can also avoid the thing and sit amongst our friends."

Harry nodded and focused on the sorting and people that would be new members of Gryffindor, he winced in pain when he heard that Ron Weasley and his damned sister would be with him in the same house. However other than that there were no people that caused grief or unhappiness from him, mostly they caused indifference. In alphabetical order they were Lavender Brown, Colin Creevey, Seamus Finnigan, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Parvati Patil and finally two redheads, Ron and Ginny Weasley. As he looked at Atalanta he could see that she looked as if she contemplated a murder.

Dumbledore stood up and fired from the tip of his wand several large sparks that silenced them and made them focus on him. "Before we eat I will have some very important announcements, first of all Professor McGonagall stepped down from the position of Head of Gryffindor. Now she is just a Transfiguration Professor and Deputy Headmistress, in her place on this position was chosen Professor Remus Lupin who is a new Professor at our school. He will be responsible for teaching Dueling for the last two years, thus giving him more time to focus on his other duties.

"There are also several changes in staff composition, Professor Horace Slughorn has graciously agreed to return to the school and will be responsible for teaching Potions to the first four years. Professor Severus Snape agreed to only teach older and more experienced potion makers that as he said, can understand the art. New Professor of the History of Magic will be my dear friend and teacher Nicolas Flamel, while his wife Perenelle will teach Alchemy as an elective available since the fourth year. Professor Harry Dresden from the Colonies, who is also a representative of the White Council will be teaching you about the magic used by the Council. Last but not least, Professors Remy LeBeau and Sean Cassidy will teach you self-defence. Now, tuck in," Dumbledore said, finishing the speech and on the tables appeared hundreds of dishes.

"Why does the name Cassidy sounds familiar?" Oliver wondered and Harry looked at him. "I know that I heard it, somewhere, but I can't remember where exactly."

"He was at the Institute," Harry said with a shrug. "Agent of SHIELD, X-Men, Agent of MI-13 and few other groups."

"And LeBeau?" Fred Weasley asked.

"Also from there," Harry said and let his eyes roam over the high table, making sure to avoid any eye contact, especially with Dresden. "I'm more curious about Dresden and what he can show."

"Who is he?" Ron asked for the first time and making Harry almost throw up at the sight of his table manner, or more properly lack of them.

"A Warden and a member of the White Council," one of older students said.

"Which is?" Ron dumbly asked, making Harry roll his eyes in despair.

"An international organization of wizards, led by the Senior Council and Wardens are their military," Hermione said with a slightly upturned nose.

"So an auror."

At those words ghost of the house passed through Harry, making him shiver, and stopped in front of Ron. "No, aurors fight to catch, those fight to kill," Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, ghost of Gryffindor said and they looked at him. "They are the effect of the wars that almost ripped apart wizarding world in the ancient times, when Rome was falling and his ancestors," Nicholas gave Harry a pointed look. "Were playing their games with their Greek cousins for power and influence. It is bad enough when two gods are fighting, when whole pantheons move against each other it's terrible and every conflict between them influence what is happening in the material world. Merlin, the original one, brought stability and managed to bargain peace between the pantheons, while brutally dealing with rogue sorcerers and wizards, and finally formed the White Council. Wardens are their military arm, one responsible for keeping peace and order, while enforcing the Laws of Magic, about which you will learn during your first class with Dresden."

"Your family?" Hermione asked.

"A long story, not for today," Harry swiftly cut the topic, not wishing to open this particular can of worms.

"How did you get those wings of yours?" Oliver asked. "I saw you earlier, but never had an opportunity to ask.

"Mutation," Harry said. "Same as cousin's."

"So that's why you were at the Institute?"

Harry nodded and focused on eating, feeling the comfortable silence that fell onto the table. He already could tell that he liked this group of people and the atmosphere they formed. It promised a nice experience that he wouldn't soon forget. Once they ate their desserts Dumbledore once again stood up and looked over their faces, Harry carefully avoided crossing eyes with the old wizard as he didn't want to let Dumbledore see what he was thinking.

"Since now we are all fed and watered I would like to announce one thing that should make a great deal of people happy. On the night of the autumnal equinox there will be organized a ball and all the students are invited to attend it," Dumbledore said and his words were followed by a wave of whistles and whooping noises. "Now of you go to beds."

Harry got up with a content sigh and followed the wave of students towards dormitories where comfortable and warm beds would await them. They passed through dozens of staircases, some of them wide and stable, some of them narrow and having a spirit on their own, but they finally got to their target. Common room from which led stairs to dormitories, it was a large area with wooden floor, covered in various rugs, dozens of tables scattered around it with sofas and armchairs.

"All houses share a common room," Percy Weasley said, seeing their confusion and looks sent around the room. "We have a smaller one, where tomorrow you will meet with the head of house. Now, follow me and I will show you where is our house."

Half asleep and feeling heavy from the meal they just had they walked across the common room and stopped on front of a door with a lion's head sculpted in its doorframe. "This is the border of our territory and inside only we can enter, people from other house are only allowed when invited by one of us. Everything that happens there, stays there. Clear?"

They weakly nodded and followed Percy up yet another flight of stairs and entered into a smaller room. "Boys, first on the right, girls, first on the left," he called, joining them.

Harry nodded and with a large yawn he followed the rest of boys down the short corridor and into their dormitory. It was a large room, likely in some tower on its own as it was round and windows were placed along the whole length of the wall. There was around a dozen of beds, with nightstands and their trunks placed between their legs. Harry could hear gasps of surprise and shock at the sight of his wolves laying on his bed and sleeping soundly.

"What are they doing here?" someone asked and made him sight.

"Sleeping?" Harry asked before walking to the bed and shooing them onto the ground.

Freki looked at him with disdain, but jumped off the bed and jumped onto the next one, where it curled into the ball. His brother did the same and soon they were once again sleeping on the bed.

"Well, that works, too," Harry said with a laugh as he looked at the wolves and later at his bed. He didn't pay them much attention and instead focused on digging through his personal possessions to find his sleeping clothes, he trotted to the bathroom to get changed and once back he found angry Ron looking at him. "What's wrong?"

"Your so called pets," he snarled, spit flying everywhere. "They took my bed."

"Chase them away," Harry said with a shrug. "If you don't know how, maybe you should sleep on the floor."

Ron growled and Harry was forced to dodge as a fist flew towards his head, however that was the moment when Ron's time to shine ended. In his next move Harry kicked Ron away, sending him flying across the room, and walked to the bed as if nothing happened, life on Asgard taught him that brawls were common and he just needed to enjoy them. "Don't attack me," Harry said, looking over the room before slipping into his bed and going to sleep.

o-0-o

Gambit lit a cigarette and looked at Banshee. "So what are we supposed to do at this school?"

"You have your teaching job, while I'm supposed mostly to look around and keep an eye on Dumbledore," Banshee said. "As well as to make sure that if something nasty is going to happen, we know about it."

"So I'm stuck with a bunch of teens that I need to teach how to defend themselves?"

"Pretty much yes, also they lack any fitness and physical activities are a completely unknown thing," Banshee said and sighed. "When they were at the Institute Wolverine gave them a crash course, but probably they assumed that it could be forgotten. Harry and his friends are as deadly as an average X-Men, so let them train whatever they want as they will get bored with the basics and I think that you know what happens when someone powerful goes stir crazy."

"No fitness?" Gambit asked and Banshee nodded. "It seems that I will have fun with them, probably half of the grade they get will be for showing up for training."

"Cruel, but it will work."

"Since that is out of the way," Gambit said and looked at Banshee. "How do you plan to deal with that pink menace that needs to be gone?"

"Slowly," he said. "She is a careful one, so she will make sure not to leave anything that can be used against her. Good thing is that she is hated by almost everybody that has a working brain." He paused and focused on Gambit. "Do you know or could you find anybody that knows how to cause mischief and knows how to be stealthy?"

"I have just the people you want and it seems that Harry came to like them. I will give him few days to get used to the school and approach them."

"Good."

Gambit nodded and relaxed as they kept talking about the school year and they plans for it.

o-0-o

Loki walked past a pair of Sidhe guards and nodded to Mab who stood in front of a window, her majestic form looking as dangerous as a glacier. As he looked at her he could feel magic that was coming from her in waves of pure power. "Your Majesty," he said, with a light bow of his head. "Thank you for finding time for a meeting with me."

"Your Highness," she replied. "I always have time for one of Princes of Asgard, especially after what had you done to show wizards their place in the world and that you will not tolerate any attacks against you."

He faintly smiled. "Could we move past those honorific and pleasantries?"

"Of course," she said, snapped her fingers and a dozen of servants appeared in the room, carrying trays with food and drink. "You are my guest, help yourself, it is not poisoned."

Loki looked at her, unsure if what he heard was true. "Do you extend guest rights to me?"

"I do."

He nodded and picked up a chalice with wine. "I'm here on behalf of my father in regards to our common enemy and the noise they are causing. We have other worries so we cannot fully commit ourselves to this war, but we have an idea that can help you gain an upper hand and perhaps win it."

"What do you suggest?"

"Temporary ceasefire and calling a summit of all of the Accords signatories, they are on the list, to discuss current events and balance of power," Loki said and smiled. "I also want to offer Asgard as a venue for the summit."

She regarded him with a long gaze, her cat-like eyes sweeping over his form, then she smiled. "I will graciously accept the proposition made by your father and in fortnight I will be on Asgard to discuss details with him in person."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Loki said with a bow of his head, trying not to anger her as a duel with her, here of all places would be a suicide, even for him. "It means a lot to us as the war is not going well and we need time to gather forces."

She nodded and he took it as a cue to disappear, his job was done and he didn't want to be in her presence any longer. She was a force to be reckoned with and a terrible foe or a great ally.

o-0-o

Harry yawned as he sat up in his bed and looked around, it was still dark and sun was barely visible, with just a couple of long wisps of sunlight in the room. He saw that Ulf was also awake and looking at him. "We have an hour or two before everybody else wakes up," he said, looking at his friend.

"Training?" Ulf asked. "Or something else?"

"Training," Harry grumbled as he got out of the bed. "We both know that we need to do it and it is probably the only moment when we can do it undisturbed."

Ulf nodded and both of them grabbing what they needed, walked out of the room and into the bathhouse created by Loki. Harry blinked as he looked around, it was a familiar layout. "Why do I have a feeling I saw a similar?" He asked, looking at Ulf.

"At the Academy they have a similar one, so probably that's why," Ulf explained with a shrug. "So everything we might need should be there," he said, Harry followed his hand and nodded.

On the far end of the room he saw something that looked like sandy circles used for wrestling and equipment for working out. "Yup."

They did they usual training and when they were finishing it other people started to enter the whole complex, looking around confused and unsure of what was going on. It seemed that this was a new addition to the school and they didn't know about it. Walking past them Harry returned to the dormitory to get ready for the day, he didn't miss lustful stares from some people, but he ignored them and paid them no mind.

They gathered what they needed and soon they were walking for the breakfast that was being served in the Great Hall, as they passed through the school Harry could feel people point him with fingers and comment about him. When he was at the Institute, he was kind of famous, as were all X-Men, but it was less obvious kind of fame, here it seemed as if he was the main attraction of the day and those lustful glares and being pointed at was an expected thing.

"Easy," Atalanta whispered as she moved to his side. "Ignore them and pay them no attention, they don't deserve it."

He smiled in her direction and she left a peck on his cheek which was almost immediately followed by a lot of grumbling from girls that saw it. They entered the Great Hall and walked to the table occupied by Gryffindor where some people were already eating breakfast and their head of house was circling around, handing out timetables.

Harry quickly piled food onto his plate and between bites of it took a quick look at the timetable that made its way into his hands. "White Magic with Ravenclaw," he murmured. "Which means Dresden, which means fun."

"Mad Wizard Dresden? He will be more than interesting," Oliver said and Harry looked at him. "You will see for yourself, but he is hated by our wizards."

"And is extremely dangerous," Harry added with a smile.

"That's true, but mostly hated by our wizards."

"If he is so hated by wizards how is it that he is a teacher?" Hermione asked.

"Politics," Oliver said with a faint smile. "The White Council probably feels a tiny bit insecure about what's going on inside of those walls, so they want to have a spy inside."

Harry nodded in agreement and they quickly finished their breakfast, before walking out of the Great Hall and guided by one of Prefects they walked through a maze of corridors and towards the place where they would have their first class of the day.

Entering the classroom Harry looked around and quickly noticed several circles inlaid in the floor, one from copper, several from silver, one from intertwining braids of gold, silver and several other metals, on the walls were shelves with various reagents for use in magic. His eyes lingered on them for a moment before slipping over desks and coming to a stop on a skull carved out of a piece of wood and inscribed with runes that was placed on a shelf behind teacher's desk, then hiz slipped to a large feline that sat besides it. A large feline with a really sharp claws and teeth as Harry almost immediately recognized it as a malk, their gray fur with a black pattern was impossible to be mistaken for anything else. "He has a malk as a pet?" Harry asked.

"And it's not a usual malk," Atalanta commented as they walked to the desks besides windows, she took one with him, getting even more groans from other girls, while Ulf took one behind them. "It is one of those old ones, really old ones."

"Isn't it that Cat Sith is supposed to be a batman to each and every Winter Knight?" Harry mused.

Atalanta's eyes widened and then she very slowly nodded. "Yes," she said. "So that must be him, Cat Sith."

Harry was about to say something when he heard a tapping sound, glancing backwards he saw Dresden enter into the room, his staff tapping against the floor with each step, his duster and a gray cloak over it, billowing with each move. His steps were long and purposeful, his face scarred and eyes dangerous, slipping over each and every student, making sure not to directly look into the eyes. With a wave of Dresden's hand all of the candles in the room were lit, earning gasps of shock and surprise from other students. He stopped behind the desk, looking over the class.

"For those who don't know who I am, I am Harry Dresden, a wizard, a member of the White Council, a Warden and since this year your new Professor. When referring to me use Professor Dresden, nothing else will pass," he said. "You are here to learn about the Art as taught by the White Council and laws that govern it."

He paused for a moment and walked to the front of his desk. "If you only take one thing out of the class, let it be this," he said and slammed his staff into the floor, making words appear on the blackboard.

 _The Seven Laws of Magic:_

 _Thou Shalt Not Kill by Use of Magic._

 _Thou Shalt Not Transform Another._

 _Thou Shalt Not Invade the Mind of Another._

 _Thou Shalt Not Enthrall Another._

 _Thou Shalt Not Seek Beyond the Borders of Life._

 _Thou Shalt Not Swim Against the Currents of Time._

 _Thou Shalt Not Seek Beyond the Outer Gates._

"Read them," he said. "Commit them to the memory, lack of knowledge is no excuse. Breaking of any of them is punishable by an immediate execution." When he said those words you could hear a pin drop onto the ground, the class was completely still and focused on him. "No trial. No appeal. Just you, a Warden and a very. Sharp. Sword. One that will remove your head from your neck. Having said that, they only apply to human beings. Questions?"

One girl with bushy hair slowly raised her hand, she was very pale and seemed as if she was to pass out.

"Yes, Miss?"

"Granger, Hermione Granger," she said, sounding very high pitched. "What about extenuating circumstances, self-defense for example."

"Very rarely done," he said. "There is a clause for it, called a Doom of Damocles, but a member of the Council needs to vouch for you and if you break any of the laws, both of you are executed. In the last century it happened twice, any other questions?"

Harry slowly raised his hand and looked at Dresden.

"Yes, Mr?"

"Potter, Harry Potter," Harry said. "What about offsprings of magical races and humans, Changelings for example."

"An excellent question," Dresden nodded. "Changelings are offsprings of fae and humans and the key thing is if they made a choice, if they chose humanity, laws apply, if they chose their fae side, they do not apply. Any other questions?"

There were none, Dresden nodded and pulled out a thick book. "This is a book all of you were supposed to acquire before the beginning of the year. _Elementary Magic_ by Ebenezar McCoy, in the opinion of most of the White Council it is the best book when it comes to teaching magic. It doesn't focus on any branch of it, it teaches about magic as a force and as an energy without any superstitions or religious beliefs. Inside you will find the syllabus, I won't assign any reading, but you need to keep up with the syllabus."

Harry pulled out his own copy of the book and quickly scanned the syllabus, circles, évocations, thaumaturgy, shields, some history, the Nevernever and beings of it, more evocations and thaumaturgy, Faeries and the Accords, focii and how to make them. Seemed pretty straightforward, not too many surprises.

"We won't start with magic," Dresden said and everybody groaned. "We will start with something that is done later, but other Professors asked me to wait with magic for a bit. The White Council will be the topic. What do you know about it? You should know something as it isn't a very secret knowledge."

Harry rolled his eyes when he saw Hermione's hand high in the air. Dresden looked at her and nodded.

"It is an organization of wizards, ruled by the Senior Council," she said.

"Not bad," Dresden commented. "Can you name all of the members of the Senior Council?"

"How am I supposed to know it?" She snapped. "It wasn't in the book."

"Research helps," he said and looked at Harry's raised hand. "Go on."

"The Merlin, Arthur Langtry, the Gatekeeper, Rashid, Listens-to-Wind, Ancient Mai, Martha Liberty, Ebenezar McCoy and Gregori Cristos," Harry said, counting off names on his fingers.

"All of them spot on," Dresden said. "Usual form of nomination for the position is simply by being the oldest and the most powerful wizard, all of them are powerhouses when it comes to combat and you should never ever underestimate them..."

"If they are that powerful, how is it that we have never heard of them?" Ron asked, cutting in and not letting Dresden finish. "And why did you leave us alone during rise of You-Know-Who."

Harry felt temperature in the room drop, not below freezing point, but close enough so that their breaths turned into a fine mist. "Because they don't show off with their power as there is no need for it," Dresden said through clenched teeth. "And we didn't help you as we had a bigger war on our hands, one that was fought all over the world and there are also agreements that we let your aurors handle their own troubles. If they fail we show up and deal with the annoyance."

Everybody seemed to feel that Dresden was in a bad mood and even Ron fell silent.

"As I was going to say before that red-headed moron cut in," Dresden said. "They are the governing body of the White Council and oversee its work. They are also ones that give orders to Wardens, such as me, to do stuff, what we do is of no interest to you. You just need to know that we enforce the laws and deal with warlocks, every single one of us carries a sword as a sign of our position," he said and showed a scabbard attached to his belt. "The headquarters of the Council is hidden in the halls below the Castle of Edinburgh and this is everything for today's lesson. For the next one I want a paper about Wardens and their organization, you have everything you need in the book and the library. Class dismissed."

Harry followed everybody else out of the room as they piled out and walked down the corridor for their next class. He had heard things about Dresden from few people, but seeing him in person was a completely different experience, a lot more interesting and dangerous in a way. Next class was supposed to be Defense Against the Dark Arts, subject which sounded awesome, the only question being the quality of the teacher as rumors and gossips were that this one was bad.

o-0-o

I looked as my students left the classroom and the turned to look at Cat Sith, who jumped off the shelf and walked to me. He seemed tensed and ready to pounce which said a lot about his mood. Normally he was a lot more relaxed. "You were right, Sir Knight, there is something off about them."

I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. "What can you tell me?"

"That girl with golden eyes is a demigod, daughter of someone from Greek pantheon," Sith said. "Also there is something wild to her, so I would guess an Amazon is her mother, but she is a much smaller problem than her male friends. One of them is most likely her lover, unless that stench of sex around them is an accident."

"Can you skip the part about their love life?"

"You asked me to tell you everything," Sith pointed out. "Her male friends, one of whom is her lover, are Æsir. This bulky and huge one is a typical brawler, probably some battle magic and a lot of knowledge about weapons and how to kill. Winged one is a lot more dangerous, he hides it, but he is. Son of Thor if I'm not mistaken and if he is anything like his father he can summon lightning bolts, storms and everything else when it comes to weather."

I winced at Sith's words. "And why does Mab wants me to keep an eye on them? Not to mention protect our son of Thor?"

"Because they are most likely future rulers of Asgard and we need their support to deal with our enemies, Fomor are powerful and we both are aware how well the war was going," Sith said, making me nod. "Also she doesn't want Asgard mad at us, you saw what Vadderung did and he is here incognito, true Odin is a lot stronger, and unfortunately for you, Sir Knight, Winter Knights are known for murdering people."

I sighed and glared at my feline batman. "So if anybody takes a shot at our royalty, his family will come after me?"

"Not after you, Sir Knight, after Her Majesty and she will be most displeased with you."

It made me shudder in fear, Mab being displeased meant years of the finest torture she could come up with. She was the one from whom all of the nasty witches, queens and female characters in fairy tales learned how to cause pain and suffering. I saw the fate of my predecessor, he begged me to kill him and let him rest. "So if he gets injured I'm dead?"

"Assuming that she wouldn't strip you off your Mantle and give to Asgard so that they can kill you as an example of what happens when someone does something untowards against their Prince."

"She can do that?"

"What was given can be taken as easily as it was given, she gave you the Mantle and she can take it back," Cat Sith explained. "It happened few times in the past, when the Knight was starting to plot against her they lost their Mantle and head."

I nodded and walked around the classroom, waiting for the next class to come. If the matters were that bad someone would need to have a pleasant chat with a son of Thor so that things were clear. Chat that could end really bad for me. I sighed and looked towards the skull on the shelf above the blackboard, while she was useful I missed Bob and his knowledge. Yet I knew that taking her here and letting have a healthy meal out of the library would be better than it would be for Bob, she needed this knowledge to grow quickly and be a good adviser, Bob probably had most of this knowledge.

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy looked out of the window of his mansion and smiled, the Diary has been delivered to one of the youngest Weasleys, which one he didn't care, important was that it was there and working.

"Nine more months and you will have a body," he said, looking at the ring laying on his desk. "Not a perfect one, but a good enough and with proper rituals it can get better, much better."

His gaze moved away from the ring and outside, he needed to move somewhere more hidden and out of the way or SHIELD could kill him. Previously his son was a reason why they stayed away, but now bombs could be dropped at any moment and even if he disliked and treated Muggles as trash, he knew that they were extremely proficient at killing and wouldn't have a single issue with blowing up the whole mansion to get to him. Fury only waited for such an opportunity and that meant a need to get a new house, better protected from bombs dropping through the roof.

Standing up with a flourish Lucius walked out of the room and with a snap was gone of the mansion, business needed to be done and bribes needed to be paid.

o-0-o

The moment Harry entered into the classroom where they were supposed to have DADA he had huge doubts that they would learn a single useful thing from this teacher. Every single wall was covered in pictures of the teacher, most of them looking hideous.

"This is supposed to teach us how to deal with dark arts and various nasties?" Ulf asked and Harry slowly nodded in agreement, making him snort. "My sister would do a far better job and she hates teaching."

"We will see," Harry said as they took seats by the window. "Though everybody says that this teacher is a ponce and an idiot," he paused to take a look around. "And the room confirms it."

"He is a teacher, show him some respect," someone angrily said and Harry looked in the direction of that voice.

When he recognized that it was this bushy haired witch named Hermione, he almost winced. "And what will you do to me? I will show him respect when I know that he will teach me something. Now? I doubt that he even knows the subject."

Hermione let out a mighty huff and walked away, muttering something under her breath.

" _What a jerk,"_ Atalanta said in thoughts and made him smile _"She behaves as if she owned the place and could tell other where are their places in the grand scheme of things."_

" _I wanted to say the same thing, but she is a girl,"_ Harry said with a sigh. _"I wonder how we will survive with her telling us what's proper and what's not. If she was older, I might listen to her, but with her being in the same year? Over my dead body!"_

" _Don't get so riled up,"_ Atalanta calmly said. _"Think about the ball that is coming and an opportunity to have fun."_

He blushed and looked at her. _"Would you be my date for the ball?"_

" _Of course, I will be,"_ she said and made him smile.

He heard some noise and when they looked towards the entrance into the classroom they saw their teacher walk into the room. If Harry had any hoped that the teacher would be somewhat useful, they were gone the moment he was able to take a good look at Gilderoy Lockhart. That man looked like a dandy and a ponce, he was dressed in a flamboyant lilac robes and there was not a single scar nor a blemish on his face.

"What a brave warrior," Harry muttered quietly. "Not a single scar on him."

"A fool and a coward," Atalanta said in agreement. "Want to bet how long he will survive?"

"Month, tops," Harry said and followed Lockhart with his gaze. "Uncle Loki lacks patience and understanding for fools."

She nodded and for the next hour they tried not to fall asleep as Lockhart only ranted about himself, how awesome he was, how brave and how well they would learn under his tutelage. It was followed by a test that made Harry loudly yawn and fall asleep on the desk. He was not going to bother with a test about his teacher. Lockhart could stuff them up his own ass and everybody would feel better and the parchment wouldn't be wasted.

o-0-o

Fred shifted uncomfortably and looked at Gambit. "We did nothing this time," he finally said.

"I know," Gambit said and smiled. "I know that you are quite good at causin' chaos and I need those particular skills of yours."

"That sounds interesting," George said. "May we know why do you want them and what we will get?"

"Pink menace is annoyin' and gettin' into the way," Gambit said. "So how would sound most of the staff turnin' a blind eye at what you do as long as it is aimed at her? Also if you want to learn somethin' that will cause her even more pain, I'm sure that I, Professor Dresden, Flitwick or Snape can help you."

"Teach us how to move so stealthy and unseen and we will do it," Fred said. "Just don't mention it to our mother as she would murder us for those things."

"Your secrets are safe with me," Gambit said and extended his hand. "So deal?"

"Deal," George said, shaking Gambit's hand.

Fred grinned as they walked away from Gambit, if they had a blessing to cause mischief, they were going to use it to have fun and do what they were told to do. Plans were already being and some would destroy some people's good mood quite soon, at the same time making a lot of students feel well.

o-0-o

As Harry walked to the Gryffindor's table after DADA for lunch, inside he was a boiling and steaming cauldron of rage, anger and frustration as Lockhart was a fool and an idiot that didn't know a single thing about dark arts or dangerous creatures.

"How this bumbling idiot can teach is beyond me," he said with a growl sitting down at the table and starting to pile up food onto his plate.

"Who?" Fred asked, making Harry glare at him. "Don't glare at me, I'm the innocent one."

"Lockhart," Harry said between one bite of food and another. "He is a freaking idiot and doesn't know what to do with his lack of brain."

"Don't worry," George said with a chuckle. "Those teachers have a low life expectations, for sure before the end of the year he will be fired or killed."

"Last one left the castle after three months of teaching," Fred added.

"So don't worry and don't care about him or our brother and his stupid games." George finished.

"What about your sister?" Atalanta asked with a predatory smile.

Harry shivered when he saw this smile and it made him glad that she was his lover, not an enemy.

"We will speak with her and try to make her see reason," Fred said, shifting uncomfortably. "She is a bit stubborn and getting her to do something is a challenge."

Atalanta nodded and the next moment Harry could feel a wave of something that he could only describe as distilled hatred and rage flow out of her, while her body almost completely froze in motion. He looked around and saw that Ginny was slowly making her way to the part of the table where he was.

"Please, tell me she isn't going towards me," Harry said, looking at Fred. "I am a telepath and what Atalanta is emitting is enough to scare me away from her. Which means that the next thing she does will result in violence."

Fred looked at him, then at the still form of Atalanta and finally at Ginny walking towards them. "Oh," he simply said and walked towards Ginny.

"Calm yourself," Harry whispered, placing his hand on Atalanta's shoulder. "You know that I'm not interested in her and that I want you."

Atalanta closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breath before she opened them and looked at him. "I know," she said, between deep breaths. "It's just that she annoys me and I need to survive with her in the dorm."

"I have her brother and he is also a nuisance," Harry said, finishing his lunch and trying to control his anger. "So if you break their legs or arms I won't mind it, too badly."

"Didn't you already sent that annoying weasel flying across the room?" Ulf asked with a smile. "I remember seeing someone being tossed and slammed into the wall."

Harry smiled sheepishly and looked at Ulf. "He annoyed me and he isn't the nicest person."

"What did he do?" Atalanta asked, her gaze sweeping between Harry and Ulf.

"Nothing," Harry said, making Ulf snort, loudly.

"Why do I have a feeling that nothing didn't end good for my dear brother?" George asked. "Not that I would miss him."

"He might have issues with my pets," Harry said. "And ended sleeping on the floor."

George laughed and it took a moment for him to calm. "I need to see it," he said. "Our mother would be furious if she heard it, but I need to see it."

"Perhaps I can get a pensieve and show you the memory," Harry said and laughed. "You should enjoy it."

"I will, I will," George said and looked at them. "But now I suggest you hurry for your classes, it would be a shame if you got detentions on your first day here."

Harry nodded and quickly finishing his lunch he walked out of the Great Hall, Atalanta and Ulf trailing behind him and keeping an eye out for troubles.

o-0-o

 **A/N -**

 **Faculty choices - will be explained, most of them, but you should see logic behind most of them, if not wait for future chapters to come.**

 **High table and courtly étiquette - will be covered in due time and during various occasions, for the moment you need to know that Asgard isn't that bent on following every single of its points to the letter. During major, official feasts hosted by King or one of his sons it is mostly followed, that is as long as you don't bend it too badly, you won't get murdered. During less important as long as they behave and don't cause too much destruction they can sit where they please. Only really special case is king/host, high table and that's all.**

 **New things:**

 **Sidhe - Imagine Winter and Summer court as a feudal monarchy, you have the ruler/king/duke/emperor/queen and so on and below them you have lesser beings. Sidhe are those close to the throne and the most powerful short of their Queens and Knights.**

 **The summit - meeting of all of the Accords signatories, imagine a meeting of the whole UN or EU, they're the same thing. Leaders come to discuss things, negotiate deals and form alliances.**

 **Cat Sith - the most powerful and the oldest of malks, also extremely wise and dangerous. When not minding his own business, it serves Winter Knight as their batman and advisor. Malks are large and deadly felines.**

 **Changelings - beings that are an effect of mating between two races - humans and some kind of Fae, this choice Dresden mentioned is their coming of age in a way. They choose which thing they want to be and fully become one.**

 **Elementary Magic - a book written by the Blackstaff that's an introduction to magic.**

 **Lash - effect of Dresden and a Fallen Angel(Lashiel) getting a bit frisky with each other, if you know how did it happen, ready books.**

 **Reviews:**

 **-WhiteElfElder - I mean drugs as in medicaments, they are all the time on drugs that keep them infertile, their families aren't the most discreet when it comes to sleeping around. So into them were mostly forced out of their free will drugs that will prevent any bastards that otherwise could happen. Their stamina? They have enough of energy that it would take them hours before they could feel real exertion and it will take them centuries before they catch their breath and pause.**

 **She on her own would cause problems, add to that the fact that all of them are not allowed to have much of their usual stress relief tools and are often told things they don't really like or approve of. Let's say that she and few other will have a very brief and painful life inside of Hogwarts.**

 **Indeed, they will, that is if they have a chance to do so as something might happen to them and so on. In short, they won't have an easy life. And if they start to play with magic, oh boy, then shit starts to hit the fan. Harry has limited capabilities when it comes to replying in kind, but his guards or family members will happily play the game.**


	51. Hogwarts II

**A/N - Next part, mainly some Hogwarts, but also some other stuff happens outside of Hogwarts and some will quite literary shake the ground upon which everybody stands. Read, enjoy and review.**

 **o-0-o**

If glares could kill Gambit would be a wet spot on the ground, pink menace seemed as if she really wanted him gone from school. He smirked and looked at her. "Madam Umbridge, I fear that it is impossible," he said. "I still have my contract and I'm a loyal person, so I won't be gone from school as long as the contract is bindin'."

"The Ministry didn't approve your presence here, so you are fired," she croaked

Gambit broke out into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. "Madam, you have no power over me," he said as he calmed down. "So be kind and leave my alone, not to mention stay away from my classes as I won't be responsible for what I do to you."

"What will you do?"

He pulled out a deck of cards, slipped several cards between his fingers and looked at her. "I suggest you run, fast," he said with a smirk.

She looked at him, not sure what he meant, then her face turned pale as she saw those cards fly towards her, then she did the only reasonable thing and started to run. Explosions followed her out of the corridor and made Gambit laugh.

"You know that she will be an even bigger pain than she was?" Banshee asked, approaching them and Gambit looked in his direction. "I don't mean that you did a wrong thing, but she will harp you even more and make things unpleasant for you. Also was there a reason to use your powers and show that you are a mutant?"

"It was it or her ending with snapped neck," Gambit said. "I don't have a lot of patience for her and everybody would sooner or later learn that I'm a mutant, so no harms done and she is hated by most of the school."

"As you said, by most of the school," Banshee pointed out. "The rest might support her and many still remember what I, Wolverine, Cyclops and Psylocke did the last time they had a rogue wizard. So mutants aren't liked by quite a few people and those that hated us, could teach their children to hate us as well."

"And you fear that those that remember what you had done taught their children to hate us?"

"More or less," Banshee nodded with a wince. "So by showing that we are mutants, we make ourselves more enemies that we need."

"Not that we wouldn't have them," Gambit said and slipped cards back into their proper places. "They will hate me and curse my name for the training they will get from me."

"Fair enough," Banshee said. "Just be careful and don't end up in too much trouble."

"I survived with Weapon X lookin' for even the slightest hint of treason from me and before that I lived in New Orleans and I was a member of Thief's Guild. I will be fine, they should fear me, not the other way around."

"It's not a bad thing to be too careful," he said. "But I won't force you to do what I think is right, have fun with teaching them."

Gambit shook his head and walked away.

o-0-o

Harry sighed sitting in the Charms classroom, his uncle was right, excluding showing a bit of what Charms could at the beginning of the class Flitwick only talked and talked about theory behind the magic used for Charms and how important it was to remember and understand it. Harry knew that it was important to know the theory, yet it bored him to no end, he already learnt theory for wandless magic and while not the same, it was really similar.

He looked at his notes and tried not to fall asleep, he felt Atalanta nudge him and he looked at her. _"You will have time to sleep later,"_ she said in his mind. _"Now focus on studying and it isn't that bad."_

" _I had all of this explained to me by my uncle six years ago,"_ he pointed out. _"So I want to fall asleep and take a good, long nap."_

" _And make him unhappy? He wants you to study here, even if it is similar, not sleep through classes."_

" _He would need to learn that I did it."_

" _He has spies everywhere,"_ Atalanta pointed out. _"So he will learn, sooner rather than later and who knows what's the purpose of Winter Knight presence here. He very well might be to spy on you and make sure that you stay safe and learn well."_

Harry rolled his eyes, before glancing at her. _"We both know that Dresden is good when it comes to causing chaos, but when it comes to spying he is bad. We both read same files on him and Hrimhari was one who wrote them, so he is probably right."_

" _Do you want to test your luck? Your uncle has ears and eyes everywhere, so he will probably learn about what you do sooner than you think. So unless you want to explain to him what you were doing instead of studying, I suggest you focus."_

He looked at her and slowly nodded before focusing back on taking notes about basics of Charms and magic involved in casting them. He glanced at his watch and smiled, it was the last serious class for the day as the next two were supposed to be Ancient Greek, followed by Latin, which considering his upbringing meant a free nap. Six years of developing the Allspeak and learning languages helped with learning a thing or two and there were also those hundreds of things he had read in various languages.

o-0-o

Fury looked through the first few dozens of pages of a thick file laying on his deck before looking at Alexander Pierce and Maria Hill who were the other people present in his office. "It needs to be published, in censored version, but it needs to go," Fury finally said.

For a moment there was only silence in the room as they looked at him, unsure if they heard him right. After a moment Pierce managed to snap out of the shock. "Is it wise? Many careers will get ruined when we release those files, thus many will hate us," he said and Fury looked at him.

"And otherwise we will never get rid of some of those that we know plot against us," Maria interjected. "So even if many are not going to be happy, I think that releasing it will give us more than we could lose. We just need to be careful about censorship of the thing and hide things that should stay hidden."

"Even if we published version that is censored, it will get the job done and people in the know will see the true version," Fury said and they looked at him. "Wisdom sent me a list of people he wants gone and most of them are mentioned it the report about Weapon X."

"It has merits," Pierce said. "But it is also risky as we may end up dragged along by those that we will name, they will cling to every single thing that allows them to stay alive and if not, they will drag along those they think caused them to fall."

"It is doubtful they will succeed," Hill said. "Public will try to eat them alive and will mostly ignore whatever they have to say, so we should be safe."

"That's why I want it published," Fury said. "Public will be on our side and we might need this kind of support, especially if that mess in Sokovia is going to spill out and cause chaos."

"There was a coup, some new group overthrew previous government and tries to hold the country, but they aren't liked and might be overthrown in the immediate future," Pierce said.

"And most likely the UN will take interest in it and we will be asked to bring peace and restore former government, which will make a great deal of people angry with us," Fury finished. "So all of the good PR we can get is appreciated and needed."

"Also it could increase the amount of volunteers that is willing to serve and I won't mind more agents," Hill said. "What I have is enough to cover big countries, but everything else is mostly from outside sources and it is less than ideal."

"It will get published," Fury said with finality. "In three days time I will call a press conference and all of the major media will be invited for it. Maria, return to Europe and focus on the area around Sokovia, Alexander, you will be with me during the conference. Media will have a lot of questions and even if we cannot answer most of them, it will make it more believable."

They nodded and walked out of the room, leaving him to think about the whole mess started because someone wanted to kidnap a wrong person.

o-0-o

I walked through the halls of Hogwarts and felt my sixth sense going haywire, as if something big and dangerous was following me. "Cat Sith!" I called.

"Sir Knight, how can I help you?" Sith asked appearing to my side.

"Do I have tails that are invisible?"

Sith tensed and looked around, sniffing the air. "You have," he said after a moment. "Two overgrown wolves straight from Asgard."

"Where?" I asked, firmly gripping my staff and looking around, yet seeing not a single thing, other than stone walls and armors that lined them.

"They are walking along the walls of the hall."

I nodded in acknowledgement and spun around, bringing my staff to bear. I aimed it at the spot where should be one of those furballs and shouted, "Forzare!"

A beam of pure kinetic energy lashed out from my staff and slammed into an invisible shape, throwing it into the wall and demolishing several armor sets. As it flew through various pieces of armor the veil hiding it dropped and revealed what it was. It was a wolf, it was the biggest damned wolf I had ever seen and I had seen a fair share of them. It was even more massive than the Alphas whose lupine forms were big.

At the same time to my right something let out a furious howl and charged towards me, I managed to point my staff in its direction, but that was the only thing I did it before the thing pounced. I felt its paws slam into me and pin me to the ground, its jaws almost touching my neck.

"Get of me," I said, coiling up my legs and kicking it into the abdomen.

The wolf jump back, letting me scrabble back to my feet and reach for a revolver I had in one of the uncountable pockets of my trusty leather duster. I aimed at the head of the wolf and squeezed the trigger. Bullet slammed into the target and bounced off, not even leaving a smear of lead on the fur of the wolf.

"Come on, that's just unfair," I moaned. "Can use veils, is bulletproof and big, what it cannot do?"

"I would suggest that you lower the gun and apologise," someone or something croaked.

I looked in the direction of the voice and saw a large raven sit atop one of armor sets. "They tailed me first."

"Wizard," raven said. "You don't want the boss to learn that you fired at his pets, he loves them and that will make him mad. And you don't want him mad, last time it didn't end well."

I stopped for a moment and looked at the raven. "Boss?"

"You know him as Donar Vadderung," raven said and I could feel some glee in its voice. "We know him as the Allfather or Odin."

"Oh, crap," I muttered and looked at the wolves that seemed ready to pounce at me. Then I shot a glare at Cat Sith. "Why did you not warn me about what they were?"

"You didn't ask me about what exactly was tailing you, Sir Knight, so I did my duty and answered your question," Sith said. "If you asked for more, you would get it, but you didn't."

I wanted to curse my own idiocy, if they were pets of Odin and I attacked them, he had every right to retaliate and it would most likely kill me before I even had a chance to cast a shield. He was a freaking god and even with all of my power I had no chance of protecting myself from his wrath.

"Apologize or boss learns," the raven said. "Choice is yours, but be carefully and think about consequences of it."

I gulped, Odin was a god, messing with his possession meant death. I killed former gods, but they weren't in his league and I had a lot of luck at that time. Here and now I had none. Vadderung was fucking scary and if that was just a persona he used, then I was truly and utterly fucked. "I apologize," I said.

"Good," the raven nodded. "Ignore the wolves as they will not attack you, they just keep an eye on boss' grandson and their task is to protect him. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone."

I wanted to shout back, but I clamped down my mouth shut and nodded. I didn't need my Sight to tell that this raven could kill me, easily. My Death Curse, could take him along, but it could also do nothing. However it would most certainly take a lot of poor sods that were caught in the blast and that was not a thing I wanted to do. "I understand."

Raven nodded and disappeared without a single sound. I looked around and noticed that the wolves were gone, then I looked at Cat Sith. "We need to talk, now, I know that you need to serve me, so I will use it."

"I'm not to serve you," Cat Sith said and I glared at him. "I'm to assist and advise you, I serve Her Majesty, not you."

I nodded and quickly walked to my office, I needed to get some answers and organize what I knew.

Several minutes later I was seated in my office, in a comfortable armchair and in my hand was a bottle of Mac's excellent beer. On the table to my right in her skull was Lash and Cat Sith sat on the floor. I ran my hand through my hair and looked at Cat Sith. "What can you tell me about those wolves? And I want a full answer or I will summon her and then we will talk."

He let out some kind of a sound, but then nodded and started to talk. "Freki and Geri, wolves of the Allfather, their furs are charmed to stop bullets, swords, magic, their teeth will rip apart steel and they are extremely intelligent."

I considered those words for a moment, trying to find a single hole in them. Then I let out a sigh and focused on Cat Sith. "What can stop them?"

"To my knowledge Unraveling could destroy magic that protects them, but other than that nothing."

I sighed, Unraveling was rare, extremely rare and I knew just one source of them, source that last time I talked with it tried to turn me into her meal. Granted, I tried to summon her, but that was just unfair.

"So nothing that I could get will stop them," I said and my fingers rattled on the armrest. "What about my Death Curse?"

"It would kill you, Sir Knight, and that would be everything it could do, nothing else," Sith said and smirked. "You are not the first Knight that thought about the same thing, blast them with the Curse and hope that it won't be wasted."

"So I'm fucked up whenever I try to fight them," I summed up. "But also is any wannabe assassin that tries to take a shot at our royalty."

I was silent for a moment, then glanced at Lash. "What can you tell me about Asgard, royalty, nobles, magic, physiology and whatever else I will need?"

"It is a realm that exists both in the Nevernever and in the material world, every part of it is connected by the World Tree, also known as Yggdrasil. They are connected to gods, but are different."

"How so?"

"Can be killed and can be injured. Also none of the restraints placed on gods are placed on them, angels can wipe out galaxies only when they need to balance the scales. Odin doesn't have those restrains and can destroy a planet or ten because he wants to."

I nodded and mused for a moment, if they had free will, it meant that they could lash out first, not caring about all of the rules that governed gods. Which meant that I either would find a way to get an agreement with Harry, my namesake, or it would end badly. I slowly released my breath and looked at her. "What can you tell me about their royal family?"

"Huge," she said. "The main branch at the moment has eight members, but there are dozens of side branches or those that are related to them, but not counted with the main branch. Harry, is a son of Thor and comes second in the order of succession."

I took a swing out of my bottle and collected my thoughts. "What about their magic? I don't need my Sight to be able to tell that he is powerful magically."

"Runes, staffs and in his case weather manipulation," Lash said. "Even if he is young, he has power and just lacks subtlety and training to use it to its fullest."

I winced, remembering what last runic magic I had seen did, I didn't want to know what a god could do with runes. Gard was just a Valkyrie and her rune was enough to fry one of champions of Titania. If a god was to use that rune, not much would survive. With that gloomy thought I finished the beer and started to plan how not to get killed, which recently seemed to be a standard thing for me.

o-0-o

Harry yawned as the last class came to the end, he knew all of this and much more, not to mention that sleep was so good and needed by his body. "This will drive us crazy," he muttered, making Atalanta and Ulf look at him. "We know this, we could probably pass for native speakers of any of the two and we need to be here."

"I am native speaker of them," Atalanta said with a smug smile. "There are advantages of being born an Olympian, you know Greek and Latin quite well."

Harry rolled his eyes as they walked out of the classroom. "There is also that girl, one that makes me want to forget about her," he said and she nodded.

"She is an annoyance," Atalanta said in agreement. "At least she keeps her hands to herself and away from you."

"Question is for how long."

"Doesn't matter," Atalanta said and left a peck on his cheek. "You are mine," she whispered as she walked, arm to arm and her body too close to him to be mistaken for everything else than a strong bond.

He blushed and smiled. "It was a good idea to drag you along and have come with me."

"Indeed," Ulf said, his eyes following girl with long, flowing light blond hair. "It was a very good idea."

"Someone found a lover?" Harry asked with a chuckle and made Ulf scowl.

"I'm fine without any," Ulf said. "Care about your own business and leave mine alone."

"Yeah, sure," Harry snorted. "It wasn't me who last time was throwing punches around."

"Boys," Atalanta said with a sigh and made them look at her. "I know that you like it, but it gets tiresome, so be kind and hold your horses till you are back on Asgard."

"Of course, Your Highness," Harry said with a mock bow. "It won't happen."

She smiled and nodded. "Since that is out of the way, perhaps we can talk about something less likely to make you fight with each other. Even at home they are bored with repairing those columns you destroy during more heated spars."

Harry blushed as she reminded them the amount of damage they tended to cause, but hey, they were one of the best of their generation so a lot was accepted and damage to training grounds was one of those things. "Is it me or that girl thinks that she is the best in everything she does and believes that nothing can be better than she is?"

"Superiority complex," Atalanta said with a smile and looked at Ulf. "Doesn't it ring any bells? I thought that I knew a person having issues with it, person that is rather annoying to be around."

Ulf scowled. "My ego is of perfect size and it is fine," he said. "That girl on the other hand looks as if she had a staff up her ass."

"True," Harry said. "I just hope that she let's us have fun and enjoy the time."

"Or what?" she angrily asked, making them stop and getting attention of people around them.

"Didn't they teach you that eavesdropping is a bad thing?" Atalanta asked, turning around and glaring at Hermione.

"As is name calling," Hermione said. "And sleeping in class."

"Hold me or a murder will happen," Ulf growled and placed his hand on the pommel of a sword he managed to hide below the robes.

"Girl, leave us alone and sod off," Atalanta snapped. "We do not like your company and we want to be alone, so be kind, take all of your precious books, stuff them into your ass and leave us alone."

Harry looked at Atalanta, not sure if he heard her right, she just smirked and pushed past stunned Hermione and quite a lot of students that watched the confrontation. He and Ulf followed her and quickly walked to the common room.

"What a sharp tongue," he said when they were inside, sitting around one of smaller tables and out of the way of most people. "I knew that you were temperamental, but this is new and scary."

"What can I say?" Atalanta asked. "She angered me and pushed into my territory."

"Harry, can you summon your pets?" Ulf asked and Harry arched an eyebrow in question. "I want a comfortable and warm footrest."

"Maybe I could," Harry said and whistled loudly.

Moments later in the room appeared two large clouds of smoke out of which stepped out his wolves, causing a lot of screams and shouts from other students. However wolves didn't even acknowledge those sounds and moved to a comfortable spot between Harry and Ulf, their eyes focused on the students.

"Remind me not to summon them," Harry said, seeing those screams of fear and shock. "Or we will have a whole room angry at us."

"They will be fine, they just need to get used to them," Atalanta quietly said and he glanced at her. "From what you told me, your reaction was a similar one when you first saw them."

"I had a similar reaction, but I was eight years old, not fourteen or more," he said. "So I expected more from them than a lot of fear," he paused and added with a smile. "Probably most of them will go to change their pants."

Atalanta and Ulf laughed at those words and it took them a fair amount of time before they calmed, but even then in their eyes were visible flickers of joy and mirth. For a moment he diverted his gaze from them and it swept over the room, while most of it was terrified by the wolves, some were mostly curious and some even walked closer.

"Impressive wolves," Oliver said as he joined them, on his robes was visible a badge with a golden letter C held by a crimson lion. "You had them at the Institute, didn't you?"

"They are my pets," Harry said with a smile, reaching to scratch Freki between its ears. "Unless you provoke them, they won't attack you and are lovable beasts."

"Lovable beasts that can rip your throat out," Ulf pointed out and Harry glared at him. "What? They accompanied your grandfather onto battlefields before you got them and they are also little furry bodyguards of yours."

"If I wanted furry bodyguards I'm sure my uncle could find something or someone," Harry said with a sigh.

"Isn't he a father of Fenrir?" Oliver asked. "At least according to the myths he had interesting children, Fenrir, Hela, Jormungandr and Sleipner."

"From his marriage," Atalanta said and Oliver looked at her. "Narfi, Nari and Vali are his sons with his lover."

"And he is already a grandfather," Harry added. "So the point stands, if I wanted furry bodyguards I would have a lot of wolves to choose from. Freki and Geri are just pets and for most of the time sleep or follow me around."

"So they won't rip out throats because they want to?" Oliver asked.

"No, they are big softies when not provoked so they won't murder you."

Oliver was about to say something when someone coughed, causing all of them to look in the direction of that voice, also making Harry contemplate murder as this girl followed him like a plague. "Wolves are not on the list of officially accepted pets," Hermione said. "A Hogwarts students can have a toad, a cat or an owl."

"Oliver?" Harry asked with a sigh. "Could you take care of her?"

Oliver nodded and focused on Hermione. "Didn't you learn that rules need to be bent when appropriate and needed?" He asked. "Besides, you have no authority and it is my and other people duty to keep peace, not yours, so be kind and take yourself away from us."

"But-"

"There are no buts," he said with finality. "You could lodge a complain with our head of house or Deputy Headmistress and in few days you would learn that Harry is allowed to keep them."

"Because?"

"Because I was almost murdered a time or two and kidnapped once," Harry said with a growl. "So my family doesn't want that to happen again and is taking measures to ensure that it won't happen, ever again. And those wolves aren't the full extend of what could be protecting me."

"Also there were made exceptions about pets in the past," Oliver said, slight annoyance in his voice. "So be kind and leave him alone, you are a new student, all of you are and perhaps be less demanding and listen to what other people have to say."

She huffed and walked away, with angry scowl on her face and muttering something under her breath about rules and not breaking them.

"She is a nightmare," Oliver said with a sigh. "She will end badly, lone wolves aren't like even amongst our ranks and making enemies on your first day is probably a new record."

"Didn't it happen previously?" Fred Weasley asked, joining them. "Some of us started our rivalries and feuds on the train."

"No, I don't think so."

"Since I'm not really needed here, I will go to my dorm to sulk on my own," Harry said and made them laugh.

"Don't get lost," Fred said, making everybody laugh.

Harry quickly walked across the common room, climbed a flight of stairs and walked through the smaller common room and when he entered their dormitory stopped in his tracks. He didn't expect to find this particular redhead sitting on his bed and certainly not here. "Hello Natasha," he said as he gathered himself and walked closer to her. "What are you doing here?"

"Officially to have a look around and find charges that can stick to Umbridge and in reality to see you and give you few things," she said and indicated the door. "Close it, I don't want curious people to disturb us."

He glanced at the door and a bit of magic later it was closed shut and a simple privacy ward was thrown onto it. "Nobody will interrupt us."

"Good," she nodded and picked up a package laying to her side. "This is for you to read and learn a couple of things from it. Also there is second thing, since I and your uncle know that you suffer from too much time and energy, there is something that will keep you occupied."

Harry only arched an eyebrow in question.

"You will see," she said with a smirk. "It should take you quite a lot of time and once done with it, use your eagle to drop it in my room in the Tower."

"I guess that you won't tell me more," he said and took the package from her.

"Harry, even if I'm one of your friends, I'm a spy first and foremost," she said. "So I will tell as much as is needed and not much else, data and knowledge are precious commodities and for me they can be a difference between life and death."

"I know," he said softly and looked at her. "I just hoped that I could learn something from you."

"It wasn't a bad try and if you added puppy eyes it could work, but it didn't," she said, got up, walked to the window and opened it. "Officially you don't remember that I was here and you don't know why I am here or even who I am." she said, before disappearing out of the room.

He closed the window before ripping open the paper that covered the package, inside he found three thin books and yet another package. He ignored the package and once he placed it on the bed, he focused on the books. There were three of them, each bound in leather and looking quite old and used, even if they were weathered, titles were still visible.

"The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, The Art of War by Sun Tzu and On War by Carl von Clausewitz," Harry said, reading titles from the covers of books.

He carefully opened The Prince and noticed a piece of paper with few words written, he picked it up and read. _Your mother's favorite, read and use what you learn, NJF._

"NJF," Harry said with a frown. "Why does it sound familiar?"

He shrugged it off and looked through the books, curious what was inside. He smiled when he started to read it, someone knew what he liked and the books weren't bad, which promised several hours being occupied by them.

o-0-o

Fred looked at George and smirked when pink menace passed their position, not even noticing their presence. George nodded and pointed his wand at the ceiling in front of their target. He whispered a single word and the trap was sprung.

A container that was placed there by someone helpful that didn't want his involvement being revealed, broke and liquid that was inside of it spilled and it rained onto Umbridge. They heard her shriek in terror and panic, but when the potion slammed into her more interesting things happened. Whenever she breathed a pillar of smoke and fire was leaving her mouth.

"Good word, Forge," Fred said with a smile as they gave each other high fives.

"Good work, Greg," George said and laughed. "Snape when wants to be helpful isn't that bad of a person."

"And he promised more potions," Fred said as they disappeared into one of hidden passages, leaving fiery Umbridge behind.

"Her life will be interesting," George laughed. "Very interesting."

"And Professor Flitwick promised to show us a thing or two."

Laughing they ran to their common room, from time to time checking on the Map where Umbridge was, while trying to make sure that between her and them were several corridors or floors.

o-0-o

Strange smirked when he saw a look of utter and complete shock on the face of Professor X, it seemed that there were still things that could surprise and shake his dear old friend. "Yes," he said. "I plan to have the Tournament hosted on the grounds belonging to your school. It is probably the sole place that I know that is secure and impartial enough, also some wizards need a wake up call and this is probably the best place for it."

Professor nodded and looked at Strange. "I know you well enough to tell that you have something else in mind, excluding the fact that this place is impartial and secure."

"Well, I might have a thing or two planned," Strange smirked. "Schools that are invited at the moment are Hogwarts, Beauxbatons from France, Olympian from Greece and maybe the White Council will send a couple of their better apprentices. I know that some of your students have potential when it comes to magic, so how would sound an opportunity for them to have fun and compete?"

"If they want to, why not. Question is just whom you have in mind."

"If he is willing to, then Black Eagle, maybe Atalanta who was de facto student of your school and Illyana," Strange said and Professor looked at him. "I know that they aren't your students at the moment, but they were and I'm sure that they will be willing to represent your school."

"It could be interesting. Especially Illyana or Atalanta as I didn't have an opportunity to see them use a lot of magic."

"Also wizards will have a fit as they don't consider them as worthy of using and knowing magic," Strange added. "In the UK I still have my kill on sight order and Wanda isn't far behind, but the Ministry might decide that she should be killed instead of being just caught."

"What about the Council?"

"They won't have a single issue with it," he said and paused for a moment. "They might be ruthless in enforcing the Laws, but they are also politicians that know which battles should be picked and wars with two pantheons aren't a thing they can afford. Now even less, Fomor are dangerous and nobody can afford to lose wars with them."

"Who are those Fomors everybody is mentioning?" Professor X asked. "You mention them, Fury mentions them and Harry mentioned them a time or two."

There was a brief moment of silence before Strange spoke. "They originally were one of tribes of fae, but in ancient times there were multiple wars between them and other fae, and finally they were banished by Sidhe into the oceans. Now they are a ragtag group of beings, groups and tribes that want revenge and want the current order destroyed," he said and looked at Professor. "When the Red Court fell because of Dresden unleashing the curse there was created a vacuum and they try to fill it. Normally Wardens would stop them, but the War depleted their resources and it will take time before they have previous levels of manpower and even more before they have experience."

"So they saw an opportunity and jumped?"

"Yes," Strange grimly nodded. "White Court, several hundred of einherjar, SHIELD, MI-13, Winter Court, Wardens and we only managed to push them back in few places. The Council fights around the Mediterranean and they are winning, but everywhere else it is a stalemate."

"What about the security of the Tournament and of the school?"

"I and Merlin will place wards around the school grounds and forty Wardens will be protecting the whole area during the Tournament. Nothing will get past them and your students will be safe."

"It is acceptable, but I want to have Merlin's word that he will do as you said."

"You will have it," Strange said and glanced at the watch on his hand. "I will leave you now as there is a meeting of the Senior Council during which I need to be present."

"Of course," Xavier nodded.

Stephen took one last look at his friend and then was gone from the office, appearing back in the Hidden Halls of Edinburgh, a fortress that was almost impossible to be conquered and even he lacked muscles to destroy the wards and even if he could breach them, he wouldn't get far. The Senior Council, could easily kill him, especially all of them. McCoy and Langtry in one on one fight were a challenge for him, combined with the Gatekeeper and Ancient Mai, four of them could take him out. If LaFortier was alive, his odds would be even more miserable, but Cristos was a political nomination and didn't have skill or power of LaFortier.

Stephen shook his head, sending away all of those thoughts and looked at the pair of Wardens that waited for him. One more war planning session and boring political jabbing at each other awaited him.

o-0-o

Harry followed the crowd as they entered the small common room set aside for each house, previously he was unable to get a very look at it, but now he focused on its appearance. It was a round chamber with red walls with wide golden strips along the ceiling and floor, covered in tapestries, a skylight or two in the ceiling providing plenty of light, few large windows in the walls made it look even better and on there were several dozens of well-worn couches and armchairs scattered over the room in smaller and larger groups. On one of those sofas was sitting their new head of house, Remus Lupin.

" _He is a werewolf,"_ Atalanta whispered in Ancient Greek, as she slipped into the room behind Harry. _"I wasn't sure, but now I am certain, he is a werewolf."_

" _Which kind of it?"_ Harry asked, taking a better look at Lupin.

" _I can't tell you that,"_ she said. _"If I'm right he takes something that keeps the spirit down, so we don't need to worry about him ripping our throats out when we sleep."_

Harry nodded and sat down on one of sofas, with Atalanta cuddling to his side, while Ulf took a seat on the other side of him. _"We will worry later,"_ he said. _"Now I'm more curious about what he wants to talk with us."_

She smiled and moved into a more comfortable position to his side, earning groans and angry glares from almost every other female in the room. Harry smiled and wrapped his arm around her before focusing on Lupin.

"I know that you are surprised about this change, however I can tell you that until few days ago I didn't know that I would be a new head of house," Lupin said. "Rest assured, I am a Lion so you have nothing to worry about."

"Fair enough," one of seventh year prefects said.

"Since that is out of the way," Lupin said and looked over the room. "I know that there are many styles when it comes to this position, I won't be Snape and I won't protect you from everything, but I will help you within reasons."

"So no favoring that is extremely visible, but helping us and bending the rules within reasonable limits," one of Prefects muttered.

"Pretty much yes," Lupin nodded and smiled. "While Professor Lockhart cannot be removed, even if he is a dreadful teacher, in the evenings on Friday and Saturday I will happily teach you things that you should know about DADA."

"Do we need to attend his classes?"

"Unfortunately, yes," Lupin said. "He is official DADA teacher and as such I cannot officially encourage you not to attend them."

There were some groans at those words, but looking around Harry could feel that almost everybody was happier than they were.

"That will be all for today," Lupin said and for one last time looked over their faces. "If you want something, you know where you can find me and I think it is time for you to go to sleep."

They nodded and while some walked into their dormitories some stayed behind, Harry felt Atalanta's hand touch him on the shoulder and looked at her. "What?"

"The ball," she said softly. "What are you going to wear for it?"

"Usual clothes that I wear for banquets on Asgard," he said and looked into her eyes. "Why do you ask?"

"Can't I have some secrets from you?" She asked and left a peck on his cheek. "Sleep well."

"You too," he whispered as he felt warmth spread over his cheeks.

"Since when you are lovers?" Ulf asked, trying to control his laughter. "As you two look as if you were in love."

Harry's head snapped in Ulf's direction, while he did it, he didn't miss that looks of the whole room focused on them. "Since when it is your business?" He asked.

"I'm your friend," Ulf laughed. "It is hard to hide something from me and your behavior is obvious, only an idiot would miss all of those signs that suggest that there is something more between the two of you."

"We are lovers since his birthday," Atalanta said before pulling Harry into a kiss. "And he is mine."

He embraced her, placing his hands on the small of her back and deepened their kiss as they started to make out. As they ended the kiss he could feel jealous and lustful looks focused on them, most of them was jealous, but there were also some lustful ones.

"I love you," he whispered, their bodies almost touching each other.

"As do I," she whispered in reply.

He smiled and they walked to their dormitories, when he got into his, he quickly dressed into his sleeping clothes and went to sleep, events of the day tired him and he needed some rest. Even if he was an Æsir and had plenty of energy there were some limits to what he could survive.

 **o-0-o**

 **A/N:**

 **Some signs of things to come are more and more visible and I feel really bad for Hogwarts wizards when they will enter the Tournament and find out who is their competition. At the best, three wizards, three Apprentices, three wizards schooled on Asgard and three normal wizards but trained by demigods and gods, at the worst those last ones are replaced by demigods.**

 **Revelations of Weapon X - Fury wants some people gone so he uses the only card he has to play and a lot of people will end up in a place where they won't hurt him.**

 **Sokovia - Those that watched Age of Ultron will guess where it is heading, the rest is to be seen.**

 **Unraveling - an extremely rare artifact that can remove any magic, no matter how powerful. Freki and Geri are protected by magic connected to a god, god that's also a King of Asgard and from a royal house that sat on a throne for a very long time and that means power and lore.**

 **Lash's words about gods - they are far more powerful, but lack free will and cannot act outside of their domain with ease, they have those things and immortality. Odin is weaker, but he isn't bound by the same laws and can do as he pleases which gives him quite a lot more power.**

 **Books that Harry gets - there's always a good time for education and bribing him is a good way to keep him in a proper place.**

 **White Court - vamps that are sexual predators, also one of signatories of the Accords.**

 **Einherjar - warriors straight out of Valhalla, you don't mess with them and you are safe, if you mess, well, you might discover how you look with an axe buried in your brain.**

 **Senior Council - they are extremely powerful and while Strange has power to fight them he doesn't want to. McCoy can smash ranks of vampires and mercenaries all day long and won't feel slight exertion.**

 **Reviews:**

 **WhiteElfElder - If anybody should be, it would be Ron. As far as I remember self-defense isn't a crime and Harry was rather restrained in his reply. If he hurled that poor boy with enough strength to shatter bones and broke his spine, then they could talk, but now? All he did was a very restrained counter that sent Ron across the room.**


	52. Hogwarts III

**A/N - Rather obvious plotting begins and some events start to make sense.**

 **o-0-o**

Harry looked at the surface of the mirror, his reflection slightly blurred and more angular than normally, however the purpose of this mirror not showing a reflection of an object placed in front of it. "Sirius Black," he whispered and the surface of the mirror wavered.

The surface wavered and once it was stable he could see the face of his godfather looking at him, ebony hair and gray eyes almost impossible to be mistaken for anything else. "How is Hogwarts, pup?" Sirius asked.

"Good," Harry said and focused on his godfather. "Did you mention someone named Remus Lupin?"

Sirius looked at him and then laughed. "Tell me he isn't teaching at Hogwarts," he said, once he regained an ability to speak.

"He is," Harry grinned. "And is also head of my house."

Sirius blinked in confusion and looked at Harry. "You are not in Gryffindor?"

"No, just the head changed, he is the new one."

Sirius laughed loudly, making Harry arch an eyebrow in question. "I made a bet with your uncle and it seems that I won it. He said that you would end up in Slytherin and I decided to bet on Gryffindor."

"That's cool, I guess," Harry said dryly and looked at Sirius. "Back to Lupin, what can you tell me about him, excluding the fact that Atalanta wants to murder him."

"Why does she want to do it?"

"Because he is a werewolf?" Harry suggested and Sirius eyes focused on him. "What? She doesn't have too much love for them and we were taught how to find such people."

"Moony," Sirius softly said. "He is a werewolf, he was bitten by Greyback when he was a child and Dumbledore allowed him to study at Hogwarts. I, your father and Pettigrew were his friends and learned how to be animagii so that we could accompany him during full moon."

"So how dangerous he is?"

"Excluding full moon he is completely fine, during full moon he should be taking potion that allows him to control the wolf spirit so he should be docile," Sirius said and looked at Harry. "Are you using the mirror given to you by me or by your uncle?"

"One given by you," Harry said and frowned. "What's wrong?"

"It was easy to eavesdrop and a certain furry person should have the third one," Sirius said and Harry could see him point his wand at the mirror and mutter few sentences in garbled Latin. "Now it should be safe and he should be unable to listen, I trust Moony, but I want this to stay hidden."

"Thanks," Harry said and shuffled in his bed. "So what else do you want to know?"

Sirius grinned and Harry had a feeling they would spend a lot of time talking about things, he was right as it took him over an hour before they were done. Once it was over he placed the mirror on the bedside table and with one, last yawn he went to sleep.

o-0-o

Ebenezar McCoy moved his staff in a long, sweeping motion and dozens of lives were snuffed out, one moment they were alive, the next, they were dead. He looked around, his gaze wandering over the landscape scorched from sun and restless winds blowing from Sahara, and dotted with forms of Wardens, their bodies wrapped in their trademark gray cloaks and then moved towards their enemies. Dozens, if not hundreds of servitors and beyond, their Fomor masters. Between their positions land was dotted with craters, holes and burned vegetation, effects of magic that was used, there were also dozens of bodies of Fomor servitors and even some Wardens that fell in combat.

He leaned on his staff and tried to come up with a plan to win the battle when he felt a portal out of the Nevernever open in front of him. Out of habit and training he leveled his staff at the portal and waited. Out of it stepped out Donar Vadderung, flanked by two younger beings, one of them was hulking and with a mane of golden hair and a massive hammer in one hand, while the second was thin, yet fit with long black hair and a glaive in hand.

"Ebenezar," Donar Vadderung said with a nod. "Want help?"

"Donar," Ebenezar nodded. "What's the price?"

"I'm not a fae," Vadderung said, laughing. "There are no hidden hooks, I also dislike those beings and they started to push into my territory."

"Then I won't mind your help," Ebenezar said. "Take out those Fomors as we can deal with their servitors."

Donar nodded and glanced at the men that came with him, one with a hammer started to spin it and soon was in the air. While the other simply vanished and Ebenezar arched an eyebrow in question.

"You will see," Donar said before he started to glow and power gathered around him. "Much better," he said after a moment. "I didn't use this mantle on Midgard for last ten centuries."

Ebenezar looked at him and he could easily feel amounts of power not many had. "You are Odin and those two are Loki and Thor," he flatly stated.

"Indeed," Odin nodded. "Shall we join the battle?"

Ebenezar grimly nodded and together they walked through the battlefield, towards Fomor lines, Wardens around joining combat as lightnings started to flash above them and rain started to fall, slowly turning into snow as gods started to use their powers and weather began to be influenced by magic released into the air.

o-0-o

Harry looked around the Transfiguration classroom, a bit puzzled by the lack of a teacher, but then his eyes landed on a large cat with black circles around its eyes that sat on the teacher's desk. He smiled as he focused on his telepathy and sent light probes towards the cat, it's mind was too developed for a normal feline and didn't feel like a magical predator.

"So a shape-shifter," he murmured as he moved to one of the desks by the windows. "Not a thing I expected to find at Hogwarts."

"Your godfather is one," Atalanta pointed out with a small smile. "So it should be obvious that they exist."

He nodded with a smile and waited patiently for the rest of the class to fill in and take their seats, just arching an eyebrow for the briefest moment when he saw Ulf being joined by a girl with hairs that were in an extremely bright shade of blonde that they looked as if they were white.

"Seems that you found a _friend_ ," Harry said with a chuckle. "That's the last thing I expected from you."

"She isn't a friend in that meaning of the word," Ulf huffed angrily.

"Maybe now isn't," Atalanta agreed. "But in the future?"

Ulf muttered something under his breath, too quietly for Harry to hear what those words were, but he didn't need to know them to guess the meaning. He smirked and turned back his attention to the cat that was sitting on the teacher's desk and waited for everybody to enter into the classroom. Once everybody was inside, the cat was gone and behind the desk stood a stern-looking witch. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall and with a swish of her wand she changed teacher's desk into an ox and the ox back into the desk. After that she began explaining what they would be covering this year and once those things were out of the way, it swiftly changed into a lecture about the most basic laws and theorems that governed Transfiguration. It was a boring lecture, but everybody understood the need to know theory before starting practical part of their education.

Once the Transfiguration ended they made their way into the dungeons below the school where they would be studying the art of making potions, poisons and antidotes under the careful eye of Professor Horace Slughorn, one of two Hogwarts Potion Masters. It was one of few subjects that made Harry and his friends really curious about how different it would be from what he had been taught on Asgard where they were mainly used when other kinds of magic would be an overkill.

o-0-o

Fury looked at Loki as if he was insane. "You want me to reveal existence of your race, thing which we tried to keep low profile for as long as possible?" He finally asked.

"Yes," Loki said and Fury narrowed his sole working eye. "You don't get too much from hiding our existence and many won't notice it if you combine it with a lovely piece of news about Weapon X."

"I suppose you are right, but still, it is a risky move."

"World belongs to the brave," Loki said with a chuckle.

"I much more prefer being safe, than brave," Fury said and looked at Loki. "Some people will ask questions, questions that I don't want to answer and even if most remains obvious to the fact, media are known for digging out pieces of data we want to forget about."

"That's why I want it done alongside Weapon X," Loki smirked. "Everybody will be ripping into them and will mostly ignore other facts and pieces of data you release."

"That's true," Fury said and looked at Loki. "What will you give me for this favor?"

"Technology that will bolster your helicarriers," Loki said. "We won't give you top of the line, as we don't share it so freely, but even an older design will work and to sweeten the deal a fifty percent discount on hiring einherjar."

"Monoc Security prime mercenaries?" Fury asked, pulled out a thin manilla folder from one of many drawers of his desk and took a quick look at it. "A single group that knows how to deal with both magical and normal threats?"

"The same," Loki smirked. "On top of that they bring several centuries of experience and knowledge in killing. So I doubt that anybody will be able to stop them."

"Well, you will have Asgard revealed alongside all of those random bits and pieces of data that will make press go on a witch hunt to drag down those that are not in prison or dead," Fury said and looked at Loki. "Do you have any other suggestions or ideas?"

"Not exactly," Loki said and Fury arched an eyebrow. "Tri-Wizard Tournament is being brought back and if everything goes according to plan it will be held here, in the USA."

"The same one that was discontinued because of some kind of a snake starting to devour people?"

"Same one," Loki nodded. "This time there won't be any cockatrice causing havoc," he said after a moment. "I didn't have an opportunity to see with what they came up, but it should be something decent and relatively safe."

"Relatively?"

"No dragons, basilisks, cockatrices or griffins."

"And where will it be?"

"At Xavier's," Loki said and smirked. "Who actually has the best chance of winning it, maybe Olympian has a decent chance, but that depends on how many godlings and demigods they can find."

Fury nodded and focused on Loki. "How big of a security issue it should be?"

"World Cup or something similar," he said. "Thousands of wizards will show up for the tasks and a lot of dignitaries. Maybe even my father assuming that Harry will take part in the actual tournament, also maybe someone from the royal family of Wakanda will show up as they have close ties with magical community and the White Council usually sends them invitations to various summits."

"How much worse can it get?" Fury asked. "As if someone else shows up, I will be probably forced to assign one of my deputies to oversee it and I don't have spares."

"What about Director Carter?" Loki asked. "She took Infinity Formula after giving birth to her children and is almost immortal."

"I would need to speak with her," Fury said thoughtfully. "But that is my agency, not yours so I won't do as you tell me."

"That's understandable," Loki bowed his head. "So as not to anger you more, I will take my leave."

Fury waited for Loki to leave before reaching for another folder, he placed it on the desk and looked at it. It was weathered by the flow of time and dozens of years spent in the archives below various buildings that housed OSS and later SHIELD. On the front page there were just two words written, _Dies Irae,_ ink was so bleak that it was almost impossible to tell what was there. However he didn't need those words to tell what was inside, it was one of the most secret things even inside of the agency that prized security and secrecy. Obtaining it cost SHIELD dozens of agents, protection of them was even more expensive and demanding.

He carefully opened the folder and looked at a couple of photos and sheets of paper, some of them new, but most of them extremely old and fragile. He carefully picked the first photo and looked at it, visible, but barely was an image of a sword and of a large sickle. Two pieces of metal that were coveted by a lot of groups, groups that had resources and desire to get their hands on them. He placed photos back in the folder, closed the whole thing and looked out of the window. The city was mostly unaware of what was happening around the world and he hoped that it would still be the case as if they learnt about the true state of the world, panic would ensue and not much would stop it.

o-0-o

Harry was about to start devouring his breakfast when he felt something land on his shoulder. He glanced at the thing and a short growl left his lips when he saw that it was a large raven, one that looked as if the whole world belonged to it.

"Do you know that bird?" Neville asked, his eyes weirdly focused on him, yet quickly switching to the bird.

"Unfortunately I know that feathery thing too well," he nodded with a sigh and glanced at the raven. "What do you want, Huginn?"

"To pass messages," Huginn croaked. "Mainly from your grandfather as some envoys were on Asgard, asking about you."

Ulf snorted at those words and Harry glared at him. "What?"

"You will see," he said, once he contained his laughter. "Just don't be surprised that there is a lot of letters ahead of you. Probably a wagon or two of them."

"He is right," Huginn said and Harry's glare focused on him. "There is a lot of letters ahead of you."

Harry was about to say something when he saw letters land around him, most of them collecting around him, but few managed to drown in various pitchers and lawn on tables of other people. It looked like an avalanche of letters had a desire to bury the whole table.

"The hell that is?" Oliver asked, waving his wand and sending some letters to Harry.

"Diplomacy," Ulf said with a chuckle. "Harry is second in line to the throne, so he is a desirable spouse. A lot of nobles and royalties wouldn't mind seeing him as part of their families, even if it is up to his grandfather, they have hopes that if they buy him, getting his grandfather to agree will be easier."

"Royalties?" Dean Thomas asked.

"Most of other pantheons," Harry said with a sigh. "Which makes them my really distant family."

"So inbreeding isn't only a problem for wizards," Neville muttered and made Harry laugh.

"No," he said as he composed himself. "When you have a limited amount of options you sooner or later get some inbreeding, on Earth you have plenty of examples of this."

"Did you find something interesting?" Atalanta asked.

He looked at the letter he was holding and smiled. "This one looks interesting," he said, breaking a wax seal, his eyes scanned the lines of spidery letters and then he smiled. "Horus wouldn't mind seeing me as a husband of his great-granddaughter Neith."

"I thought that he would suggest the hand of his heir," Atalanta said with a chuckle.

"Prince Ihy?" Harry frowned and at the same time he noticed several gasps of shock and surprise. "Over my dead body, he is nice, but I don't like him that much."

"Was just teasing you," Atalanta said, before leaning closer to him and kissing him on the cheek. "I know that you want me," she whispered. "Not anybody else."

He blushed and looked at her. "Not only you," he replied, kissing her. "But you the most."

"An acceptable answer," she said and he could see a smile on her lips. "Not that many will like it."

"No, I guess not," he said, looking around and noticing jealous stares and glares. Ones that could turn him into a neat pile of dust on the floor. "It seems that you have quite a competition."

"It can try," she said with a predatory smile. "I will enjoy their attempts at getting to you."

"Are you always that territorial?" Fred asked, inching away from her.

"Yes," Harry sighed as he tore through the rest of the letters and looked at Huginn. "One more such avalanche and you will end up as a meal for my wolves. Recently they wanted something new, so a raven will work."

"You have no power over me," Huginn croaked. "Only your grandfather can order me around. Not you, nor your father."

"I don't need to order you around," Harry smiled. "A bow and a single arrow will be enough."

Huginn croaked in indignation and disappeared, in his wake was left a trail of black feathers that slowly floated to the ground.

Harry looked at the spot and then he shook his head and focused on his breakfast, magic was exhausting and surviving until lunch could be a challenge.

o-0-o

"We need to talk," Gambit said as he silently appeared to the side of Harry. "About something important."

Harry looked at him and later at the crowd of the students around them, most of which were already focusing on them, as if trying to learn more and hear as much as they could. "I doubt that here we will have any privacy," he said with a look around. "After all gossips are juicy and travel far faster than light does."

"Indeed. As a former thief I can tell you whole lot of things about gossips and what can you learn from them," Gambit said and looked more seriously at them. "Come with me, I think that I have just a right place for us to talk."

Harry nodded and with Atalanta and Ulf moving behind him and keeping an eye out for troubles they made their way to a deserted classroom on the other end of the castle. Gambit waited for them to enter into the room before closing the door and looking at them.

"I know that all of you trained martial arts and possibly could kill me, so the training the rest gets will make you bored and frustrated," he said and they looked at him. "So you have three choices, train on your own and focus on whatever you need, train with Banshee or help me with teaching wizards those things and some shows of what you can do won't be amiss. Which one do you choose?"

"The last one," Harry said with a grin. "Throwing other people around is always fun and I think that At won't mind an opportunity to show who is the best."

Atalanta only smirked at those words and Gambit had a feeling that getting between her and Harry could be not the safest idea. Even if she looked completely innocent and defenseless, he knew that she would be more than capable of ripping open the throat of anybody foolish enough to get too close to Harry. Though rumors and gossips at Xavier's said that she didn't murder Laura Kinney or Jean-Paul, which made it even more interesting.

"Well, tomorrow you will have me first thing in the morning," Gambit said as he kept his attention focused on Atalanta and several daggers hidden below her clothes. "So I expect you to be present or..."

"Or what?" Ulf asked. "You can't get worse than Sif."

Gambit just smirked. "You will see." At those words all of them gulped and he could see them look for easily accessible escape roads that didn't require chopping him to pieces. "Now scram and don't annoy me for the rest of the day."

"We? Annoy you?" Harry asked. "I know no such word."

"You know what I mean," Gambit said and after a moment they hurried out of the room, briefly showing inhuman speed of Æsir as one moment they were in the room and another they were outside of the classroom.

For a moment he watched them walk away before he closed his eyes and slowly exhaled, Umbridge needed to stay away from this or troubles would happen.

o-0-o

With excitement coursing through their veins they rushed to the dormitories, Harry pulled out and quickly opened his trunk, digging through the clothes and dozens of other things, piled in thick layers before getting to his target, the bottom of the trunk. When he reached it he pressed his palm against it and a second trunk appeared in the world, this one more massive and heavily reinforced with metal.

"How much weaponry did you bring with you?" Ulf asked.

"Enough," Harry said, unlocking dozens of locks and lifting the lid. "I also brought a gift that you should like."

"Oh?"

"Yes," Harry smiled as he pulled out an axe out of the trunk and hurled it at Ulf. "Catch."

Ulf reached and snatched the axe out of the air before taking a better look at it, it was quite a large one with a blade forged out of mithril and covered in runes, a shaft carved out of a massive oak branch, thus giving it a wicked shape and a handle covered in fine leather. "Jarnbjorn?" He asked. "An axe used by your father?"

"Same one," Harry said, pulling out his own sword. "He said that he doesn't need it, so I borrowed it and now you can have it."

Ulf made a couple of swings with the axe and then nodded contently. "It works, decently," he said and placed by his trunk. "At least I don't need to dig deep to get my own axe as you gave me this one."

"No," Harry smiled. "I doubt that we will bother with armor, hand to hand will be enough for them."

"More than enough," Ulf said. "If they are as bad as we think they are our basic tricks will be more than enough to awe them."

"Probably," Harry agreed as he pulled out his vambraces and gloves. "But those two will be useful."

"So that we won't chop each other's hands to pieces?" Ulf asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah, that," Harry said as he looked at his gear. "Do we need anything else?"

"Nah," Ulf said. "We are not going to war."

"True," Harry said as he sent last glance at the bottom of the trunk where his armor laid in a neat pile. He reached into it and pulled out a piece of cloth, a whetstone and all other gear he would need for polishing and sharpening the blade.

He waited for Ulf to get his own supplies and together they walked to the common room, weapons slung over their shoulders. They spotted Atalanta in the corner and made their way there, not paying attention to the bundles they carried with themselves.

"I wonder when someone with a spear up their ass complains about those things," Harry said as he placed on his lap his sword and started to polish the blade.

"At the Institute nobody paid any attention to what we had," Atalanta pointed out.

"The Institute is a different place," Harry said with a sigh. "There nobody paid too much attention to weapons as it was kept in a safe place, simply because we tend to have unwanted guests that are hard to remove."

"And chopping their heads off is the best way of doing so?" Ulf asked with a grin.

"Considering that the last time they were removed they woke up the Phoenix, than yes, they need it," Harry said and Ulf's eyes widened slightly, making him smile, however it was a thin and a dour smile. "Yes, they unleashed the Phoenix."

"How stupid they were to tangle with that thing?"

"Enough to stomp onto everybody's toes and get mauled. It was before the time the Institute ended on Asgard," Harry said and winced. "I still have scars thanks to them."

"That large one on your back?" Atalanta asked and he looked at her. "Harry, it's not hard to feel it."

"The same one," Harry said and focused his attention on the blade, his finger trailing along the edge. "It is weirdly dirty," he muttered, moving oil-covered cloth over the surface and trying to remove dirt and dust gathered on the blade.

He was about to finish one edge when an unpleasant "Khem." interrupted his work, he carefully placed the cloth on a nearby table and made sure that a bottle with oil was secured before he looked up.

"How may I help you, Miss Know-It-All?" He asked, looking at Hermione.

"Since when weapons are allowed inside of Hogwarts?" she asked, folding her hands over the book she was holding.

"Be kind and leave us alone," Atalanta said, her voice quiet, yet Harry could feel a very dangerous message hidden below it.

"Or what?" Hermione asked.

"Or someone will leave this place in a bodybag," Oliver Wood said as he appeared behind her, he was leaning against a table and seemed not to care about her. "And it most likely will be you."

She spun around, as if she was bitten by a large bee and glared at Oliver. "They broke the rules," she said. "So why do you take their side?"

"Because I know of things that you do not know and won't know for quite a some time," he said, twirling his wand between fingers of his right hand. "And I am older and since this year Quidditch teams Captains have same powers as Prefects have. I don't like to do it, but perhaps it will be necessary to remove some points."

Harry smiled at the exchange, it seemed that some people had troubles understanding that there was a pecking order and they needed to accept it. Hermione let out a mighty huff and stormed away from them, most likely to nag some teacher to talk to them about weapons. It also gave Oliver time to walk to them.

"Harry," he said. "I know that you, all of you are used to having weapons with you, but could you be more subtle about them. While I and most of Prefects were warned to let you have them, a lot of busybodies will annoy you and us with it. There is also Umbridge and she is a nightmare, so stay away from her and you should be fine. Just be more discreet."

Harry looked at Oliver, considering his words. "I will try, but I won't promise anything, we prefer to be armed at all times."

"I'm not forcing you to do anything, just suggesting," Oliver said and Harry arched an eyebrow on question. "I know that forcing you would result with me having my own ass handed back to me, so I don't want to end in more troubles than necessary."

"I will try," Harry said before looking at the blade laying on his lap. "It's just that we are used to having weapons all the time and not concealing them. On Asgard nobody would even think of telling us to hide them."

"Because they are a show of whom you are?"

"Indeed," Atalanta nodded. "Only we, that is nobles, and warriors can carry weapons all the time and it is a sign of our position, so we have them at all times. Not always big weapons, but always some kind of them."

"Usually swords or daggers," Harry added. "They are the easiest to make presentable and don't hinder our moves too much."

"Oh," Oliver nodded. "So when we were at the Academy that's why everybody had some kind of a dagger or sword with them."

"Yes, there are also brawls and duels, but mostly because of those things."

Oliver nodded and Harry could feel him getting somewhat used to the idea. "Alright, just don't provoke people with them and clear out anything with your head of house."

Harry nodded and with a smile returned to polishing the blade, while his mind ran to his friends on Asgard and at the Institute, wondering about what they were doing.

o-0-o

Warren ducked behind the cover and watched as place where he was moments ago was turned into a pincushion by dozens, if not hundreds of shards of ice, ones that could easily cut him to pieces. He took a quick look around Danger Room, one that currently was covered in heaps of snow, ice and rocks. In the distance he could see a couple of human shapes, but that was all he could see because of a blizzard that threatened them with burying them alive. To his side was Phoenix and Shadowcat was crouching behind one of nearby rocks, while Havok, Nightcrawler, Carol and Northstar were somewhere else.

"You should be more careful," Jane said as she looked at him, before her eyes flashed gold and shards of ice flew into the air and towards one that sent them. "Even if you were rash, it worked well."

"Or I was lucky," he said before jumping into the air and starting to climb higher and higher. His eyes roamed over the whole area before he spotted Iceman who was one that almost turned him into an icy pincushion. He made few massive swings with his wings and felt as dozens of metallic darts separated from his body and with an unearthly howl flew through the air.

"Not bad," Jean said as he landed. "They should be hiding behind cover."

"I know," he nodded as they emerged from behind the cover, running through the snow and jumping over rocks and puddles of ice mixed with melted snow.

o-0-o

On the day when they were supposed to have the first class with Gambit Harry woke up early and before everybody else even managed to get out of the bed, he and Ulf were done with their workouts and fully dressed, eager to start the day.

"How the hell are you already awake?" Seamus asked as he woke up and saw that they were both dressed and ready for the classes of the day.

"We have a reason and energy to be," Harry said with a grin and glanced at the watch on his hand. "One that you will see in about hour and a half."

Harry sat down on his bed as everybody else started to wake up and go around their morning routine, while giving him precious time to look through his weapons and choose ones that he would need. He pulled out his sword, slid it out of scabbard, just to see if there was no rust, which shouldn't happen, but weirder things happened, placed it to his side and reached into the trunk. Next he pulled out his round shield, its surface covered in runes and forged out of a thin sheet of mithril, below which was hard oak wood, one that endured hundreds of duels and strikes of axes and swords that would have shattered a weaker material. The last two things he pulled out was his saxe knife and a simple axe, a simple utilitarian weapon that wasn't a masterpiece like Jarnbjorn or his sword. He looked at this small collection of weapons and for one last time reaching into the trunk he pulled out a leather harness reinforced with metal.

He got up and put on the harness, securing it to his body and making sure that all of the holsters and whatnots would stay in their places, even if he was running, jumping or doing any other kind of things associated with a fierce duel or usual combat. He tightened the belts and checked that everything was in its proper places before attaching weapons to it and throwing Hogwarts robe over it. Once that was done he looked at himself and muttering few words in the language of Asgard casted a couple of shoddy veils over bulges caused by his weaponry. It wouldn't stop any serious magic, but not many here knew such magic.

"Ready?" Ulf asked, placing an axe in a holster on his belt.

"Ready," Harry said with a grin. "Gambit wants a show so it will be worth the trouble."

Ulf only grinned back in reply and they walked to the common room where they were joined by Atalanta who had a similar harness to their and the same, obscene amount of weapons on herself. Harry kissed her on the cheek and together they walked down for breakfast and later for their class with Gambit.

 **o-0-o**

 **A/N:**

 **Reviews:**

WhiteElfElder - Where?


	53. Hogwarts IV

**A/N - Pink menace might be gone at the end of the chapter, same as another idiotic teacher that shouldn't be a teacher.**

 **o-0-o**

Gambit smirked as he looked over the gather first year students, they were in one of the biggest classrooms in Hogwarts and he could see that they didn't have the slightest idea of what would happen next. On the floor were scattered mats so that falls would be less dangerous and less painful, but nonetheless embarrassing, he glanced to the side and saw Banshee leaning against one of the walls, his silent form relaxed, yet ready to strike at moments notice.

Gambit's eyes slipped over students and most of them was a mix of nervous, curious and interested, with Harry and his friends being the only ones that smiled, though those smiles would make a wolf nervous.

"You probably wonder why I am here and who I am," Gambit said, pacing across the front of the room, his coat flapping in his wake. "My job is rather simple, teach you how to be able to defend yourself without magic, you will either learn or you will suffer greatly." He stopped for a moment and let his eyes wander over the faces of students, some were silent and still, while some looked as if they wanted to murder him. "Magic is a hard thing to use, I'm not a wizard, but I saw it used and unless you are allowed to concentrate you will be unable to use it."

There was complete, uniform silence in the room as everybody went still and looked at him with widened eyes. Nobody, not a single human being tried to contest power of magic inside of those walls, yet here was a crimson eyed man, not a lot older than most of them that had gal to say that magic was hard.

"Harry," Gambit said, breaking the silence. "I know about the events of January a year ago, how easy was it for you to use magic when bullets were flying around and you were wounded? Also what would say a textbook on Asgard about magic?"

"Almost impossible," Harry said. "I knew that I could use it, but I more cared about surviving next few moments and fighting back. It would say that I should use it only when I would have time to focus and channel it properly."

"Exactly," Gambit smiled. "For magic you need to focus your thoughts and that is a task that's a really hard to achieve when you have things that want to murder you." He paused for a moment and looked at Harry and Ulf. "Want to show them what you can do with weapons and in hand to hand combat?"

They only grinned and dropped their outer robes, making Gambit whistle in appreciation at the amount of weapons they had on themselves, thus promising a very enjoyable duel to watch. "You may begin when you are ready," he said and looked at everybody around. "I suggest that you make them some space."

Harry smirked as he pulled his sword out of its scabbard and looked at Ulf, who was gripping in one hand _Jarnbjorn_ and in second a small shield. He moved forward, his eyes focused on Ulf and barely had a chance to dodge a strike that almost removed his head.

"That was nasty," he commented before sending his own strike, one that stopped on Ulf's shield. "You usually are far more reserved."

"I have a new axe, one that I want to test," Ulf replied with a grin, before sending a massive overhead strike that Harry barely blocked on his sword. "And you seem sloppy."

"No, I'm not," Harry said and then his eyes widened as he saw a boot fly towards his abdomen. He jumped back, his wings spreading and helping him with getting away and barely avoiding the kick. "That was nasty."

"Life ain't fair," Ulf said, sending a whirlwind of strikes at Harry making him dodge as many as possible and parry the rest.

Harry smiled when he blocked the last strike, he moved forward and sent an extremely fast strike at Ulf's armpit, the blade slammed into the clothes, but didn't cut them. "Surrender or should I cancel magic and open your arm?"

"I surrender," Ulf said through gritted teeth. "You won it."

"Because you know your place and that you should let me win?" Harry asked, sheathing his sword and looking at Ulf.

"Of course, Your Royal Highness Prince Harald James Thorson," Ulf said with a mock bow. "Should I kneel before you or is this enough?"

Harry laughed at it and looked at Ulf with some annoyance. "Didn't we discuss it already that you don't need to bow to me?"

"I know," Ulf said as he straightened and looked at Harry. "I just love to annoy you and this is one of the best ways of doing so."

Harry sighed and looked at Gambit. "Do you want more or is this enough?"

"I think this is enough," Gambit said and walked to the front of the room. "They are Æsir and are physically far stronger than you, also they trained since childhood, but it shows that you can use something else to fight than magic. I will be unable to teach you what they could do in hand to hand, but I will at least make you capable of getting away from someone that wants to murder you," he paused and let his eyes roam over the students. "Pair up and we will start, Harry, you and your friends can do whatever you want. Professor Cassidy might help you with it."

Harry nodded and with his friends walked to Professor Cassidy, who for him became more of a friend, than a teacher. At the Institute relations between teachers and students were more lax and X-Men usually had a lot of freedom when it came to how they treated teachers. It caused interesting situations, but usually worked just fine and had good results so nobody was really interested in changing it.

"I watched your duel and there are things that you could work on," Professor Cassidy said and they nodded. "We will work on those things as it is a problem with your thinking, not technique so I don't need to know how to use swords to tell you what's wrong."

Harry nodded and for the whole class while the rest tried to learn how to fall, he and his friends were focusing on hammering out mistakes in their tactic and trying actually to think before doing anything. Two things that proved to be challenging and left all of them mentally exhausted, not bringing a lot of results.

"We will work on it for the foreseeable future," Professor Cassidy said as the class ended. "You are all used to charging at the enemy without too much thinking, which is a really bad thing."

Harry smiled sheepishly at those words before grabbing his gear and with his friends trailing behind, they barely made it to the first intersection when he heard an unpleasant cough behind. He stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around, only to find a very pleasant face of Madam Umbridge looking at him. On her lips was a sweet, unhealthy smile, one that made him watch to punch her, punch her hard and hope that she would be dead.

He wanted to growl at her, but his training kicked in and he forced a pleasant smile onto his face. "How may I help you, Madam Umbridge?"

"I saw all of your carry weapons with yourself and there were reports that you have even more of them," she said, pleasant smile on her face. "Which under Educational Decree Number Thirty-One is illegal and results in a week of detention and hundred points loss for each person. Also I fear that I will need to inspect your personal belongings for any other contraband."

Harry's smile morphed into a scowl, one that would make almost everybody on Asgard looking for a way to get away from him. Yet on Umbridge face appeared an even sweeter smile.

"I expect Mr Potter tomorrow evening in my office," she said before turning around and walking away and leaving them alone.

"She made it up," Atalanta spat and Harry looked at her. "Last time I checked there was no Educational Decree Number Thirty-One."

"She is bent on destroying you," Ulf quietly said and Harry nodded in agreement.

"I know, uncle warned me about her and what she could do," he said and let out a sigh of annoyance. "But he didn't tell that she would be that brave and bent on her goals, we expected something more subtle and far more veiled, not direct attacks like a not very missed uncle of mine."

"My father told me that Tyr wasn't the most subtle person and that it took millenia before he became somewhat refined," Ulf said and Harry looked at him. "My father is far older than he looks for it, you know that we age really slowly and he is a prime example of how slowly it can happen. So he remembers and saw a lot of the events that are history for us or even for your father."

"So she is a hopeless case that doesn't have any chance of improving," Atalanta finished as they made their way for the next class. "Which means that you can tell your uncle to remove her."

"He won't do it," Harry said with a sad smile. "He prefers his victims to suffer before he is done with them and she will suffer a lot before he even thinks about doing a single thing to her."

Atalanta growled in frustration, yet managed to control herself from showing her true temper. "That's bad, really bad," she slowly said, carefully pronouncing each word. "She will be our doom and he doesn't want to remove her now, because she needs to suffer."

"Couldn't you ask your mother or one of sisters to pay a visit and turn that thing into a pincushion?" Ulf asked.

"No," Atalanta said and looked at Harry. "You know how the war is going, Amazons joined the fight and mother would need to have a really good reason to call back one of my sisters or on her own leave the field of battle."

"Fuck," Harry muttered. "My uncle doesn't seem willing to kill her now, your mother is tied, we are all doomed."

"We can remove her on our own," Ulf said, affectionately patting scabbard of his saxe knife.

"We can," Harry agreed with a smile as they walked into the Charms classroom, one of few subjects that he enjoyed and was different than magic that was on Asgard. So far it was only theory, but he could tell that using it in practice wouldn't be the easiest thing, far from it in fact. On Asgard spell that was overpowered so badly that it wasn't even funny worked just fine, just a lot, lot stronger and could have some interesting side-effects.

o-0-o

Harry tried to contain the scowl that was on his face as they followed Umbridge into their dorm, she seemed too cheerful for it to end good. She entered the dorm before waving her wand and summoning his trunk with a flick of her wand. Then she waved the wand and the lid flew open, at this she smirked and started to pull out his clothes as if they were just rags and then throwing them onto the ground. Harry watched it with impossible to read face and only winced when poetry from Jean and some of his other favorite books were treated as if they were trash.

"Where it is?" she snarled.

"What?" Harry asked, an innocent expression on his face.

"Weapons and armor that you are rumored to have."

"I don't know," he said and her eyes narrowed before she pointed her wand at the bottom of the trunk and muttered a word under her breath.

Harry saw a beam of light flow from the wand and slam into the wooden bottom of the trunk before forcing the second trunk hidden below to pop out. Umbridge smiled at the trunk and muttered a string of spells that made the locks protecting it snap and open, revealing its content.

"How many heirlooms did you take with you?" Ulf whispered and Harry glanced at him.

"Enough of them," Harry said and paused. "Grandfather and dad were very generous in terms of what I can take with me."

"You know that they will be greatly displeased when they learn that some puny mortal took them from you? Not even defeating you in a fair combat."

A flicker of annoyance passed across Harry's face before he nodded. "They will be thrilled and someone might suffer a lot."

Before Ulf could say a thing Umbridge croaked and Harry paid her some attention. "That will be four hundred points for each of you and I will take them and return to you once you graduate out of Hogwarts, if you graduate."

Harry placed his hand on Ulf's shoulder just in time to prevent him from hurling at Umbridge and nodded in understanding. The moment she was gone he looked at Ulf and smiled. "Did you forget that Heimdall is watching over me?"

Ulf blinked in confusion and then on his lips appeared a smile. "Did he just watch the whole thing and reported to your grandfather?"

"Indeed," Harry said before grabbing a book and jumping onto the bed. "Now we just need to wait."

o-0-o

Heimdall opened the Bifrost and watched as a lone female left it, her features sharp and hair as white as freshly fallen snow. Seconds later she was joined by several warriors with shields, swords and dressed in maile. "Welcome to Asgard, Your Majesty," he said, bowing his head ever so slightly.

"Thank you, Guardian of the Bifrost," she said.

"It is my honor and duty to welcome everybody in the name of my King and liege His Majesty, Odin Børson," Heimdall said and looked at her. "Your arrival, Winter Lady, was an unexpected one, so it might take a while before His Majesty can meet you."

"I understand," she said, as she turned, her hair flying, to look at the city. "I will make my way to the Citadel and take the rooms kept for any representatives of Unseelie when they are in Asgard."

Heimdall once again nodded and focused on the Bifrost, someone was requesting it to be opened, he looked in that direction and discovered that it was one of innumerable allies of Asgard. He quickly opened the bridge and moments later into the Observatory started to pour our dozens of female warriors on horses. If he had any doubts about the identity of this group, they were gone when a tall woman with pitch black hair, golden eyes and a circlet of gold on her head rode out of the Bifrost. She was wearing an armor that fitted her body perfectly, not leaving any room for imagination and around her hips she had a masterfully crafted belt made out of intertwining golden and silver wires with gems placed between them and a circlet of laurel wreath was visible on the buckle of it.

"Welcome to Asgard, Your Majesty," Heimdall said, bowing his head.

"Thank you," she said, her voice soft and sweet, yet there was steel heard in it. "I know that I'm an unexpected guest, but those matters cannot wait."

He nodded and watched as dozens of horse riders charged towards the city, large banner with a crowned eagle holding a thunderbolt in its claws flapping at the front of the group. Next few days on Asgard were going to be interesting and dangerous. Indeed, interesting and dangerous. As he returned to his watch post he could hear sound of horns echo across the city. The Amazons were rare guests on Asgard, their queen last time here was over ten centuries ago. She on her own would cause months of gossips and rumors, she combined with Winter Lady was bound to start gossips and rumors for few decades, not to mention confusion and chaos among foreign diplomats and ambassadors accredited to Asgard.

o-0-o

Odin rubbed his forehead as he felt massive headaches building up, he looked at the goblet of mead that was standing on a nearby table and emptied it before walking to his chair and sitting down in it. Events of the day were interesting and those two delegations on Asgard meant that someone was rising stakes and playing bravely, very bravely. He didn't have an idea what were their ideas or goals, but they were worrisome. While Otrera was more or less expected, Molly Carpenter, Winter Lady, was not and her presence worried Odin, her liege was expected to appear in few days, but not she.

For few moments he gathered his scattered thoughts trying to piece them back into something logical before he stood up and walked out of the room. On his way out of the room and on the way to his study he put on his crown and grabbed a belt with his sword. He entered the study and snapped his fingers at the guards that stood outside to bring Otrera, she was a more important one so he wanted to be done with her first.

Waiting for her he had time to fully gather his thoughts and think about what she could possibly want from him. There weren't many things that she could possibly think were important enough for her to negotiate them in person. While many thought that most of negotiations was done during official audiences, the truth was that during them nothing was achieved, nothing excluding exchanging of barbs or pleasantries, or in rare cases of both.

When doors opened he stood up and walked to Otrera who even with her beauty and grace was a dangerous predator, one that could rip out a throat of someone who insulted her and the next moment return to sipping the wine.

"Cousin," Odin said in greeting. "What brings you here to Asgard?"

"Cousin," she said with a nod. "I think that you know what I want from you."

"No," Odin said and indicated a couple of chairs placed around a small table in the corner. "Maybe you should amuse me?"

Otrera nodded, walked to the table, took one of free chairs and waited patiently for Odin to join her and pour them wine that was probably few millennia old. "I will speak bluntly," she started and Odin nodded. "Matters that I want to discuss pertain to your grandson and my youngest daughter."

"That's understandable," Odin said slowly and looked at her. "I assume that you would like to discuss if I would have anything against their marriage in the near future?"

"Indeed. They are of age when talks about marriages can start and while I don't want force any of them into something that makes them angry or unhappy and we, Amazons, hate being restricted. However I think it will be better than letting them being haunted by marriage proposals from all over the universe."

Odin nodded and was silent for a moment, considering what Otrera said. "I understand and can agree with your reasoning, while I doubt that any betrothal or marriage contract will make them happy I should be able to make sure that nobody even thinks about sending a marriage offer for one of them."

"Should I know how are you going to achieve it?" Otrera asked.

"I would suggest that you do not seek an answer to this question as what you could learn could have a very bad influence on my realm," Odin said carefully. "I will handle it so that they stay away, but I would like it to stay as a secret."

"Of course," she said and looked at him. "How the war is going on?"

"They seem to be careful where to attack as last few attempts of offensives on their part ended with Wardens cutting them to pieces," Odin said, slowly sipping his wine. "Since you deployed and Winter Court started to play hard they are being pushed back and we should be able to bring back status quo before the summit."

"So it is true? That the meeting of all Accords members will take place on Asgard?"

Odin only nodded and several next minutes they spent discussing the Accords and what could be negotiated, giving him an idea of what Olympus would try to gain during the summit. Even if she an autonomous ruler, she usually knew a fair bit of detail of what was going on Olympus.

o-0-o

Atalanta growled as she looked at Ginny, that girl was an annoyance, like an irritating little fly that thought it could punch above its weight.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked as he felt her change of mood.

"That girl, one that I want to murder," Atalanta said, indicating Ginny. "She behaves like I wasn't there."

"I'm not surprised about it," someone said and their heads flew in the direction of the voice, person that said those words was a girl in Hufflepuff robes. "I'm Susan Bones and the fact that she looks like she wanted to rape you is simple, almost every kid when they were growing up heard about Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived and they want to either be like you or get close to you. She is just the extreme version of it."

"And her brother?" Atalanta asked and looked at the girl. "Sit down with us, if you want, I usually don't murder people without a good reason."

"If you mean Ron," Susan said and they nodded. "I have no idea what's going on inside of him, I met him a couple of times, but he was completely different."

"How so?"

"More open, dumber, rasher and arrogant," she said. "Also if he doesn't get something, he gets angry."

"We saw it," Harry said with a wince. "On the train to school."

"That's a prime example of an average pure-blood wizard," she said and let out a sigh of resignation and frustration. "As much as I dislike pure-blood nobility, Blacks, Malfoys, my family and few others, they are way above the level of average pure-blood wizards. While most of his siblings are nice and all, he, his sister and his mother are nightmares."

"It seems that I will need to have a chat or two with him," Atalanta said with a vicious smile.

"What kind of a chat?" Susan asked, confused of what was going on.

"A very convincing one," Harry said with a shrug. "Not as convincing as my grandfather, but still managing to send almost everybody running away from her."

"I see," Susan said and looked at Harry. "How is it that you have your ears pierced? Here guys rarely get them."

"Gift from a friend and a custom in a way," Harry explained, brushing his finger across the earlobe and the stud with an emerald set in it. "It is the same thing as tattoos for us and we tend to see it as a sign that someone is a warrior."

Susan nodded and hummed quietly. "So all of you are warriors of Asgard?"

"More or less," Atalanta said, her keen golden eyes shining with intelligence. "For some we will need to serve few years with the military to be considered warriors, but generally we are considered warriors."

"You need to?"

"We don't need, per se," Harry said, pausing to gather his thoughts and take a sip of butterbeer to silence headache that was driving him insane. "But since draft is in place we don't really have a way to avoid it."

"And mostly it is a way to let us receive more advanced training and education when it comes to military," Atalanta added. "So we spend two years or so in one of barracks scattered around the Capitol and train."

Susan nodded and looked at Atalanta. "When are you going to deal with Ron and his idiocies?"

"Well," Atalanta smiled dangerously. "How about now?"

Harry shuddered at her words, rolled up sleeve of his shirt, revealing a scabbard placed there and earning a small gasp of shock from Susan. "Have it," he said, pulling it out and handing to Atalanta.

"Thank you, love," she said before kissing him on the forehead and taking the blade. "I will use it well."

o-0-o

Ron growled when he saw Atalanta kiss Harry, she was his, not Harry's, yet Boy-Who-Lived thought that she was his. However his scowl of disgust turned into a small smile when he saw her walk to him, her hips swaying as she walked and making him follow them with his eyes like a lost puppy.

"You are a goddess," he only managed to say, his brain having troubles piecing together coherent thoughts.

"Indeed," she smirked. "I am a goddess and you won't even think of flirting with me."

"What?" He shouted, getting up. "I will flirt with whoever I want."

"You only think so," Atalanta said, her eyes burning with cold fury and the next moment he felt something sharp touch his crotch. "One wrong move and I will personally castrate you and feed you your own balls."

He gulped and his eyes ran to his crotch, only to see her holding a knife that rested on his body.

"You can test me," she said with a vicious smile and looked at him with disgust. "But first I suggest you change your pants as you just pissed yourself."

He looked at her and then finally felt that his pants were wet. Without any more words he run away from her and into the dormitory, everybody in the common room laughing at him and his behavior, making his blood boil in his veins.

o-0-o

Fred laughed loudly as he watched his stupid, little brother run away in fear like a weasel he was. Getting up from the table and making a wide circle around the spot where Ron pissed himself he made his way to Harry's table.

"That was the best show ever," he said, sitting down between Harry and Ulf, who appeared seconds before with Luna to his side. "Also he run much faster than I ever see him do it."

"It seems that she healed him from wrackspurt infestation," Luna added, making them arch eyebrows in question.

"Thank you," Atalanta smiled. "He started to irritate me and it might be beneficial for him."

"Would you really feed him his own balls?" Fred asked, unsure if she was sincere.

"Well, yes," she said, correcting her hair. "This tradition lives in my people and I need to uphold it."

"Your people?"

"The Amazons," Atalanta smiled and Fred's jaw almost dropped.

"Those that took part in Trojan War and those that fought with Heracles?" Luna asked.

"The same ones."

"O-Okay," Fred said, for the first time in his life being out of words. "If you do it, may we get the best seats possible."

"Sure," Atalanta smiled. "I will enjoy doing it."

"Can we talk about something more pleasant?" Harry asked. "I'm aware that you're a sadist, but can we not talk about mutilating people. At least I would love to remain whole," he said and added with a smirk. "Not to mention that you have use of me remaining whole."

At those words on Atalanta's face appeared a small blush, Harry's face turned into a nice beet root color, while everybody else laughed.

"So it is true that there is something going on between the two of you?" Ulf asked, trying to control his laughter. "I knew you were sleeping with each other, but I didn't know that you were doing anything physical."

Fred wanted to laugh, but stopped when he saw Atalanta's gaze focus on him, one that would turn him to ash if it could. "Your secret stays safe with me or my brother," Fred said and she nodded. "Also we won't be mad if you damage our brother or stupid sister, though mother might be."

"That screeching banshee will be mad," Susan said, shaking her head. "I met her once and this is enough for me."

"So?" Atalanta asked.

"She will try to send you few dozens of hellish things known as Howlers," Fred said with a hint of disgust in his voice. "They are a pure horror and you don't want to know that they even exist."

"And since our brother is a git, he will tell her about this event and the encounter on the plane, so be prepared for a rain of them," George said and shook his head. "Even if Percy is a stickler to the rules. He at least behaves like a civilized person and doesn't go running to our mother for help whenever he needs her help. We will send her a letter so hopefully Ron gets chewed out, not you, but we cannot promise."

"On Asgard he would get chewed out so badly that he wouldn't even think about dragging her into a scuffle with friends," Ulf said with a snort. "We usually solve our problems on our own and without dragging parents into the mess."

"So what would happen to him if he asked his parents to interfere?" Susan asked.

"Merciless teasing and a lot of unfriendly behavior," Harry said and frowned. "Usually it doesn't get that extreme, but there are cases when it can get nasty."

"So Ron would be an outcast?"

"Not exactly," Ulf said and sighed. "He would be just at the bottom of the chain, which usually means having an unpleasant duties, paying for everything eaten and drank by the whole group and explaining any and all mishaps."

"Mishaps?" George asked. "Why do I have a feeling it can be amusing?"

"Explain how all flower pots ended missing or shattered to pieces, why there are few holes in the walls and so on," Atalanta explained. "Or my favorite how the hell half of the garden was aflame."

Weasley twins laughed at the last one and it took them a while before they calmed down. "Why do I have a feeling that it was Harry who did it?" Fred asked.

"Because it was him," Atalanta said with a smug smile. "We were training our magic and he tried to show off."

"And set on fire most of the gardens?" Susan asked as at the same time Harry blushed.

"Pretty much yes, his grandmother was definitely not amused by his performance," Atalanta said, making Harry scowl.

"Why did you pick on me? Ulf is a much safer target," Harry pouted.

"Because I like to annoy you," Atalanta said and left a peck on his cheek. "Also you are the one that I want to annoy."

"Maybe you should find a broom cupboard for yourself?" Susan suggested, trying not to laugh.

"I will have the time when we will be back on Asgard," Atalanta smirked and looked at Harry. "Also we prefer more room for ourselves, cupboard would be a bit too small."

"Can you drop the topic and can we move onto something that we really need?" Ulf quietly suggested and they nodded. "Good, Fred, George, I heard that you know how to cause troubles and we might need your services."

"What would you require?" Fred asked.

"A rather special pink menace needs to be gone," Ulf said and Fred nodded in agreement. "While for us it would be bad if we directly took part in it, I think we could help you."

"How?" George asked, his curiosity piqued.

"Considering that my uncle is known as the Trickster and we were allowed more or less to rob the armory," Harry cut in. "I think that's enough, not to mention that we have no love for that thing, the only problem with our gear is that she has it, not all, but most."

"Well, you made us interested," Fred said and looked at them. "You manage to convince your uncle to show us some pranks and magic, and we'll gladly help with your problem."

"I can convince him," Harry said. "Question is if you want to learn from him."

"From the great God of Lies and Magic?" George asked, twins once again switching and making Harry roll his eyes in annoyance. "We would be honored by being just in his presence."

"I was just asking to be sure," Harry said and they nodded. "So what would you need to cause chaos and make her suffer?"

At those words twins smirked and the two of them, Harry and his Asgardian friends walked to a separate table, far in the corner of the room where they discussed the matter in hushed voices. Sending suspicious glares at anybody that wandered too close.

o-0-o

On Loki's face appeared a smirk when he saw a couple of balloons drop onto Umbridge and paint her a beautiful mix of gold and red. While those two weren't his favorite colors, they certainly added a lively note to her boring outfit that better fit a simple clerk, not a person of her station. That was assuming that she had any qualifications for this post, which at best was doubtful.

Making a wide circle around her and ensuring that the veil around him was holding he made his way through the castle, looking for ones that caused the deed. It was a plain and simple one, yet showed well how clever they were as they weren't anywhere close to her, allowing whoever it was or whoever they were to get away with it.

He walked around the corner, leaving miserably looking Umbridge behind and smirked when he spotted a tapestry that was slightly moving. He stopped in front of it and took a look at the pair of bears dancing to the tune played by a satyr before closing his eyes, teleporting to a spot where was the other end of this passage and waiting. When he felt the tapestry move he snapped his fingers and an illusion hiding him dropped and he became visible.

Two teens emerged from behind the tapestry and looks on their faces when they saw that there was someone waiting for them was priceless. One moment on their faces were smug smiles, the next moment they froze in fear and dropped to their knees.

"O' the great Trickster take us as your apprentices," they said in unison, touching with their heads the floor and making him smile. "We were praying to you, hoping for your blessing and support."

"Rise from your knees, my faithful followers," Loki said with a smile. "My dear nephew mentioned you."

"Did he?" Fred asked.

"He did," Loki smiled and they looked at him with admiration in their eyes. "I believe that he asked you to make that hideous creature suffer for all she did and will do," at those words they nodded in agreement. "So I might as well as help you and enjoy the havoc you will cause."

Twins laughed merrily at those words and made Loki realize that they were so much like him, he was a lot more experienced, brutal and tougher, but deep down he was the same troublemaker the two of them were. He also could see intelligence, scary amounts of intelligence inside of them, one that needed to be carefully directed and nurtured. They weren't magical powerhouses as Dresden, Dumbledore or he were, but they were clever and knew how to think, which tended to be enough to at least survive meeting with a magical heavyweight that wanted to murder them.

"So when do we start?" one of them asked.

"How about now?" Loki asked and snapped his fingers, moving all of them to an empty and unused classroom that was out of the way and out of sight. Then he moved his hand around and vanished all the dust, cobwebs and spiders that gathered inside during last few centuries. One more move of his hand and it was turned into a more comfortable place to study, being an almost identical copy of his own study, combined with a library and surrounded by wards that made entering it excruciatingly painful and almost impossible.

"How did you do it?" if he was not mistaken, Fred asked, trying to force his body to work.

"You will learn in due time," Loki smirked. "Just know that it is on the fifth floor and at the end of a short corridor adjacent to the Charms classroom. And just three more people know how to find it and get inside without being violently dismembered."

"Harry and his friends?" George asked.

"Yes, I keyed those wards to the two of you and few traits that only he and his friends have," Loki explained. "Everything else won't even notice the door leading inside and even if they notice they will get murdered when trying to get inside."

"What about pink menace?"

"The same as everybody else," Loki said and they grinned. "So can we get to some actual work?"

Twins only nodded and next several moments were spent on going over what they knew with Loki absently correcting any mistakes or faults he was spotting. While at the same time he attempted to answer any and all questions they had which proved to be amusing and tiring, yet reminding him about Harry's curiosity when he was a lot younger and didn't have the patience and understanding to devour a library or two.

o-0-o

Harry looked around History's classroom and smiled at the decor, it took almost a whole week before they would have the first History class and it made him eager to see what it would be about. According to what Sirius told him it was boring, but then they were taught by a ghost, now there was a new Professor and the classroom looked interesting. On the walls there were visible maps of the world from various points in history, portraits of famous wizards and witches, two kopis swords and a round hoplon shield, busts of several of the Merlins of the White Council and many other trinkets, some of them odd and rare. It made the classroom look stuffed full and cluttered, but in a good way and suggested that one doing the teaching knew what he was teaching about.

They took their seats, Harry with Atalanta, much to chagrin of almost everybody else, while Ulf with Luna which resulted in a one more round of complains and moans from everybody else. A brief moment passed before a Professor entered, he was a tall man with a long, white beard, keen gray eyes, aquiline nose and a mane of long, white hair. He walked across the whole room and stopped in front of the teacher's desk before turning towards the class. "I'm Nicholas Flamel, an alchemist, theoretician, researcher, historian and since this year, your new History of Magic Professor. I've lived for far longer than any of you and I expect that you show me respect that comes with knowledge and one's age."

They murmured that they understood it and focused on him, every single student looking at him, as if he was a magnet drawing their attention.

"Good," he said with a thin smile and waved his wand around, making words appear on the blackboard. "I will skip boring talk about what I expect you to learn as you can peruse that when working on your homework. So we'll delve into the first topic that for some might be a very obvious one," Flamel said and Harry felt gaze of the older wizard focus on him, his friends and few other people. "We'll talk about something that wasn't taught by British wizards since the time when the Ministry came to power, that is since year 1707."

"What's that?" one of Ravenclaws asked, Harry had troubles telling which one it was.

"How wizards came to exist," Professor Flamel said and there were gasps and shouts of shock, outrage and surprise. "The fact that the Ministry decided not to include it into the curriculum means nothing as they have no right to say what should be taught at Hogwarts. And more importantly, knowledge is knowledge and as such should be taught," he added, his gaze slipping over people that shouted the loudest and forcing them into complete and utter silence.

For a moment in the room there was silence, silence and only silence. So complete that you could hear a pin drop onto the ground and beating of their hearts was obnoxiously loud in their ears. Sounding like beating of massive drums that filled the void created by the lack of any other noise.

Professor Flamel waited for a long moment before waving his wand and making hundreds of things come to be on the blackboard – names, places, races, titles, dates and important events. He slowly walked to it and looked at them. "What can you tell me about those things?"

An even longer moment passed, feeling like an excruciatingly drawn out one before anybody raised their hand into the air. Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance when he saw that it was Hermione, Flamel nodded and she took a deep breath before explaining things. "Those names are the names of the old gods, ones that were created by primitive people to explain things they couldn't explain or comprehend and from fairy tales evolved into beings they believed and prayed to," she said.

The moment she finished saying those words a loud, low, rumbling sound of a thunder shook the whole building and everybody looked around in confusion. This late in a year thunderstorms were rare, thunderstorms without a single cloud covering the sky were unheard of, yet here they were and thunders were rumbling.

"I think that this will be enough of a demonstration that gods are true," Professor Flamel said with an amused smile as he looked at Harry. "So Ms...?"

"Granger, Hermione Granger," she said.

"So Ms Granger, be kind and don't assume that everything is false, some things are real, very real and unfortunately for you gods are real," Professor said and started to pace across the classroom, his plain black robes flying in his wake. "As are demons, faeries, demigods, angels and almost every single being named in the myths or major religions. This is an important bit of knowledge for you to remember as their actions shaped the history of humankind and have long-lasting impact on who we are and what we had done, are doing and what we will do. But going back to the topic, who can guess what's the connection between those beings and us?"

Someone raised their hand and Harry was a bit surprised when he noticed that it was Luna.

Professor Flamel nodded in her direction and with an ethereal smile she explained. "They gave us an ability to shape and manipulate magic, some of us received a bigger control, while some smaller. However after all of the time the level almost is even across the whole community."

"Indeed," Professor Flamel nodded with a smile. "Most of European magic took root from three main lines, Olympians, Asgard and Sidhe. Thus the three of them will have a significant impact on what we will study during this year and the entirety of your education. We will go in chronological order and as such for the next class I would expect ten inches long essay on Sidhe. However before the end of the class we have some time and we will discuss how powerful wizards can get."

Harry raised his hand and waited patiently for Professor to notice him.

"Yes, Mr...?"

"Potter, Harry Potter," Harry said and paused for a moment to gather his thought. "What about the Sorcerer Supreme and his Apprentice? According to what I was taught, two of the most powerful wizards on the planet, ones that can challenge the Senior Council and survive combat with the whole body."

"I take you met one or both of them," Professor Flamel said with a thin smile and Harry nodded. "What you had said isn't wrong and indeed they can challenge the Senior Council and at least fight them to a standstill, the reason for their power is a Mantle. A special thing that is a container of power and much more, however much more isn't needed at the moment and let's just say that on their own they are powerful, but with their Mantles they are much, much more powerful."

"How can they be so powerful if they are Muggles?" Ron Weasley asked. "And how in the first place they were chosen for those posts."

"Because you don't need to have anything special to be powerful," Flamel said. "They were chosen because they were the most deserving ones to receive those titles and power that comes with them."

Harry could hear Ron growl, but then it ended and the class carried on with a talk about power and how strong wizards could get.

o-0-o

Harry felt a feeling he couldn't describe or pinpoint as he walked through the castle and to the office occupied by Umbridge, he could feel Atalanta shadow him and he smiled in her direction when she appeared in sight. "You know that I will be fine?" He asked with a glance towards her.

"I know," she said with a smile and soundlessly moved to him. "Yet, I'm worried about you," she whispered, wrapping her hands around him and planting a kiss on his cheek."

Harry blushed and wrapped his hand around her side. "I will be fine," he whispered into her ear, her head resting on his shoulder, her hair brushing against his cheek and reminding him of how well she smelled. "She cannot do anything dangerous to me."

Atalanta let out a small sigh and squeezed his hand. "I know," she slowly said. "Yet she's a vile person and she can do something to hurt you."

He smiled at the warm touch of her hand on his and looked at her. "At, I will be fine," he whispered and shuddered when her fingers ran through the feathers covering his wings, easily slipping over nerve endings and making him shudder. "Please, don't touch me there."

"You don't like it?" she asked with a mischievous smile.

"I like it, but not here and definitely not now," he said and looking at the door in front of them steeled himself. "I will be back before you notice my absence."

"I hope so," she whispered before slipping into the darkness that dragged along the walls of the corridor.

He glanced in her direction and saw her golden eyes flash in the darkness of the corridor before they were gone and she disappeared altogether, leaving him alone to deal with this crazy punishment and cruel Umbridge. Lupin reversed the point loss, but he couldn't do too much to the detention, excluding limiting it to him citing that Atalanta and Ulf were his bodyguards and as such couldn't be punished by her.

For one last moment he stopped in front of her office and took a deep breath before he opened the door and stepped inside. What he found inside made him stomach lurch in an attempt to throw up, walls of her office were painted pink and adorned with dozens of paintings of kittens and chinaware. In the middle of the room behind a desk made out of cherry wood sat Madam Umbridge in her disgustingly pink clothes.

When she saw him enter the room on her lips appeared a nasty, yet sweet smile. "Perfect," she said and indicated for him a seat on the other side of her desk. "Be seated."

"What am I supposed to do?" Harry asked as he took a seat and looked at her. There was something evil inside of her, something evil that made him uneasy about being so close to her.

"Mr Potter, you will write line," she said and handed him a long piece of parchment and a long, black quill.

"What about an inkwell and ink?" He asked, taking the quill and looking at it.

"That won't be necessary," she said with a sweetly sick smile. "You are to write, I won't break any rules."

He nodded and the moment he started to write those lines a stinging feeling appeared on his hand, he ignored it for a moment, his resistance to pain and years of strenuous training having an effect on his body. Yet after a moment even he was forced to cry out in pain and when he looked at his hand he could see bloody outlines of letters he was writing.

He was about go back to writing when door leading into the room was turned to kindling by a burst of magic that felt oddly familiar and he instinctively dropped onto the ground, letting pieces of wood fly over his head. Slowly getting up from the ground he could see armored forms enter the room and behind them a pair of females, though through all the dust that was in the room he had troubles telling who was who.

"That will be enough," a strong female voice said, one that Harry almost immediately identified as his grandmother. "Harald, stay where you are. Sif, detain that vile being."

"You have no right to detain me!" Umbridge shouted before pointing her wand in the direction of armored guards that walked towards her and spitting out a string of incantations. "The Ministry will kill all of you when they learn what you did."

"We have every right to do so," Frigga coldly said, her gaze piercing Umbridge and making her unable to move. "There is a difference between punishment and abuse, difference that you forgot and decided to abuse my grandson for doing nothing wrong."

Umbridge seemed unable to form a coherent answer and Frigga smiled viciously as her guards twisted arms of that vile being and cuffed her before stuffing a piece of cloth into her mouth. Harry used that moment to get up and walked to his grandmother who was accompanied by Sif, several guards and even two Valkyries in their body-fitting armors and winged helmets. Frigga gently grasped his hand and when looked at the set of fresh wounds on it he saw a dangerous scowl mar her features. She gently moved one of her elegant fingers over the injury and it on its own disappeared, yet Harry could that a true horror for Umbridge just started.

For a long moment there was a complete silence before Frigga diverted her attention from his injury to Umbridge and the guards that stood around her. "Hildr, Reginleif," Frigga said, breaking the silence, her voice crystal clear, yet deadly. "Escort my grandson to the area where his house is and stay with him until I will come back to speak with him. Lady Sif, you will accompany me, the guards and the vile thing for a _talk_ with the Headmaster."

Harry looked at the two Valkyries and sighed, even if they were going to be courteous and polite, his freedom was severely limited and he would gain nothing by arguing with them. Possibly the only thing he could get was getting an annoyed look from them. He let his grandmother and her entourage of guards go and meet Dumbledore before taking a deep breath and nodding at the Valkyries who slipped into positions behind and slightly to his sides. "Let's go," he said and they nodded.

The walk through the castle was fast, somehow nobody crossed their path excluding the poltergeist that disappeared the moment one of the Valkyries looked at it, magic crackling in her hand. "How is it that it is free and allowed to wander the halls?" Reginleif asked as she looked at Harry.

"Headmaster allows him," Harry said with a shrug. "Or that's what I was told about it, it isn't dangerous, more of an mischievous one that causes chaos and havoc because it enjoys it."

He could feel her nod and at the same time they stopped in front of a door into the common room, he opened them and stepped inside with them closely following him and looking at everybody inside. Everybody that is Ulf, Atalanta and few of his friends as everybody else was either in their house common rooms or deep asleep.

Atalanta was the first one to break the uncomfortable silence as she almost flew through the room and slammed into him, her hands wrapping around him and pressing their bodies against each other. "What did she do to you?" she asked quietly, her golden eyes meeting with his green.

"She told me to write with a quill that used my own blood," he said with disgust and indicated with one hand the Valkyries, while second was pressed against the back of his lover. "But my grandmother appeared and took that being with herself."

"I told you that the menace was a vile thing," Atalanta said angrily. "You should have listened to me and ignore her."

"I should have," he agreed and looked at the rest of his friends. "Umbridge is gone or as close to it as possible. My grandmother should know once she's done with her and Dumbledore, but I doubt she will go for anything less than removal from school."

When he said those words happiness erupted from his friends and somehow Fred and George managed to get several butterbeers and a small party started as they waited for his grandmother to get done with Dumbledore.

o-0-o

Frigga smiled coldly as she looked at Dumbledore who seemed frozen in fear and shock when she briefly showed her full magical might and there was also Umbridge, tied, gagged and kneeling on the ground, held in place by two armsmen.

"Can you explain to me how is it that this being could hand out punishments?" Frigga asked, her whole attention focused on Dumbledore. "As far as I understand she has no power over students and thus should be unable to hand out any punishments. Yet she did it and abused that power to harm my grandson."

"When the Ministry made a law about her being named as a High Inquisitor, they gave her power to punish students as she saw fit," Dumbledore explained tiredly. "If I knew what she was going to do she would never cross wards of the school, but..."

"But you didn't know," Frigga finished and gave Umbridge an icy look. "You will come with us to Asgard to face our justice and no mercy will be for you."

"What will happen to her?"

"She will be most likely sentenced to a capital punishment," Frigga said, then paused. "Or something entirely else might happen to her, but that's for my husband to decide, not me."

"What about your grandson?" Dumbledore gently inquired.

"That is a talk for me and him only," Frigga rebuted him. "There are matters to be discussed between us only and you as a Headmaster have no need to be privy to them."

Dumbledore winced at those words, but nodded and without further ado Frigga walked out of the room, guards and their package following her swiftly and not leaving much room for negotiations.

o-0-o

Several moments later Harry looked at his grandmother and let out a sigh of relief, looking at her mood one that got chewed out was Dumbledore and Umbridge. Frigga gently embraced him and looked into his eyes. "The next time something similar happens to you, your grandfather commanded that you are to be removed from this school," she said and silenced his protests with just a look. "I know that it is important for you, but your safety is more important for the realm."

"I know," Harry said and let out a sigh. "Yet those limitations annoy me."

"As they did your father when he was your age," Frigga said and released him from her embrace. "But that is a talk for a later time, now there is a more pressing matter."

"Umbridge?" Harry asked looking at the bundle held by two guards that wanted not to be there.

"Yes," Frigga said and Harry could tell that she was still not happy. "She will be punished, your grandfather will decide, but one thing is sure. She won't come out of it alive."

Harry nodded and then looked at the bundle in disgust. he wanted to kick it, but he managed to restrain himself. "She tortured me," he slowly said, anger simmering below the surface and ready to explode at any moment.

"I know," Frigga said, sending a dangerous look at Umbridge. "I know and she will pay for all of this. Your grandfather can understand a lot of things, but one of them is not torturing and abuse of his family."

"Good," he simply said, fighting to control his emotions. "I don't want to have anything in common with her."

"And you will have nothing," Frigga said, before embracing Harry for one last time and looking at him. "Stay safe and out of troubles, grandson."

"I will," Harry said and watched as Frigga, Valkyries, guards and Umbridge disappeared in a flash of light. He waited for a moment before letting out a sigh and walking to his dormitory to get some very needed sleep.

o-0-o

Odin sat on his throne and surveyed the throne room, almost every single noble that was in the city and every single courtier were present. Most of them wasn't sure what was going and seemed confused why they were here. He looked at one of guards that stood to his side and the guard without any words spoken bowed and walked out of the room.

Moments passed, while the nobles looked around in confusion and tried to guess what was the reason for all of this and for what their liege was waiting. Then the massive doors leading into the room opened and through them walked in a squad of guards with a chained person between them. They slowly walked through the whole room and stopped in front of a raised dais on which the throne was placed before making the prisoner kneel in front of him.

She was a human female, dressed in pink clothes that used to be immaculate, but after a short stay in the dungeon were wrinkled and dirty. However that was not what caught his attention, his attention was caught by her expression, she smiled, smiled as if she believed that all of this wasn't real and she would be able to get away from it.

"Dolores Jane Umbridge," Odin spoke and everybody immediately focused on him. "You are accused of torturing my grandson, His Royal Highness Harald James Thorson. How do you plea?"

"I did what was necessary to teach that brat some respect and obedience," she spat, making Odin arch an eyebrow, while most of the nobles reached for their weapons, only to be stopped by his cold look. "He disrespected me and was breaking the rules with everybody else not seeing a single issue with it."

"So do you admit to torturing him and abusing the position you held?"

"I do," she said.

Those two words caused the whole hall to fall silent for a brief moment before a wave of cries and shouts of outrage and fury shook it. Odin let them show their displeasure before he glared at them and they dutifully fell silent, not wishing to anger him any further.

"So you admit torturing him," Odin said coldly and fell silent for a moment. "So the harshest punishment possible would fit you," he muttered to himself before focusing on her. "I, Odin Børson, King of Asgard, sentence you to a life of slavery," he said and glanced at the guards who dragged her out of the room, not paying any attention to her protests.

o-0-o

Time at Hogwarts seemed to flow on its own and Harry was surprised when he discovered that the first week ended, weekend passed and the next week started. Even the appearance of his grandmother and demise of Umbridge didn't affect it much, excluding speeding up the legendary rumor mills of Hogwarts. When the next Defense class came he felt some trepidation and fear of what the idiotic teacher would bring to the class. When they entered the room they found a large cage standing on a teacher's desk and wrapped in a cloth, a cage that seemed to be rattled by something or someone that was inside.

"I wonder what's inside," Ulf said, eyeing it carefully and keeping a hand on the handle of his knife. "It doesn't look too friendly and he doesn't seem like the sanest one."

They didn't need to wait for an answer too long as soon the cowardly and pompous git of a teacher entered the room and stopped to the side of the cage. "Today we will have a practical lesson," he said with a maniacal grin before pulling the cloth of the cage and revealing its content.

Inside there were dozens, if not hundreds of small humanoid beings with with wings, blue hair and faces covered in blue warpaint. When the cloth was removed they started to rattle the cage even more than normally, shaking it and threatening with toppling it onto the ground.

"Cornish Pixies!" Lockhart said, opening the door and letting them out.

Harry's eyes widened when he saw those things. "Those are not Cornish Pixies," he said, reaching out to a dagger he had hidden below his clothes.

"This is Little Folk," Atalanta finished as she dodged one that almost shaved her hair and took a bit of her skin with itself. "One loyal to Mab."

He nodded and ducked as a fae flew above him. "I'm brave and all, but I'm not insane," he said, looking at Atalanta. "Any idea how to get out of this alive and without pissing off Mab so that we don't get murdered by her."

Atalanta only smirked and indicated the door leading into the classroom. "Watch," she said.

He was about to ask her what he should watch when it opened on its own and a gust of an extremely cold wind entered, followed by a person in a leather duster and with a staff. It took Harry some time to recognize Dresden as he was constantly forced to dodge small, bloodthirsty faeries that wanted to remove his head from shoulders.

"Begone," Dresden said as he entered the room and looked at the fae. "Begone and do not come back here unless summoned by me."

Fae stopped in their tracks and looked at him, unsure if they should listen or not.

"Begone!" he roared, bringing down his staff, the tip of which was slowly smoking.

Faeries took one last look at him and disappeared out of the room, as if the hell was about to come for them. Which considering Dresden was most likely true, he was the Knight, mortal agent of his court and he could deal with them however he wished. Dresden gave them one last look before marching across the room before stopping in front of Lockhart.

"Are. You. SENILE?!" Dresden roared. "You trapped several dozens of Little Folk and you expected first year students to deal with it! You do not trap them! You do not hold them against their will! And you do not piss me off!"

It seemed that with each word spoken Lockhart became smaller and smaller, as if shrinking on himself and trying to disappear.

"You are gone before midnight or I will remove you out of here!" Dresden finished before turning to look at the students. "Class's over, this fool cannot teach you anything useful. Scram to your dorms."

They hurried out of the room, chatting excitedly about the encounter between Dresden and Lockhart and happy that the class ended sooner than normally. Not to mention that they wouldn't have any more classes with Lockhart who managed to irk most of them and they didn't mind seeing someone tear him a new one. Which probably quickly put Dresden in the top five of the favorite beings inside of the school for those that saw the event.

o-0-o

Peter Wisdom smiled and looked at Amelia Bones with a smile that would make a shark run away. "Umbridge is gone," he said and threw a thin manila folder onto the desk between them. "From what Banshee reported Asgard got pissed off and their queen decided that enough is enough and this menace needs to be gone."

Amelia nodded and quickly scanned the files. "She overextended herself," she said. "She tried to give Thorson's a detention, which is all normal and fine, but how did she do it is not."

"What did she do?"

"A blood quill," she said and Wisdom's eyes narrowed. "Yes, the same quill that can only be used to sign important documents or inside of Gringott's. I don't know how limited she's in her understanding, but I sent people to Azkaban for ten years for using it outside of those two situations."

"They're known for their idiocy," he said and shrugged. "If they are that stupid we may as well as use it."

"How so?"

"Start planning on disassembling the Ministry," he said and smiled dangerously. "Fury wants them slowly fried, from what I talked with Ebenezar the White Council has enough of them and the government is losing their patience."

"Not that I expected anything else," she said and was silent for a moment. "They are idiots that cannot think logically and care only about their asses, nothing else."

Wisdom nodded and looked out of the window of his office, looking at the peace of people unaware of what was happening behind the veils of polite words and politicking. He slowly turned around and once again focused on his deputy. "How soon could you have plans ready on how to get them disassembled?"

"I would need to get all of the plans of the Ministry, Azkaban and few other places before I can plan anything that can survive," Amelia said and frowned. "Give me two or three months and I will have plans ready. Azkaban is an easy one as a couple of satellite passes and close flybys will do it, the Ministry is a maze and buried under the city."

"I know," Wisdom said and looked at her. "I was once an agent and before that a wizard so I know those things."

"Sorry, I'm used to dealing with idiots that need everything explained a couple of times and later beaten into their thick skull," she said and he nodded. "I will be back in three months with everything that you need and then we can strike."

"That's good enough," he said and without further words she walked out of the room.

He watched her leave and then focused on the blasted paperwork that seemed to grow and multiply on its own. Not that the amount of idiots all over the Ministry was helping with it.

 **o-0-o**

 **A/N:**

 **Little Folk - Harry could murder them quite easily, but by doing so he makes a connection Mab could use to mess with him and his life so he's not going to even touch them.**


	54. The Ball

**A/N - Updates will be more random from now on, I start to feel slightly burned out and don't want it to get worse, the university started and is keeping me a bit busy.**

 **o-0-o**

As the ball was approaching, the hunt for possible dates also became more fierce as with each moment the number of free people dropped and finding one started to become a challenge. Atalanta smirked as she entered into the dorm as she had her own date secured and nothing would steal him from her. Wait, nothing, no someone with an oversized ego thought that she could do it. Atalanta's eyes narrowed as she looked at Ginny, that girl was an annoyance and didn't have too much common sense and logic inside of her little head.

She left the bag she was holding on her bed and walked to Ginny who was about to go hunting for dates, smelling of perfumes and trying to look as appealing as possible. Atalanta walked over to her and smiled kindly before gently touching her on the shoulder to get her attention. "We need to talk," she said, a kind, friendly smile still on her lips, not showing her true emotions and desires, just a well-crafted outer shell.

"About what?" Ginny asked uneasily, as if having a feeling of what was to happen.

"Harry," Atalanta smiled and placed her hand on Ginny's head. "You will stay away from him or I will gouge your eyes out, tie you up and stuff them into your pussy," Atalanta whispered as her fingers curled up a lock of auburn tresses between her fingers. "Besides, why would he want such a little and small girl, when he can have a woman like me," she kept on whispering as her hand moved down, towards Ginny's forehead and face, her long nails moving against the sensitive skin of Ginny's face, drawing circles around her eyes and stopping above her lips. "You are small, infertile and boring, while I'm a princess, a true woman that can think and can bear his children in the future," Atalanta whispered as she ran her fingers down Ginny's body, slipping them below her clothes and grazing her delicate flesh, while feeling out shapes and showing her competition that she needed to submit. "You have nothing he might desire or want, while I have everything and much more."

Atalanta let out a breath and kissed Ginny, forcing her tongue into the mouth of her enemy and showing who was in charge. "Remember, you stay away from him and don't even look at him or I will gouge out your eyes and turn you into my pet," she kissed Ginny once more, forcing her tongue inside before looking into her eyes. "Are we clear?"

For the whole talk Ginny was almost paralyzed, unable to move and a scared expression on her face, when Atalanta pulled away she regained some ability to move. However the only thing she did was to meekly sat down on her bed and nod. "I understand," she whispered.

"Good girl," Atalanta said with a smile, patting her lightly. "As long as you remember I will not murder you, one toe out of the line and you will wish you were dead."

With those words she walked away to consider what kind of a dress she should wear to the ball.

o-0-o

Harry walked out of the Transfiguration classroom, Atalanta and Ulf on his heels when he noticed Professor Lupin approach him. He stopped in his tracks and looked at the Head of his House. "Professor, how can I help you?"

Lupin gave him a small smile. "When removing personal belongings of our former DADA Professor we found a large stash of weapons and other artifacts that are obviously Asgardian in origin and Professor Dresden says that they are of great power. Would you mind helping us figure out to whom they belong."

Harry nodded and followed Lupin who guided him to a room that used to belong to Umbridge, most of it was reverted to the previous state with last few bits still remaining and suggesting who used to occupy it. However that was not what caught Harry's attention, it was drawn to three stashes of weapons, armor, trinkets and other artifacts that laid in a neat heat in the middle of the room.

"That would be mine," he said and extended his magical senses towards it. "Yup, mine and Ulf's," he said and shot a look at Atalanta. "How did you manage avoid losing all of your gear?"

She just smiled and shrugged. "I have my ways."

Harry gave her a dark look, but nodded and focused on Lupin. "Those things would be mine and Ulf's," he said with a sheepish smile. "They were supposed to be out of everybody's reach, but weren't so I will probably need to ask my uncle for some ward to keep them hidden."

Lupin nodded and let out a sigh. "I want to punish you for your foolishness in bringing them here, but I know that it would happen no matter the punishment," he said and smirked. "So instead you will be punished for not reporting the loss and since from your godfather I know that points will be ignored by you, no matter how many, I believe that sewage system has been getting clogged as of recently and Mr Filch needs help, a lot of it and you will help him." Lupin looked at Ulf and Atalanta. "That's also for the two of you, I spoke with Harry's uncle and he said that I can punish you as I see fit and it might burn some of your energy." He paused to let those words sink in and then gave them one last look. "But now take those things and scram."

o-0-o

Lucius Malfoy cursed under his breath, he was so close to Darkhold, he almost had it when some idiot spooked the guards of the castle and they called for help and almost immediately Wardens and aurors were all over the place. He was lucky that he wasn't connected to the attempt and only his agents were turned to minced meat. All and every one of them was dead and the last one died out of his injuries moments after reporting the failure of the operation.

"We need to wait," Lucius said looking at the ring. "We need to wait and see what the future will bring."

The ring moved on its own and he could almost hear a hiss of a snake echo across the room, a snake that was displeased with the current events and wanted to show it. His master was getting annoying and that was always a very, very bad thing and an unhealthy one. He looked at the ring and then looked at the notes he had on his desk.

"Eight more months, eight more months and you will have a new body," Lucius said and saw that the ring rattled on the desk, this time more happy and content.

o-0-o

"What clothes do you plan to wear for the ball?" Atalanta asked as they entered the Great Hall for a lunch and Harry looked at her. "It is a week away and I would like to know what should I choose to match color of yours."

"I was thinking about my usual outfit," he said as he sat down at the table. "You know which one," he added after a moment. "One that I wear for all the banquets and feasts thrown by my grandfather."

"It could work," she nodded before pausing for a moment to pile food onto her plate and start to devour it. "But I thought that you could use some change," she said between bites. "You have so many that you could seriously use some change."

"Care to enlighten me?" He asked before starting to devour food that he managed to pile onto the plate, along with a decent goblet of butterbeer to silence his headache.

"Maybe family colors?" she suggested. "You have every right to wear them, yet you avoid them."

The glare he gave her would turn her into stone if not for the fact that he definitely was not a gorgon.

"What? You always look good in red, gold and black," she said, avoiding his glare. "Also there are few events when you cannot avoid it."

"Mayhaps you have some reason," he said thoughtfully. "Though I'm not convinced about red, gold and black."

"Why is it that you hate our house colors?" Fred asked. "They are the best and even ickle firsties should know it."

"Norns, save me," Harry whispered at twins reaction.

"You are doomed to be in this house, so you need our colors," George said with a mischievous look at Fred.

"We can start on educating you straight away," Fred continued.

"Fine, fine, fine," Harry said and twins looked at him. "I will do what you want me to do, happy?"

"Yes," Atalanta said with a smile. "You always looked good in those colors and you weren't aware of that fact."

He rolled his eyes in agreement and looked at the twins. "How is it that you two have such horrid siblings as your younger twins?"

"We pretend not to know them," Fred said and he smiled. "Is it true that our brother needs to sleep on the floor?"

"Well, he might have his bed stolen by a pair of wolves," Harry said and chuckled. "They love a warm and a very soft place to sleep and if they couldn't find one on the floor, they chose one on a free bed.

Twins looked at him and let out a soft chuckle, one that made him look at them. "That's the best prank ever," they said in unison.

"We saw many, but this one-" Fred started

"Is the best one we have heard about-" George picked up.

"And it is done by our favorite, innocent friend-"

"Friend that is more of a brother than the annoying git," George finished, making Harry chuckle at their way of speaking. "So if you want to cause chaos or mischief ask us and we will gladly accommodate your needs or desires."

Harry only smirked at those words and had a feeling that twins would be sorry, very sorry for saying those words. Words that would spell doom onto some poor souls.

o-0-o

Wanda turned her head slightly when she felt a portal appear behind her, on her lips appeared a small smile when she saw who stepped out of it. It was her mentor and longtime friend, the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth, Stephen Strange. "What did you plan this time?" she asked.

"The Tournament," he said and walked to her, stopping at the edge of a cliff. "I managed to get all the things organized, just need to get three people agree to the roles I've planned for them."

"Which three people?" she asked, her eyes a shining pair of rubies.

"Your godson, Illyana Rasputin and Atalanta."

She nodded and hummed quietly for a brief moment, carefully considering his words. "You want them to be the team from the Institute for the Tournament?"

"Indeed," he said with a nod and looked at her. "Wizards are getting annoying and someone needs to knock them down a peg or two."

"As if they already weren't," she said and he sent her a chiding look. "Stephen, I know that you avoid violence, but we both know that those things need to be broken and pieced back together or we will have a nightmare on our hands."

"Perhaps," he said and looked at her. "At Hogwarts they will have a ball. One at which Harry and Atalanta will be present, would you mind passing messages onto them?"

"A ball?" Wanda asked. "From what I remember they didn't have any balls at Hogwarts."

"They didn't have until this year," Strange said and she looked at him. "Albus decided that changes need to be made and that's how they have balls. Though, I suspect he feels tensions inside of the castle and wants them safely channeled into something less destructive."

"It makes some sense," she said and looked at her mentor. "When exactly?"

"Equinox," Strange smiled. "The day when night and day are of the same length, very powerful time when it comes to magic and rituals."

She rolled her eyes and looked at him. "I know. What about my fame inside of their little community? Fame that makes them ready to pounce onto me when they even think I'm nearby?"

"Guest rights," he simply said. "Everybody can claim them and you should be able to pull it off, even if they will question them."

She smirked and nodded. "I think that I can do it," she said and an even wider smile appeared on her lips. "Also I need to see my godson, it was too long since our last meeting."

Strange smiled and opened a portal. "I will leave you to find yourself a good dress. Other duties call and there is a war to win."

She nodded and watched him disappear before opening a portal for herself and stepping through it.

o-0-o

I walked into the classroom and looked around, every single student was in place and watching me intently as if I was some kind of a prophet or a saint. The latter might be true for some of them after the incident with Lockhart being fired. I stopped in front of the class and looked at the students.

"Guest rights," I said, reaching for a piece of chalk and scribbling those two words on the blackboard. "What can you tell me about them?"

There was a moment of silence before some people raised their hands, unsure of their decision to do so. I waited for few moments before looking at one that should be more than capable of answering this question. "Mr Potter."

"They protect guests from ill intents of their host and ensure that nothing bad happens to them," he said and paused for a moment. "They are also a base for the Accords and usually they are claimed by guests of various summits before the start of negotiations."

"Very good," I said and nodded in appreciation, not many knew those few very important details. "It is a good idea to ask for guest rights when meeting someone you don't know. It protects you from their ill will and ensures that you come out of it alive."

I waited for a second to let them catch up on their note taking, a habit that I picked up after teaching Molly how to use magic, one that was becoming more and more useful with each day. I almost forgot how much fun it was too teach and how annoying at the same time, especially with teens. Beings that had an attention span of a monkey on a sugar high.

"What are the ways to break those rights and allow your host to attack you?" I suddenly asked and everybody looked at me, excluding one bushy haired girl, whose hand was high in the air. She was one of few that managed to annoy me, she knew a lot, but was unable to think logically or on her own. "Ms Granger."

"By attacking our host or by insulting them," she said.

"By the book examples, but nonetheless correct," I said and I could see her be ready to shout in protest. "The truth is that what you need to look for is anything that can cause damage to your host in whatever way, whether it is emotional, mental, physical. Once it's done, it's over and the guest rights are null."

I saw her frown, as if not understanding what I said. "What's the question you have, Miss Granger?"

"Professor, what's the point of breaking them?"

"An excellent question," I said and looked around, searching for a person that could answer it. My eyes lingered on Harry's friend and then switched to his companion. "Ms Lovegood?"

"When we want to attack someone or when we feel insulted by our host's guests," she said and I nodded.

"Very good," I said and scribbled two more words on the blackboard. 'Unseelie Accords' "What can you tell me about them?"

Potter or Thorson already had his hand high in the air and I nodded to him. "It's a supernatural equivalent of Geneva Convention or Vienna Convention, it defines what's allowed to be done and what's not while preventing unnecessary conflicts and wars. It was originally created by Mab and almost every major realm and group is a signatory of it."

"Indeed," I said and let my gaze ran over the class, so many innocent people, unaware of how cruel the world really was and how dangerous it was to them. "You need to know it as it's the most important document. One that can save your life in times when you make a mistake and provoke a wrong being or group. However there is one being with which you shouldn't play this game, Mab, she is one behind them and last that attempted to deceive her barely survived her wrath. And that was only because he is more or less immortal."

They nodded and on my lips appeared a small smile, it seemed that teaching them could bear some fruits. Older years required beating them over the head with my staff and knowledge I tried to pass onto them before they were willing to listen, but those seemed to have some desire to learn.

o-0-o

The day of the Ball was here and before it even began everybody at Hogwarts was excited and unable to focus on anything that required higher functions of their brains. When the classes ended earlier than usually everybody rushed to their dorms to prune their plumages and dress appropriately. Harry charged into the dormitory, following the wild stream of other boys, ones that seemed to push each other out of each other's path to be there as fast as possible and before everybody else which resulted in a somewhat comical sight.

When inside he wrenched open his trunk and pulled out of it a small bundle wrapped with a thin silk cord, with this in hand and grabbing few more things he made his way to the bathhouse to get cleaned and dressed. On Asgard he had much, much more time, comfort and privacy than here, but it wasn't that bad.

Once he showered and dressed he stepped out of the bathhouse in black leather riding pants, golden silk shirt and a dark red jerkin. To top it off he had comfortable leather boots, simple belt with a simple silver buckle shaped to resemble a snarling head of a wolf, a saxe knife in a ceremonial scabbard and his hair tied into a low ponytail. It wasn't the most obnoxiously rich thing he could have used, but he wanted comfort than shining like some kind of a star, besides, it wasn't Asgard where he was expected to draw attention.

"Why do you look like some filthy Muggle?" Ron asked with a snarl.

"Because that's how we dress at home, on Asgard for more official parties," Harry said and swept his eyes over Ron who was dressed in some maroon monstrosity with a lot of fine lace. "And it certainly is better than the thing you call your robe. It looks worse than what the most humble servant would wear, heck even slaves and prisoners have better clothes."

Ron scowled and when everybody merrily chuckled, Ron's scowl deepened. "It's not like everybody is born royalty," he said, spit flying everywhere.

"So?" Ulf asked, joining them, his clothes a mix of green and earth brown.

"Not everybody has money to buy the best thing."

"But everybody has enough survival instinct not to look like a clown," he said, not even looking at Ron, instead focusing on Harry. "It seems that she managed to convince you to change colors."

"I didn't have too many choices," Harry said with a small smile. "I would choose something else and the night would be less enjoyable."

"Right," Ulf said and Harry arched an eyebrow in question. "She's an Amazon, so you need to behave or she will make your life a bloody hell."

Harry shuddered at those words, making Ulf and other boys loudly laugh. Even Ron, subdued by previous comments joined them. Harry gave the room and his outfit one last look before walking out of the dormitory and to the common room where Atalanta was waiting. As he looked at her, he had troubles recognizing her.

Normally she wore simple outfits that were practical and allowed her to run, jump and climb easily, so skirts were out of question, dresses even more. Yet here she wore a dress in a beautiful shade of dark blue, it was modestly cut, showing just enough to make everybody salivating for more, but not enough to be seen as revealing and improper. Around hips she had a wide belt in matching shade of blue with several strings of pearls and sapphires wrapping it. To top it off she had a pair of bracelets made out of white gold, with sapphires and pieces of amber, a matching necklace and her hair were flowing down her back with several long wires of gold shining between her black as night locks.

"You look like a goddess," he said, taking her hand and leaving a kiss on top of it. "I'm positively impressed with you."

"Sometimes I need to shine," she said with a chuckle as she left a peck on his cheek. "We should go to the Great Hall."

"First I want to see what Luna has," he whispered as they made their way to the main common room. "Ulf looks decent, so I'm curious what his date has."

Atalanta nodded and they stopped in the common room, just in time to see Luna emerge from the common room belonging to Ravenclaw. She had a dress in a light shade of blue with silver eagles moving across it and it was flowing in her wake.

"She looks good," Harry whispered to Atalanta. "And it seems that Ulf knew whom he should pick."

"Even if he is arrogant, he can think for himself," she said as they watched Ulf greet his date and kiss her chastely. "And she also looks to be a good match for him."

"She's not only good-looking, but also intelligent," Harry added and Atalanta nodded. "So it might be something longer, something that will make Asgard more lively."

"And will certainly make this place easier to survive," Atalanta said and he looked at her. "Lack of that bumbling idiot, Lockhart, helps as Lupin is nicer, but still it is stiff and boring."

Harry nodded in agreement and they followed Ulf and Luna to the Great Hall, inside of which was completely changed. Gone were house tables, in their place there were several dozens of smaller, round tables with seats for eight people, around them were seats that seemed to be made out of silver and glow with their own internal light and high above each table was placed a glowing ball of light. All of those things were arranged in such a way that they left a large, open space in the middle of the room for people to dance on. Inside there were already several pairs, some of them standing on their own, some in small groups and talking with each other.

"Not too shabby," he said as he walked in, Atalanta's fingers wrapping around his own. "Seems like a set up for a very good ball and I'm curious where it will go."

She only smiled as they walked across the room and walked to one of groups that gathered inside of the hall, he could see several pairs focused around boy with sandy hair and a tall witch with chocolate hair. Looking at their clothes Harry could tell that they were from richer and more refined part of the society than Weasley could even hope to be. When they noticed Harry's arrival they stopped talking with their courtiers and looked in Harry's direction.

"It seems that you know where to look for company," one with sandy hair said, extending his hand. "I'm Draco Malfoy and this is lovely Daphne Greengrass."

Harry took the hand and shook is lightly. "Harald Thorson and Atalanta Heracleia," Harry said, repeating the introduction and then looked around, noticing how other students moved to accommodated him and his date.

"I didn't believe the rumors that you were a son of Thor," Draco said and Harry looked at him. "There were rumors flying all around the school, but you telling it is something else than hearing about you being at school."

"I never tried to hide my personal data," Harry said and shrugged. "I just use a lot of names so that I can have a bit of privacy, away from all of the media circus."

Draco nodded at those words and was silent for a long moment. "I can see some merits in using several names, especially when you don't want to be recognized."

"Precisely," Harry said and the conversation drifted to more pleasant topics, killing their time and allowing them to enjoy each other's company and forget about all of the worries of the world.

With each second the amount of pairs inside of the Great Hall increased, first it was a trickle composed of those that didn't care about their looks or had the least amount of works to do to make themselves presentable. However moments before the ball, the trickle was turned into a wide, quickly flowing river as many were entering, some with dates, some in groups and several on their own. His eyebrow formed a nearly perfect arch when he saw Hermione walk hand in hand with a tall, black boy from Ravenclaw, it was a thing he didn't like expect to find. However the thing that didn't surprise him was that Ron and Ginny arrived to the ball alone and without any dates in clothes that were two ages out of use.

"People change," Atalanta said with a knowing smile and he looked at her. "Harry, even if you are sometimes as thick as a rock, mind is a fluid matter, one that can change and bend on its own or after some outside influence."

"I suppose," he said and at the same time a bell was struck and a soft tone passed across the whole hall, gathering their attention and pointing in the direction of the stage where a small orchestra was tuning their instruments.

At the front of the stage stood Professor Dumbledore in his silver and gold robe and a pointy hat on his head. "Welcome!" he said. "Welcome, to the first equinox ball of Hogwarts, one where we celebrate change of seasons and shift in magic."

"So that's the official reason for it," Harry whispered to Atalanta.

"Hush," she chided. "We'll talk later, now listen."

"You have time to celebrate until an hour after midnight," Dumbledore said and there was some whooping heard. "After which I expect all of you to be in bed and asleep." At those words there was a far smaller amount of happiness visible. "I want this day to be an enjoyable one for everybody inside of the school." He clapped his hands twice. "Let's begin!"

The orchestra started to play an enjoyable music, one that sent shivers all over their bodies as unseen energy started to enter them. Harry looked at Atalanta, whose eyes were slightly widened and her usual mask was cracking, a sight which was almost impossible to spot. He managed to see her like that just three times, the moment when they first kissed, his fourteenth birthday and a night when they made love for the first time. He placed his hand on hers and looked into her eyes. "Shall we dance?" he asked in a whisper.

She smiled and their fingers intertwined on their own. "We shall," she whispered back.

He smiled and firmly, yet gently grasping her hand both of them moved towards the dancing floor where there were already several dancing. As he stepped onto it his body started to move on its own, remembering moves drilled into the muscles all those years ago and now using them to guide him across the floor.

It was one of few things that were meticulously drilled into him during his whole education, dancing was important, especially during summits and balls that accompanied them and since he was a son of Thor, he was supposed to be either flawless or as close to it as possible.

o-0-o

Wanda stepped out of a portal right outside of Hogwarts and with a wave of her hand closed it, just to conjure a simple mirror with another. She quickly scanned her clothes, a long sleeveless gown, with slits up the sides of her thighs, made out of red silk and covered in rich embroidery forming swirling, fiery patterns, a pair of red gold bracelets with rubies on her wrists, a necklace with an eye in the middle and a pair of triangular earrings with seven small rubies. She made small corrections to it and with the last wave of her hand she vanished away the mirror and walked towards Hogwarts, her heels clicking on the cold, stone steps leading into the Entrance Hall and further into the Great Hall.

As she walked she let her eyes roam across the structures around her, structures so familiar, yet so strange to her. Ones where two of her best friends studied and where she had been staying to sleep during the final parts of the war. At those memories her eyes darkened, dozens of good friends died and even more was injured so badly that since then they were forced to stay inside of St Mungo or any other hospital.

She entered the Entrance Hall and waited for a moment, listening to the noises coming from the inside of the Great Hall, she could only hear laughter, talks and music. Waiting one more minute she summoned two, thin scrolls her mentor wrote for those she was about to meet and she walked in. As she entered the Great Hall it took her a moment to find those she needed to find, but when she looked in the right direction it was obvious where they were.

Two mops of long, black hair moving through the crowd were impossible to be anything else than her godson and his date and girlfriend. On her lips appeared a small smile when she remembered James Potter and Lily, in dance they were similar, two beings that were solely focused on each other and the moment with everything else being pushed onto the sidelines.

She was about to move towards them when a form of a resident dungeon bat appeared to her side and when she looked in his direction she was a bit surprised to find Snape all of people being a teacher. "How can I help you, Miss Maximoff?" He asked, with the sweetest smile he could manage, which still resembled a nasty and highly unpleasant scowl.

She tried not to summon a vase of lemon juice and smash it onto his head, but she managed to control her instinct and she didn't do it. "I need to deliver two scrolls from my mentor to two of school's students," she said and showed Snape two scrolls. "I can find them on my own, so you don't need to help me on my way there."

She saw him scowl even more, but she ignored it and gliding along the walls of the hall and trying to steer clear of any students that could stumble upon her she somehow was able to make her way onto the other end of the hall. Stopping for a moment she smiled when she saw Harry and Atalanta sit at one of the tables and eat while talking with some of their friends. She let them finish her meal before she approached them, she stopped behind Harry and placed her hand on his shoulder. "Harry," she softly said. "We need to talk."

He turned and when his face landed on her, on his lips appeared a wide smile. "Wanda!" he exclaimed and got up, before hugging her and making her smile. "About what and why didn't you drop by during past two years?"

"I wish I could," she said and looked at him, he was already taller than she was, much taller. She chuckled when she realized he needed to look down at her so that he could look onto her face, when they last met she wasn't that small compared to him. "I wish I could, alas I was busy and I'm finally seeing you so be more happy."

"I'm happy," Harry said and shuffled his feet. "It's just that I missed you, Wanda."

"Well," she said as she freed herself from the hug. "Perhaps we might have an opportunity to see each other more often."

He smiled and she waved her hand, conjuring a chair for herself, so that she could sit with them at the table. The rest of its occupants looked at Harry, then at her and later at Harry before nodding and not caring about her.

"So why are you here?" Harry asked as he picked up his glass and took a sip of something that looked suspiciously like elven wine.

"Because of an event that's supposed to happen in almost twelve months," she said and she could see people around the table exchange looks, as if they knew something was going on. "My mentor asked me to talk with you and your lover about it."

"An event that is supposed to take place in twelve months and is organized by the Sorcerer Supreme of Midgard," Harry said and she could see gears slowly turn in his head. "I think that I know what you're talking about, so could you enlighten me what do you want from me?"

"A thing that you should enjoy," she said and he looked at her. "Those two scrolls," she said, showing a pair of scrolls. "Are for you and your date."

Harry smiled, took the scroll and his eyes quickly scanned its content. "I really like it," he said with a grin. "I really, really like it," he said and looked at Atalanta. "What do you think about it?"

"Well, it gives us an opportunity to shine," she said and looked at the scroll. "Also it gives us a chance to meet with Illyana and our friends from across the ocean."

"I think that you know what's my answer," he said and Wanda nodded. "I will gladly take part in it and even more gladly I will show off."

She smiled. "I will pass a message onto my mentor and he might show up in person to talk about details with you," she said and looked at him. "I wouldn't mind talking with you some more, but I didn't introduce myself to your Headmaster and extending it by much is risky."

"Go and amuse him," Harry said and at the same moment he stood up with Atalanta and together they glided onto the dance floor.

Wanda smiled looking at them and then got up and looked around, in an attempt to find the old goat.

o-0-o

Albus Dumbledore was a wizard that saw two conflicts that ripped the world apart, dueled Grindelwald and members of the Senior Council. However there were forces that even he respected and when he felt a massive source of energy approach him he diverted his attention from the pleasant talk with Horace and looked around for the person that had this amount of power. When his eyes landed on a person with auburn hair and scarlet eyes walking towards him, his eyes widened.

"Wanda," he said, getting up and walking to her.

"Albus," she replied with a cool note to her tone. "I'm here on official business, nothing else. So you have no reason to worry about, I won't turn anything into a poor goat or duck, nor summon a meteor to smash something."

"If I may ask, what kind of an official business it is?" He asked, his eyes trying to connect with hers.

"Delivering messages on behalf of Stephen," she said and Dumbledore arched an eyebrow. "About a project that is to happen in eleven months."

"Perhaps you will join us?" He suggested and she looked at him.

"Well, I delivered them, so I might as well enjoy the night," she said and walked to a free spot to the side of Remus Lupin, which made Dumbledore arch an eyebrow, they weren't the two most friendly people.

o-0-o

Ulf smiled as he looked at Luna, she looked beautiful in that dress of hers and not only was she beautiful, more importantly she had a mind to match her beauty. "I need to show you the beauty of Asgard," he whispered as they walked along the edges of the Great Hall. "You should enjoy it and not many can see it."

"I know," she said with a far away smile. "Maybe you will be one that will show Asgard to me."

"Perhaps I could be," he said, their hands locking with each other on their own. "We will return with Harry for Yule Break to it, so if you want you could come with me. Though I think there's more to the reason you want to come with me," Ulf said with a smile and she blushed.

"Perhaps," she said, her cheeks a bit red. "My family stayed true to what our ancestors knew and believed, so I know all the stories about your home."

"It's much better than it is in those stories," Ulf said with a smile and stopped Luna so that he could look into her eyes. "I think that we both know what I mean."

She blushed and looked at him, her cheeks covered in redness. "Yes, I think that I know what you mean."

"Good," he said and placed his hands on her shoulders, for the first time realizing how small she was. "I know that I'm not someone special, but I want to be with you," Ulf said and looked at her. "You caught my attention and I cannot think about anything else than you."

"Ulf...," Luna whispered, looking into her eyes he could see a whirlwind of emotions move inside of them. "I don't know what to say."

He smiled and said, "Do what your heart is saying."

She smiled and reached to place her hands on his shoulders. "I think that I will give you a try," she whispered and he smiled before leaning closer to her, she leaned towards him and their lips met.

When he kissed her he felt as if he landed in heaven and he focused on the feeling, it felt awesome and his mind was unable to function for a moment. As their lips parted he could see a glint of happiness shine in her eyes.

"Shall we dance?" He asked looking at her.

She only smiled and grasped his hand before dragging towards the dance floor, he let her do it and went with the flow. He could tell that she had a strong will and had a feeling that if he said no she would just drag him along, no matter the fact that he was extremely heavy and normally wouldn't be easily moved.

o-0-o

"Seems like Ulf found someone whom he likes," Atalanta said as she and Harry gracefully moved through the dance floor. "A thing I didn't expect to happen."

Harry followed her gaze and on his lips appeared a smile when he saw Luna accompany Ulf. "He was a bit of a lone wolf," Harry said and looked at Atalanta. "But he is changing."

"She has an impact on him," Atalanta said and then her eyes widened for a moment. "I should have seen it sooner, she is a seer."

"A real seer, like grandfather?" Harry asked, eyeing Luna.

"Yes," Atalanta said and made them avoid a collision with one of other dancing pairs. "Those things she sees, grandmother mentioned it and she said that they are a sign of a seer."

"Well, she's a Vanir by blood. They had those things run in their blood for ages," Harry said and Atalanta nodded in agreement. "Perhaps Luna could join us for Yule break on Asgard and I think that grandmother could find some time to talk with her."

"Or your cousin, Freyra, could do it," Atalanta pointed out. "She also has this gift, even if she doesn't show it, she has it."

"She is Vanir," Harry said with a look at his girlfriend. "It's obvious she has it."

"You forgot about her, so I pointed it out."

"It's not like I can keep tract of hundreds of cousins," he said with a huff."

Atalanta only smiled and dragged him into an even faster dance as the orchestra started to play more lively and faster tune. Making the ball go faster than before and making the time pass far more quickly for everybody participant, before Harry realized almost the whole event passed and they were walking back to the dormitories.

"It was awesome," he said, his hand wrapped around her waist. "And I'm so tired," he said with a massive yawn.

"It was awesome," she agreed and looked at him in amusement. "As tired as after that night?" she asked teasingly and it made him blush.

"Yeah," he said with a yawn as they stumbled into their common room. "Night, At," he said, kissing her on the forehead.

"Night, Harry," she said in reply before disappearing towards girls' dormitory.

For a moment he stood in the common room, watching the doors to girls' dormitory before yawning and making his way to his own dormitory to catch on his sleep. Even if the ball was relatively short, at least by Asgard standards it still managed to get him tired and in need of several hours long sleep.

o-0-o

Nicholas Fury was a person that saw many things, including political scandals that managed to topple governments and surprising him was not an easy feat, but even on his lips appeared a smile of satisfaction as he looked at the front page article from _Daily Bugle._ Blood was in the water and if those were first reactions to the whole list of juicy bits he released, he wondered what would come next.

However there was one he was sure of, even without reading the article, he had poked hornets' nest as guessing by the amount of arrests, suicides and disappearances all of the people that were even connected with the Weapon X project were eliminated one by one. He turned around and he didn't even need to look far to see the effects of his work as police helicopters and columns of vehicles were visible from his office.

Turning back to his desk he looked at the newspaper and focused on the article.

 _Project Weapon X – bloody and dirty secrets of the Cold War_

 _By Peter Parker_

 _We all remember reports from all over the country and Europe of massive unannounced military exercises past September, according to official statements they were routine exercises designed to test reaction of NATO structures to sudden increase in tensions in Eastern Europe. However all of this was a lie, a lie created to hide an even bigger and more dangerous event that happened right under our noses._

 _The event about which we weren't aware was revealed just yesterday by SHIELD, or Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, an agency that specializes in terrorist attacks and organized crime, as well as intelligence gathering. Documents they released show over five years of work and twelve months of careful investigation carried out in more than a dozen of countries and with support from local authorities. Everything is focused around two projects from the times of the Cold War, US Weapon X and Soviet Red Room. Their goals was to create the best soldiers possible, no matter the cost or ethical reasons. Many thought that they were gone, yet they were wrong as according to evidence gathered by SHIELD they weren't gone, they just hid really well and still carried out their vile experiments on mutants they could catch, usually teenagers and children._

 _Yes, they carried out experiments on children and teenagers that were mutants without their consent and with no consideration for their health. Exact death toll is unknown, but according to data released it must be in hundreds, if not thousands. Photos of their freed captives bring back photos from freshly liberated concentration camps from World War Two. They were starved, scared of everything and in need of immediate medical aid._

 _Even if all of this is shocking, it's not as shocking and terrifying as the amount of support the program received from multinational corporations, influential politicians and bureaucrats who funneled funds and resources to further its goals. Whole list of people, though it is doubtful if they should be treated as humans, will be at the bottom of this article where you also find information of a place where you can find published version of the report. They didn't have any qualms to fund research where children were being culled because of an experiment that didn't go as planned or because they weren't willing to cooperate._

 _All of this sounds like a story too far-fetched to be true and you may have doubts about it, but all of this is written based on material released by agencies that took part in dismantling the group and its vile activities._

 _More in depth article will be released once we have time to properly read and analyze public part of the report, it is over fifteen hundred pages thick and that's the main part as there are three public appendices, each three hundred pages long. That's over twenty-four hundred pages of data, data that is so shocking and new that we need to analyze and verify it, nevertheless we will keep you apprised._

Fury folded the paper and looked on his lips appeared a thin smile, this would start an earthquake, he would just need to make sure to steer it in the right direction and confirm that proper targets end up dead or imprisoned. It was even more beautiful as he didn't need to do any work, he just needed to watch and enjoy the tidal wave that would wash away any people he wanted were gone.

o-0-o

Bobby stood on one of the balconies of the Xavier's Institute and let his eyes roam over the grass in front of it and a form of a new building being constructed in the distance. As he looked at it he had troubles believing how badly it had changed since the time he first arrived here, then it was smaller and less grand, now there were hundreds of mutants living inside and with each year the amount of them was steadily increasing. Yet looking at it he could tell that he was missing something or someone.

"You miss him?" someone asked from behind.

When he turned around he came face to face with Rahne, her wolfish keen eyes looking at him. "No... yes," he said with a sigh. "Even if he was an annoying person at times, I came to like him and he was funny, a person with whom you wanted to spend time."

"Yeah. We trained with him and we wanted to spend time with him. There's a small amount of hope that he will come back."

"Oh?"

"I might have overhead Professor talking with Doctor Strange about a magical event taking place here and according to them Harry might be eligible to take part in it," she admitted after a moment of uncomfortable silence.

"That would be cool," Bobby said and glanced at her. "Any idea when it will happen?"

"No," Rahne said, shaking her head. "I didn't catch this bit."

"At least we know he might come back," Bobby said.

She nodded and stopped to his side. "Do you have any ways of contacting him?"

"If he has Internet connection, I should have," Bobby said and looked at her. "Try pestering Jean, he should have some way of contacting Harry."

"I will try," she said before walking away and leaving him alone.

Bobby looked at the sky and watched it, his thoughts running on their own and wondering what Harry was doing.

o-0-o

On the day after the Ball when Harry entered into the Great Hall he was a bit surprised when he found just a couple of people inside of it, even if it was a very late hour for him, that is nine in the morning. Hour when he usually was awake, done with his workout or part of it and past breakfast. He yawned as he made his way to the table and when he looked around he was a bit surprised by what was in the menu, plenty of sweet and full of energy things that should keep them going for few hours.

Looking around he was a bit surprised as he saw that many people didn't even care about the fact that there were house tables and sat where they wanted. It seemed that the ball and the fact that people chose for dates people from not their own house created a very interesting situation and it seemed that the stiff and restricted atmosphere of Hogwarts started to crack and break.

"You certainly know how to party," Oliver said with a wide grin.

"Advantage of living on Asgard," Harry smiled back. "We party for most of the year and it tends to get loud, very loud."

"How loud?"

"In some cases we go back to sleep when sun is getting back onto the sky," Harry said and paused to pile food onto his plate. "Most isn't that loud, but I think that you can imagine what's happening."

"Yeah," Oliver said and was forced to duck when a bird flew over him and stopped on Harry's shoulder, a scroll in its claws. "What's that?"

"A message for me," Harry said and reached to the bird, untied the scroll and the bird was gone. "Equinoxes and solstices are important on Asgard and most of reports and important messages are delivered around those dates."

"So what's it this time?" Oliver asked and quickly added. "If you don't mind talking about it."

"Ledger about what I own and from what I get my money on Asgard," Harry said and placed the scroll to the side of his plate. "Nothing too exciting, but that's a basic version, for a true version i will need to get to Asgard."

"I know that you are a prince, so why do you have your own titles?" Oliver quietly asked.

"As a security measure and because there are several titles too important to be trusted to anybody outside of the family," Harry said and saw Oliver slowly nod in understanding. "So we keep them inside of the family and make sure that someone oversees them, there is also an added bonus of a nice place to rest and have fun."

"So basically ensuring that it doesn't get lost?"

"Pretty much yes," Harry said and paused. "Other reason is that since as a king there is a lot to govern I'm supposed to get decent in governing on the smaller scale. So that when I ascend to the throne I know the ropes and know how to do it efficiently."

"Sounds fun," Oliver said and looked at the scroll. "May I see it?"

"It's fun," Harry said and smiled. "Sure, just don't get too badly surprised by some things and remember that Asgard is different."

"I will," Oliver said before taking the scroll and looking at it. "Slaves?" He asked quietly after a moment.

"Yes," Harry said and paused for a moment. "The hardest punishment possible, usually used when someone pisses off my grandfather and he doesn't think that death sentence is a good enough punishment."

"I can see some logic to it," Oliver said and paused. "God's, we use demons to guard prisoners in our most secure prison."

"Demons?" Harry asked finishing his breakfast and looking at the empty plate. "There are dozens of them and Dresden could name you a fair share of them."

"Dementors. They can suck out your soul and turn you into a husk of what you were."

Harry shuddered at those words and he felt a bit uneasy, one thing was condemning someone to a lifetime of servitude and stripping him of his freedom and another was a destruction of a soul. Out of the two being a slave seemed like a life in paradise compared to being in the presence of soul sucking beasts.

"Forget about it," Oliver said and Harry looked at him. "Don't think about it and you will feel better."

"I know," Harry said with a sigh and got up from the table. "A game of chess?"

"Sure," Oliver said as the two of them walked out of the hall and towards the common room.

o-0-o

Potions were quickly becoming one of Harry's favorite subjects, he loved it and it was a lot more interesting and subtle than what he was taught on Asgard. On Asgard you basically needed a liquid base and later add ingredients, after which you could go on a hunt and return several hours later and nothing would happen, or at least nothing terribly bad. Those potions at Hogwarts needed careful babysitting and were far more sensitive to changes in everything affecting them.

Professor Slughorn came into the room and on Harry's face appeared a look of surprise when he heard that they would not need any cauldrons or ingredients. "This class is purely academical and you better remember it for your whole life," Slughorn said, his expression serious and none of his usual light-heartedness visible. "Love potions and love elixirs, are the topic. The main message is, you don't use them. They don't give true love, they just bind that person to you and if it is discovered you need to pray to be just sentenced to Azkaban as they are punished as severely as any Unforgivables.

"If you think that something is spiked with them, don't even touch it, just leave it alone and you will be fine. However there are two things that are extremely similar to them and are beneficial calming draughts and potency potions, the difference comes from two ingredients added in different order and different brewing time," Slughorn said and twirled his wand, making words appear on blackboards behind him. "Those are notes for you to take and once we are done I will show you how any love potion looks in its raw form and what are the most common and popular ways of concealing them."

They dutifully written down the notes, even Hermione was subdued and unable to form any questions, the topic hitting her hard, very hard. Once they wrote everything down Slughorn walked to one of the cabinets at the back of the classroom, whispered several long chains of incantations and slowly opened wooden door before pulling out several small flasks. Harry could see in them liquids in various shades of pink and gold.

The rest of the class passed by as Slughorn showed them how they could be mixed with various other liquids to hide them from the designed target. Harry leaving the room could feel that everybody was as shaken and shocked as he was, however when his eyes landed on Ginny he had bad feelings about her.

"Easy," Atalanta said, slipping into a position to his side. "She will stay away from you."

"Are you sure?" He asked, looking at his lover. "She seemed pretty determined to get to me."

Atalanta just smirked and looked into his eyes. "She and I had a talk about you and she happily agreed to stay away from you."

Harry could tell that there was more to it, but he decided not to ask about it and ignored it, hoping that nothing bad would spill out of it and that he would be fine and whole.

o-0-o

Ulf sat in the common room and looked at Luna, she seemed stranger than usually. He frowned at her weird expression, one that he didn't see before, but could tell it was nothing good. "What's wrong, Luna," he asked, looking at her in concern.

"Nothing," she whispered and he could tell that she was lying. "I'm fine, Ulf."

He let out a sigh of annoyance and looked into her eyes. "I know when people try to lie to me," he said and brought her closer to him, moving on the sofa so that she could sit to his side.

"It's nothing," she said and his eyes narrowed. "You don't need to bother with it."

"I'm your boyfriend," he said and she looked at him. "So that's my business and I can tell that you are hiding something from me."

She was silent for a long moment before she let out a sigh. "Fine," she said and he could see that she wasn't comfortable with it. "Someone took my things," she said.

His eyes flashed dangerously and his throat escaped a short growl that made her look at him in fear. "Do you know that someone?" He asked after he managed to calm himself.

"I think that I know," Luna said and on Ulf's lips appeared a smile that would make his namesake proud.

"I might convince him to give you back your things," Ulf said and looked at her. "Mind pointing me in the right direction?"

"It will be better if I come with you," she said and he nodded.

Together they walked across the common room and toward the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room, Luna stopped him from opening the door and instead pulled on a ring set in a head of an eagle that was in the middle of the door. Somehow the ring was able to speak and it said, "Answer the riddle and you can enter, Voiceless it cries, Wingless flutters, Toothless bites, Mouthless mutters."

Luna was silent for a moment before on her lips appeared a smile. "Wind, the answer is wind," she said.

"Very good," the eagle said and the lock clicked and the door opened on its own.

Luna entered inside and Ulf followed her half a step behind, his eyes looking for troubles and dangers, they swept over the room and quickly discovered that it was nearly the same to the one occupied by Gryffindor. The only difference was in colors, blue and silver instead of red and gold. He only spotted a single person, boy that was maybe seventeen, but he was easily confused by Midgardian humans, estimating their age at at first glance was a challenge.

"Him?" Ulf asked.

"Yes, him," Luna nodded and on Ulf's lips appeared a smile, he itched to get violent and release it in something else than training.

He walked forward and stopped in front of that boy who was too focused on reading to notice a hulking Æsir standing over him. "We need to talk," Ulf said and the boy diverted his eyes from the book.

"I have no reason to talk to you," the boy said and then his eyes noticed Luna. "Loony also doesn't have any reason to be here."

Ulf smirked at those words, grabbed the boy by his shirt before lifting him into the air and dragging over the table. "No reason?" he asked, their eyes centimeters apart. "Do you know why I'm here or should I enlighten you?"

"I don't know and release me!"

Ulf rolled his eyes at this. "Save yourself and don't lie," he said and jabbed his finger backwards, indicating Luna. "She said she lost her things because of you, if you don't want to see what an Æsir can do to a human I suggest that her things return to her."

The boy gulped, looked at Ulf and nodded. "She will get them back by the end of the day," he whispered.

"Good," Ulf smiled, released him and walked to Luna. "Problem solved," he said and smiled reassuringly. "If you have any troubles, tell me and I will happily straighten them out."

"Thank you, Ulf," she said.

He just smiled and with him placing his hand on her side the two of them walked out of the room.

o-0-o

Time at Hogwarts seemed to flow on its own and before Harry realized it was October, the trees were barren of any leaves and everywhere was plenty of snow, making it look as if it was covered in a layer of white powder. It also reminded him that winters on Midgard were far, far harsher than those on Asgard

Harry diverted attention from the map laying on his lap and looked at Atalanta who was cradling a large mug of hot chocolate and didn't seem too happy about the weather. "What's wrong?" He asked with a grin. "The weather is quite nice and it isn't the middle of the winter, heck even autumn didn't truly start."

"Harry," she quietly said, dangerous tone to her voice. "I don't like cold weather and it's colder than at the Institute."

"It's not cold," he said and her eyes narrowed dangerously, forming two narrow slits that promised pain and suffering. "You will murder me if I keep dragging the topic?"

"No," she said and smirked. "Not murder, just make your life a very unpleasant experience."

"Are you always that nasty?" Susan asked, one of few girls that weren't scared by Atalanta and didn't do anything stupid, aka flirt with Harry. "As you seem to be willing to murder him."

"Territorial, yes, nasty, no," Atalanta said and looked at Harry. "He just tends to be an annoying one."

"Annoying?" Harry scoffed.

"Yes, love," she said before kissing him on the cheek and wrapping herself in a warm, woolen blanket. "Now, be a good boy and return to doing what you were doing."

He nodded and looked at the map, tapping it with his wand his brows furrowed when he saw four lines of runes appear. _'At the beginning of time there was a giant and from him everything was born, what was the name of the being.'_ He frowned, he knew the name from the myths he read and stories told by his grandfather. He pressed his wand against the parchment and used it to draw a single rune. For a moment nothing happened, but then dozens of new lines appeared, showing things and places he didn't expect to find, secret passages and short-cuts scattered across the castle. As his eyes roamed over those lines his attention was drawn to girls lavatory on the second floor as there were gray outlines of another structure somewhat connected to it.

o-0-o

31st October wasn't the best day in Harry's life as it was a day when his mother died to protect him from Voldemort. However as he woke up on that day in Hogwarts all of those thoughts were swiftly banished. Through the air was spreading a smell of baked pumpkin and many other sweets making him eager to see what the day would bring.

Every other activity passed in a blur and before he even realized he was sitting at the Gryffindor's table in the Great Hall, which decor was completely changed and waited for the food to appear on the table. When it happened his mouth almost dropped, the whole table was covered in even more dishes than he saw on most of the feasts on Asgard.

"Impressed?" Susan asked with a chuckle at his expression.

"Yeah," he said before starting to pile food onto his plate. "We usually don't have so many dishes, at least not at the same time. At major ones we have plenty, but for normal it is a more drawn out thing."

"Well, this feast is a traditional one at Hogwarts," Percy Weasley said. "It has been for a really long time now."

Harry just nodded and focused on eating, enjoying the food that was much more different than one he was used to at home, while it wasn't much better it was still really good and made him want to eat more. Throughout most of the feast nobody talked much, focusing mostly on stuffing themselves full with food and drinks.

However that was the end of normal and good events for the day, when they were walking to their dormitories, half asleep from the food they eaten something unnerving happened as the whole group in front of him stopped and didn't want to move. Instead voices became louder and louder as they talked about something with some excitement and fear. He looked at Ulf and Atalanta and without any words said they started to push through the crowd, emerging at the front of it they saw the reason of the event. A black cat that was named Mrs Norris and belonged to the caretaker was hanged by its tail from one of torch brackets. However that was not the scary part.

The scary part were words written in something that looked like blood, 'THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED. ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE.' As Harry looked at it he could tell that peace and calm that he came to love about Hogwarts were officially gone.

"You did it Potter! Admit it!" Ron's shout broke the silence.

Harry's head flew in the direction of the voice and his eyes flashed dangerously. "I was in the Great Hall with you, how could I be in two places at the same time?"

"You are a freakish thing, you could be in two places!"

Harry was about to reach and grab Ulf to prevent him from charging at Ron when a silent form of Professor Dumbledore, flanked by Professors Dresden and Lupin appeared. They stopped in front of the damned cat and for a moment simply looked at it.

"That's not magic," Dresden said and looked at the students. "Go back to your dorms, there is nothing to see for you."

They wanted to protest when Professor Dumbledore looked at them and somehow most of protests died out before they started. With some reluctance they made their way to their dormitories and without much noise, as if suppressed by the atmosphere, they dressed into their sleeping clothes and went to sleep.

Days and weeks between that event and the time when Yule Break was supposed to start were one of the worst in Harry's lifetime. Nobody knew what was the reason for the event and rumors and gossips were spreading like a wildfire across the whole school, fueling those fears and uncertainties. The fact that Ron seemed convinced about the fact that he was guilty didn't improve Harry's mood and when the time for travel to Asgard came he was happy to be able to get home and away from it.

o-0-o

 **A/N - My supply of chapters to publish is running dry and as said at the beginning, it will be random when I publish it and a note for those demanding that I update, those reviews will end in a trash can in case of guest ones and rest will be reported.**

 **But going back to the chapter, it is quite obvious where some things are heading and how plots are being shaped, Harry is getting a little fed up with Hogwarts and people inside of it, so some outbursts of his temper might happen sooner or later.**

 **Vienna Convention is all about diplomacy and its rules. Geneva Convention is about warfare, but one, very important thing - only soldiers and civilians are protected by its rules, say you have Weapon X goon, you can hang him on a lamppost and nobody will cause problems. Why? He is not a soldier, he is not a civilian and it means that he either a bandit, a pirate, a mercenary or some other unsavoury individual.**


	55. To Asgard

**A/N – I'm somewhat in the mood to write instead of study, so I do that even if my grades might suffer a bit because of that.**

 **o-0-o**

Travel through Bifrost felt to Harry as exciting and fantastic as usual, bright orange branches of Yggdrasil visible in the space around him, reaching to various dimensions and galaxies and connecting them into one sprawling net. However there was something unusual about this travel, the normal ethereal colors were replaced by their more frigid and dark variants, also the energy that coursed through it felt more cold and perhaps even slightly evil.

However his thoughts were cut by the arrival on Asgard, he stepped out of the Bifrost and almost immediately felt his breath turn into a fine mist and a gust of cold air caress his face and remind him that a very faint and barely visible stubble was growing on his cheeks and he needed to take care of it.

"It's cold," Atalanta stated as she joined him. "Too cold for normal weather."

"Winter has came to Asgard, Your Highness," Heimdall said in his deep, rumbling voice. "You are too young to see it, but the past few years were a slow change of seasons with the winter coming this year."

Harry nodded and smiled, snow and cold were elements in which he thrived and enjoyed being. "Finally something else than scorching sun and warm," he said and almost immediately felt Atalanta's gaze land upon him. "The fact that you love warmth doesn't mean that everybody loves it."

She didn't say anything, just gave him an icy look and took from one of the guards that waited for them a thick woolen cloak lined with a fur of a direwolf and with a wide hood. She put it on and jumped into the saddle of one of the horses. "I won't wait for you any longer," she said and nudged the horse to move.

Harry shrugged at it and took a cloak from a guard that offered it to him and throwing it onto his body he jumped into the saddle and looking at his guards he nudged his horse to chase Atalanta. It was also then that he realized that there was a lot more warriors scattered around the place and an awful lot of them was on edge and looked more grim than normal bodyguards.

"What's going on?" He asked as he looked at Sif who rode to his side. "I don't recall ever seeing so many guards."

"An Unseelie Accords summit," she said and a flicker of disgust passed across her face. "And some of the signatories aren't known for playing by the rules."

Harry nodded in agreement as he had heard more than enough rumors and tales about summits going awry from his family. However until now he didn't realize how dangerous it could get as looking at the amount of guards patrolling the city, checking those entering or leaving it and even more standing on the war it felt as if a war was coming. A quick look at Sif who just slightly tilted her head just confirmed his suspicions.

Even with Sif's grim predictions and outlook on the future the rest of the travel passed blissfully uneventful and soon they caught up with Atalanta and their whole group entered the Citadel where they dropped reins of their mounts onto the ground and hurried into their rooms. Once they entered them Harry paused to catch his breath and looked at Atalanta. "Bath, together, now?"

"As if you read in my thoughts," she said and dropped her cloak onto the ground. "I'm frozen and need something warm to warm me up."

Harry just smiled and followed her suit before rushing into their bathroom and quickly undressing before hopping into the bath filled with water. Water that was steaming hot and upon its contact with his skin Harry let out a small his, but then relaxed and let out a sigh of content before submerging his whole body and letting water wrap around it.

"Gods, I needed it," he muttered as he emerged onto the surface, water dripping from his whole body in massive streams and washing away his pains and worries as well as letting him relax and warm his body after that ride.

"Not only you," Atalanta said with a chuckle and he looked at her naked form. "You love cold and winter, I'm more comfortable in the warmer climates. It's not like it hurts me, I'm just feeling uncomfortable."

Harry smiled and looked at her. "I see, so what do you plan to do?"

"Cuddle a lot and spend time with you," she said and smiled. "And as much time in the warm confines of the Citadel as possible."

"You're lazy," Harry said and ignored her glare. "Sif will kick us out to train even if we don't like it and we will need to train no matter how badly we want to be inside."

Atalanta muttered something under her breath, but then shrugged and ignored him as she closed her eyes and rested her back against the edge of the bath. Harry only smiled and reaching for a nearby towel he climbed out of the bath and started to dry himself.

"Where do you go, love?" Atalanta asked as one of her eyes opened.

"Talk with my uncle," Harry said and added after a moment. "I need to ask him about things."

o-0-o

Loki smiled when he saw Harry enter the chamber and send annoyed looks at the guards that were everywhere. "How was it at Hogwarts?"

"Good," Harry said and hesitated for a moment before adding. "And bad."

"Oh, how so?"

"Something or someone petrified the cat belonging to the caretaker."

"Petrified, you say?" Loki asked, not showing a hint of shock he felt at those news. It seemed that something was roaming halls of Hogwarts. He had suspicions about what it was, but it shouldn't be there.

"That's what Headmaster said, that the cat was petrified."

"And it can be only reversed with mandrake juice," Loki said and smiled when he saw Harry cringe at the word mandrake. "And they are usually gathered in April or so. Can you tell me when and where did it happen?"

"By the girls' bathroom on the second floor and on the night of All Hallows' Eve," Harry said and then his eyes widened. "Someone helped to do the deed as the cat was hanged on the torch bracket."

"Interesting, very interesting," Loki said and nodded. "I will go to Hogwarts and see what's going on, in the meantime, don't be late for today's feast."

o-0-o

I stalked outside of the girls' bathroom on the second floor, my eyes watching for anything that could have been connected to the weird petrificstion and finding nothing. My experience screamed at me, telling that there was something obvious that I missed and couldn't notice. I was about to give up, grab my staff and open a Way to Arctis Tor and from there join Mab during Accords summit when I felt something powerful approach me. I looked in the direction of its source and notice a tall, thin, yet athletic look man dressed in greens, blacks and golds walk towards me, on his head a weird helmet with a pair of horns and in his hands a scepter. However that wasn't what unsettled me, as the thing that freaked me out were black as night hair and emerald green eyes, making the man look like an older, more matured, yet less hulking version of one of my students. "Who are you?" I asked, drawing the blade of my sword out of its scabbard.

"A person of many names and titles," the man said and shrugged. "Now you can call me Lukas."

I considered his words for a moment, I could tell that he was lying to me, but I also knew that he was way out of my league and since I wasn't dead, he wanted something from me. "So what do you want here?"

"The same thing as you, solve this puzzle or at least try to do it," he said, indicating blood on the wall hidden by a powerful veil, water on the floor and a spot where the cat was hanged. "I'm a man that doesn't like mysteries and I believe that the two of us can get better results than we could do on our own."

I ran my hand through my hair and nodded. "Okay, tell me what you know and I will tell you what I know."

"Clever," Lukas murmured with a mischievous smile. "Force your ally to reveal their cards before revealing yours. But anyways, there is no ambient energy in the air and there are no traces of a ritual that could have been conducted in this place. It was done on All Hallows' Eve and the border between dead and alive is thin on that day, so something could have slipped through and cause havoc."

I nodded, somewhat impressed by the knowledge of whoever this Lukas truly was. His accent reminded me of someone I met before, but being unable to figure it out, I sent it away and looked at him. "The letters were written in blood, so the one that did it at least had some basic magical knowledge and most likely was human as the wards wouldn't let in anything supernatural." I licked my lips and paused for a moment. "It wasn't magic, so it was either a ritual of such a miniscule power that it froze the cat and then the energy dissipated or we have some artifact or beast loose inside of the school."

"Good thinking," Lucas said and smiled. "Before this event happened I had my minions and allies try to track down horcruxes of an upstart that called himself Lord Voldemort. They managed to track down three, one that was in the head of the oldest son of Thor, one hidden in a locket of Salazar Slytherin and one concealed inside of a Diadem of Athena that later was given to Rowena Ravenclaw. They also managed to uncover two more, one they managed to track down to Malfoys' Manor and second to this very school."

I paled as I made the connections. "So you suggest that this horcrux was slipped into the school and here it possessed someone or something?"

"Aye," Lukas said. "I think that you know what needs to be done."

I nodded grimly and grasped my staff, runes carved in it pulsing with faint light. "Report it to the Council and be here with a cadre or two of Wardens when the students will return to search them and their belongings for possession and black magic."

"Aye," Lukas said and twirled his scepter. "I will notify the Allfather that the guests on Asgard might be possessed and need to be checked for black magic."

"Thank you," I said and focused on my magic. "If you excuse me, I have a Way to catch and a meeting to attend. _Aparturum._ " The reality parted in front of me and formed a doorway into the Nevernever, Hogwarts was close to Edinburgh and the headquarters located below it and in its own right was a massive nexus of Ways so this trip was going to be short and uneventful.

o-0-o

Luna looked around in amazement as she sat on front of Ulf on his horse, both of them were bundled in thick woolen cloaks that seemed to be enchanted as they kept cold away from them and provided them with some comfort. Everything around her looked wonderful and even unreal, she as they had ridden through the city she could see graceful towers, spires and buildings. While now she could look at an almost untouched forest with vibrant animal life as between the trees she could see animals pass and in the branches there were some birds, those that didn't move towards warmer regions, all of it made her wonder how all of it would look in the middle of summer with all of the animals present.

Yet as she watched all of those wonders she could feel Ulf be a bit unsettled by what was going on around them. So she glanced backwards at her boyfriend and saw him look around in shock, amazement and bewilderment. "What's wrong?"

"Snow and ice," he said and added. "Winters are rare on Asgard, like once per fifty years or so."

"Not on Midgard," she said and looked at him. "You'll get used to it, sooner than you think."

He gave her a look before nudging the horse to move faster. "Mayhaps you're right," he said and paused. "It's just shocking to see everything covered in snow and ice." His hazel eyes darted to the sky and a quickly growing line of clouds far off in the distance. "Also a storm or something similar is coming and we don't want to be caught outside when it hits."

"How bad it can get?" Luna asked as she reached for her wand.

"You don't want to know," said a cloaked figure on a horseback that emerged from the forest to the side. "So dear brother follow me and you should be able to avoid getting buried alive in the snow."

Luna looked at Ulf and then at the stranger that threw back the hood of their cloak and revealed a pair of hazel eyes, a nasty scar barely avoiding one of them and a mane of braided brown hair. She was also obviously female and looked quite young, but Luna was aware that aging was a very random thing on Asgard.

"Ran?" Ulf asked and nudged his horse to move closer. "What are you doing here, sis?"

"Looking out for you," now named Ran said and chuckled. "But I certainly didn't expect you to come with a lover."

Luna laughed at the blush that appeared on Ulf's face and then turned to look into his eyes. "You know that she's right," she whispered before pulling Ulf into a kiss. "So don't lie to your sister."

Ran in the meantime managed to get closer to them and laughed at Ulf's expression. "Now, now, younger brother, I approve of your taste in lovers," she said and then gave them a colder look. "But that can wait, now if we don't want to get buried alive we better hurry."

o-0-o

Illyana's eyes flickered with flames of amusement when she saw Hogwarts students look around in curiosity as they were being showed around by few unlucky souls that annoyed one of deputies of the Lord Commandant or one of senior warriors. She didn't ask how they were chosen, but she also didn't have any desire to do so. There were forces far out of her league and one of them were leaders of the Academy.

"They don't know in what shit they landed, do they?" Idunn asked and Illyana looked at her. "I'm used to crazy security measures, but even for me it was too much when they went room by room and looked everywhere for something suspicious."

Illyana shivered at those words. "That was awful," she said after a moment. "And since the summit is here, Hogwarts will get it today afternoon or so."

"At least it will miss us," Idunn said with a grin. "And Prince Harald should be also on Asgard so he might show up here."

Illyana almost tripped at those words. "It's today?" she asked, catching balance and making sure she didn't lose anything. "Those four months passes so quickly."

"Should be," Idunn said and swept her eyes over the Hogwarts group. "Those two, a redhead girl and a boy with mousy hair, look like a disaster waiting to happen and behave as if the world belonged to them and so hard working that they lack any muscles."

Illyana looked in the direction of those two and after a moment nodded. "Question is just when it will happen and who will bring it," she said and then her gaze darted to a bushy haired girl. "She might be interesting."

"Might be, though with just knowledge you won't get far," Idunn said, making Illyana nod. "Question is what she will show when training in martial arts and how well she will adapt to our crazy lifestyle."

Illyana nodded and on her lips appeared a small smile when she saw a pair of youngest students hurry out of her way when they saw her robes tied with a wide silver sash with a narrow purple strip, that was given to top five percent of each group. "They will also have problems with hierarchy," she said and Idunn looked at her. "I mean Hogwarts students, from what little Prince Loki and Harry told me they believe to be superior and expect that everybody bows to them."

"That, that will be fun," Idunn said with a grin. "Especially if they learn that they are at the bottom of the food chain and need to listen to everybody."

"There will be an even more amusing sight, that is if we can catch it happen."

"Oh?" Idunn asked. "What can be more amusing than them being brutally put into place?"

"Them discovering that Harry is second in line to the throne of the realm," Illyana said and on Idunn's face appeared a grin.

"Can you get me a good vantage point to watch it? My Alf genes scream at me to gather all the data I can and that will be a goldmine."

"I should be able to do it."

"Good girl," Idunn said, planting a kiss on Illyana's cheek and making her blush. "Let's go to the class or we will be late."

Illyana looked at her and then her eyes widened in fear, just before the two of them started to run through the corridors, pushing magic into their limbs to make them work faster and carry them further.

o-0-o

They escaped the storm in just a nick of time as when the storm started to fall more heavily directly in front of them appeared a gate built out of wood with towers flanking them and providing guards with vantage points allowing them to watch their surroundings. It was then that Luna realized that their arrival was noticed long ago and Ullr knew that his son was coming with a lover.

"It feels smaller," Ulf said as he looked at the towers above. "I recall them being bigger than this."

"You grew up a bit," Ran said with a chuckle as they entered the settlement. "Anyways, father is here and will probably want to talk with you right now."

"Probably wants to ask what did I see on Midgard."

Luna muted out the talk of her boyfriend and his sister and instead focused on the town around them, while it wasn't as grand as the capitol was with its graceful spires, towers, wide streets, monuments and shining gold material. It was an impressive sight nonetheless and one that appealed more to her as instead of gold she could see more neutral and pleasant looking colors, as well as plenty of natural wood and stone. Also the buildings were much lower and instead they seemed more solid and certainly were spread over a much larger area.

"That's where we stop," Ulf said as he jumped off the horse. "Ydalir, seat of our father."

Luna joined Ulf on the ground and looked at the thing in front of her, it was a massive manor, worthy of being a seat of a powerful noble and his family. It was built mostly out of wood and stone that was elaborately carved and painted, making it look as if it was alive. She was used to magical architecture that moved on its own, but when she saw parts of the wall move aside and reveal an entrance she was simply stunned.

"How?" she weakly asked.

"Magic is a wonderful force," Ran said and walked through it. "Unless you two want to get turned into icicles you better hurry."

Luna gave Ulf a look, but after a nod from him she smiled and together they walked into the the building, the doors disappearing right behind them.

o-0-o

Hermione looked around, her eyes unable to focus on a single thing and switching from one to another without any particular order. Her mind had troubles believing that this, all of this was real and that she was actually seeing it. According to her books Asgard wasn't a real thing, yet this thing was here and she could see it.

She could see it, yet she couldn't believe what she was seeing as it seemed too surreal to be true. It seemed to perfect, too beautiful and too magnificent to be true. She walked to one of massive frescos covering the walls and looked at it. It showed Odin hanging from a massive tree, a rope wrapped around his neck and a spear piercing his flank, in his hands were twenty-four stones inscribed with signs.

"Runes," she quietly said, her fingers touching the paint.

"Indeed," someone said and when she turned around she saw a small girl walk towards her, too small to an Æsir, she was maybe five feet five while Æsir were higher, at least six feet tall. "You cannot believe that Asgard is real?"

"Who are you?"

"Illyana Nikolaievna Rasputina," girl said, showing thick Russian accent. "Yes, I'm from Earth or as they call it here, Midgard or Middle World. You probably know my older brother, Colossus."

Hermione's eyes narrowed as she focused on Illyana. "How can all of this be real?"

"Do you remember myths?" Illyana asked, walking to her. "Stories about gods or beings of incomprehensible power walking among humans?"

"Yeah, but they were created to explain things which couldn't be explained by them."

"In a way they were," Illyana said with a smile. "But they were to explain to them beings and civilizations that existed somewhere else and had technology that even we cannot replicate. What's easier, say that Odin is a god and thus lives for much longer or say that he is a leader of extraterrestrial race that reigns over a better part of the known universe."

Hermione paused and her mind actually was able to think for a moment. "I suppose there is something to it."

"There is," Illyana said and walked closer. "I know that your mind is in denial, but go with the flow and you will be fine."

"Yet it cannot be true," Hermione said. "If they existed we would have seen them."

"Battle of New York. Thor and Loki who took part in it are Æsir and Harry is a halfblood one," Illyana said. "They hid out of our view because of the interstellar politics, if I remember correctly Odin didn't want to risk a war he wasn't sure he would win and thus retreated away from Midgard and here."

Hermione was to say something, but she clamped down her mouth and remained silent.

"That's probably the best thing you could do," Illyana said with a smile. "Be silent and learn, oh, and obey any commands you're given. You are a newbie here and while I could get away with it, you don't have any clout to use it as a support yourself."

"That's unfair!"

Illyana rolled her eyes and they flickered red for a brief moment. "This is a feudal society with strong nobility, you are either born in a family that has power or you climb to the top. I had time to make friends in various places and I'm a ward of His Majesty, so not many will challenge me. While you are a new person here, one that doesn't have anything to support themselves."

"I see," Hermione said, forcing herself to behave politely. "So what can I expect?"

"Learn all of the runes, fast," Illyana said and added with a vicious smile. "And get used to pain."

"What?" Hermione asked

"You'll see," Illyana said and muttered something under her breath. "I suggest that you get to your dorm, soon, curfew will start in ten or so minutes and you don't want to be outside when it happens.

Hermione was about to ask questions when Illyana simply vanished and left her alone, she let her eyes linger for a moment over the fresco before hurrying to her dorm room. She didn't want to get caught breaking the rules on her first day of her stay on Asgard.

o-0-o

Harry looked around the banquet hall and could feel that the atmosphere was a lot more tense than it was normally, even if the feast was in his honor and it was supposed to be a more relaxed affair the amount of guests was slightly unsettling. He knew that the summit was here and even if his grandfather would happily keep most of the invited for the summit far away from feasts, the rules of protocol and étiquette were plain here. They needed to be invited.

"A bit crowded, isn't it?" Atalanta asked as she appeared to his side.

He scanned the room, easily recognizing a couple of vampires, several important and powerful Sidhe, dozens of various gods and the usual collection of Asgardian nobility that needed to be invited even more than the guests. "Aye, it is," he agreed. "Feels like a feast to celebrate ascension of my grandfather to the throne and not like a small affair."

"It's not like you really care about most of them, don't you?" Atalanta asked as she picked up a goblet and started to slowly sip the wine. "But care about yourself, family, me and our friends."

"Fair enough," he said and reached for his own goblet as the two of them skidded along the edges of the room. "Uncle suggested there will be something special today as he told me not to be late."

Atalanta's gaze swept over the room and then she nodded in agreement. "Your grandfather, my own grandfather and Njord are not here," she said. "The feast won't start for half an hour or so, but it is polite to be early, so something important must have stopped them."

"I don't know if I want to know what it is," Harry said and then his eyes widened as a couple of blurry images appeared out of nowhere in his mind. He couldn't make out the details of them, however he could see a pair of rings and his grandfather talking. "That was weird," he muttered, shaking his head.

"What?"

"Something appeared in front of my mind," he said. "Too blurry to make out the details."

She nodded and placed her hand on his. "We will worry about it later, but now, mind taking our seats?"

Harry nodded and the two of them walked to the high table that was packed full with various royalties, wards of his grandfather and other people, however he couldn't find one person he wanted to see, Illyana. He shook his head and sat down before reaching for a mug and with a wave of his hand making a flagon fly to it and fill it with strong, aromatic ale.

"Don't get drunk," Atalanta said, a flicker of amusement in her eyes.

"I don't plan to," he said, slowly sipping the ale and waiting for the feast to start.

He didn't need to wait long as soon the time for it came and with a boom doors to the chamber opened and after his presence was announced his grandfather entered the room, a crown on his head and his robe glittering from all of the gold and gems sewn into them. Harry watched the whole thing with mild curiosity, half of his face hidden behind the mug as he tried to make something logical out of what he was seeing. His grandfather seemed more brisk and radiated with power more than usual and right behind him was Njord with a small wooden box and a large roll of parchment. However before he was given much time to ponder Odin made his way to his place and looked over the room, silencing any talks and making everybody look at him.

"Before we begin with festivities I have to announce news of great importance to the realm, our allies and other realms," he said and Harry's ears perked at it. "After days of considerations and negotiations with various parties we have a pleasure to announce that we have found a worthy person to be a betrothed one of one of our descendants." At this Harry's eyes narrowed slightly and he shot a look at his grandfather. "We officially declare that Prince of Blood, Prince of Asgard, Harald James Thorson is from now on betrothed to Princess of the Amazones, Atalanta Heracleia."

At this Harry almost chocked on the ale he was sipping and coughed a bit as he tried to get over it and live. He took a moment to gather himself and he did it right in time to take a small wooden box from one of the servants. He placed the box on the table between himself and Atalanta, and slowly opened. Inside on a velvet cloth he found a pair of rings made out of platinum that was inlaid with emeralds and yellow sapphires that formed microscopic runes, which in turn formed complex runic wards and spells. He pulled one of the rings and placed it on his ring finger, when his skin came in contact with the metal he felt a small jolt of energy pass through his body.

"It's beautiful," he said as he looked at At. "Not as beautiful as you, but still beautiful."

Atalanta smiled and slipped second one onto her finger. "Thank you, love," she said softly. "Seems that our grandparents saw that not much will separate us."

Harry nodded and focused on the feast as he tried to get used to his grandfather interfering with his personal life, not that this one time he minded it.

o-0-o

Harry smiled as he hugged Illyana, her head pressing against his chest, arms wrapped around his torso. "I also missed you, _malyutka,_ " he said. "It's not like we didn't see each other for eternity, just three months."

He could hear his Wolf Guard chuckle, their silent forms standing by any entrance onto the terrace and dissauding any people from venturing onto it. Which also made almost everybody from the Academy unhappy as it was one of the most common spots for sunbathing, tho not during this season, and meeting friends. Now with eighteen members of his bodyguards scattered across it any attempt was squashed ages before it could even start as nobody was insane enough to test themselves against warriors assigned to protect the royal family.

"You don't know how boring it is without you around," she said.

He chuckled and looked at her. "Do you want to spend the whole day here or should we go inside so that they won't murder us?"

"I think we better get inside," she said with a chuckle. "Even they have limit to their patience and I doubt they enjoy you abusing your position."

"That's probably true," he said and looked at her. "Any particular place you want to go?"

"No," she said. "Just wander around the place and do nothing, also can you send away your guards?"

"I wish, I could," he said. "But my grandfather was rather determined on me having them around for the whole period of the Summit." He looked at his guards and paused. "Though I should be able to limit their amount."

She smiled and together they walked out of the terrazzo, he briefly stopped to talk with the commander of his security and just six guards formed into a protective circle around them. Two of which were new additions, powerful sorcerers trained in battle magic and able to murder anything or anybody that got too close to their charge. Only distinguishing feature of them were red robes over their matte black armors and helmets with a plume of hair running down the middle.

"So how was it at Hogwarts?" Illyana asked. "Even if you sent a letter, you didn't mention a whole lot of stuff."

"Interesting and stiff, very stiff," he said and let out a sigh of annoyance. "I wonder how am I supposed to survive the thing. While I enjoy what we learn, the atmosphere is hell."

She chuckled and he looked at her. "You know that older students help with the patrolling the corridors after the curfew?"

"Yeah..."

"I and Ragnar had it yesterday and we found a thing we thought was impossible. Several people in the dining hall so drunk that it was impossible to believe it could be true."

He laughed at those words and he could hear his guards chuckle in agreement. "So, let me guess, they were Hogwarts students?"

"Yes," she said with a smirk. "They were so badly chewed out that I heard that they hid in their dorms."

He chuckled at the image and looked at her. "You know that not all of them are bad and nasty?"

"Yes, I know that," she said. "That girl with bushy hair, Hermione, if I remember correctly, is a nice one."

"Maybe for you," Harry said before letting out a small sigh. "Perhaps I will agree on that, she is certainly nicer than that red-headed banshee of a girl."

"What banshee?" Illyana asked.

"Tries to flirt and looks at me as if I was a trophy she should get at all cost," Harry said. "At talked to her, but I feel that it won't fix the problem."

"You know that many would happily 'explain' things to her?" Illyana asked. "Explain and made sure that the lesson sticks in her head, not float out of her ear as this one most likely did."

"Is it necessary?" Harry asked and made her sigh.

"You don't think the way she does," Illyana said and sighed. "We, girls, especially love struck girls tend to be stupid and do things we would normally not do. She is a prime example of this and if I'm right she already forgot about that warning and will soon try to do something untoward."

"She will need to cross us and dozens of other security measures that are now in place," one of guards said. "We will stop her before she even sees His Highness."

"What about when he is in the changing room here, in the bathhouse or between the two?" Illyana asked. "You will follow him inside and make sure that nothing happens?"

"No," guards said and made Illyana smile.

"Then let me talk with few of my friends and handle that small issue," Illyana said and smiled viciously. "She will remember that lesson for the next few years and should inch away from you."

Harry shuddered at that smile and quickly remembered that her roommate was an Alf, being that excelled at data gathering, but also plotting and murdering from the shadows when their targets weren't looking at them. After all there was a reason why nobody even thought about plotting against two of his cousins that had an unlimited access to Alf, Freyr and Freyra.

"Just lean back and enjoy the show," Illyana said, seeing his expression. "We will take care of things, while you watch it unfold."

"As you wish," he said with a slight tilt of his head. "Just don't murder or maim her."

Illyana nodded and they walked onto one of the main corridors of the campus, ones that were constantly crowded and moving through them was almost a nightmare. Yet now it seemed to be even more stuffed with people, people that didn't seem to move.

"What's going on?" Harry asked when his guards stopped and even their presence was unable to make space for him to pass through.

"Some scuffle," one from the leading pair said. "Caused by some people in black robes with a colorful trim to them."

Harry let out a sigh of annoyance and said, "I hoped they would be able to forget about their arguing and arrogance."

"Who, Your Highness?" one of guards asked.

"Hogwarts students," he said and looked around for a solution. "Einar, what would you suggest?"

Now named Einar, a hulking Æsir that stood at over seven feet and had a braided black beard stopped and looked at him. "Normally I would cut my way through," he said. "But here that would be a bad idea."

"I see," Harry said and glanced at Illyana. "How long before it unloads on its own?"

"Few minutes or hours," she said and he looked at her. "It's completely normal for it to get blocked," she explained. "People go from and to classes, arenas and dorms, we just usually are able to unlock it quickly."

"Einar?" Harry asked. "Mind making some corridor for me to pass through?"

Einar was silent for a moment, but then nodded and started to move forward, roughly shoving aside people that were on their path. Some tried to protest, but stopped when they saw black armors they fell silent and made some space. Nobody wanted to mess with royal guards and usually being in sight of them was enough.

"What the hell is going on?" Harry asked in a growl as he stopped in front of a problem, that is a group of Hogwarts students.

Every student of the Academy paused whatever they were doing and bowed to him, their fists touching against their chests in a sign of submission and respect. At the same time Hogwarts students looked around unsure of what was going on until their eyes landed on him and armored guards surrounding him. Guards that seemed not plussed about the whole thing and looked as if they were ready to pounce onto them.

Hermione's eyes lit up when she saw that he was standing behind the guards and seemed to be surrounded by an air of confidence and power. "It's none of your business," she said harshly. "So don't stick your nose into it."

Lightning flashed and a booming noise of a thunder soon followed as Harry's eyes darkened and Æsir around him shifted uncomfortably, moving away from anywhere close to them. Nobody wanted to find themselves on the receiving end of fury of the oldest son of Thor. "Did you say something, human?" he asked quietly, his voice as hard as mithril. "I'm a Prince of Asgard and this is my home, so I have every right to stick my nose into whatever matters I wish."

Hermione actually paused for a minute and looked at him. "It's impossible," she finally said. "You cannot be a member of royalty."

"Why?" Harry asked in amusement. "I am a son of Thor and a Prince of Asgard, so I am a member of royal family and you cannot question that."

"Then why do you attend Hogwarts? Royalties stayed away from commoners and had their own schools."

"Maybe on Midgard," Harry said with a shrug. "Here, it is Asgard and we have different rules than ones used by you. So I am a member of the royal family, accept it and bear with it."

She looked as if she was going to explode in tears, her petty theory squashed before it could even fully form.

He gave her one last look before sweeping his eyes over the Hogwarts students. "Don't block the corridor and get moving," he said and they quickly nodded, hurrying and emptying the corridor.

o-0-o

Odin swirled mead in his goblet and looked at Mab. "So, Your Majesty, will you accept our latest offer for Midgard and division of spheres of influence there?"

She was silent for a long moment, her cat-like eyes focused on Odin, then she raised her goblet to her lips and took a sip of wine before nodding. "While I would like to gain more, I know that it is the best thing I can hope to get without making this war bloodier, a thing I cannot afford now."

"Indeed," Odin grimly nodded. "I want them crushed, but Chitauri are a bigger threat to Asgard, not to mention that we need calm on Midgard."

"He is coming?" Mab asked.

"Yes, he is. He was the one that engineered the attack of my son on Midgard and one that handed him the Mind Stone. There are also reports about him trying to get the Orb and the Stone hidden inside," Odin said and his gaze flicked to Mab. "So I think that you understand why I cannot fully come to your aid."

"I understand," she said coolly. "It is a ceasefire for just two years so I will take what should be rightfully mine when the time comes."

"When the time is right Asgard will help you," Odin said. "Now we need them to sign the treaty and end the summit."

Mab nodded and together they walked into the chamber where the summit was happening, there would be a lot of moaning about the exact details, but those could be hammered out later and between interested parties. Which most likely would result in several minor conflicts and wars in an attempt to explain border disputes and questionable points.

o-0-o

Harry sighed as he looked at the impressive pile of documents, messages, letters and whatnots that had accumulated on the desk in his study during the time he was away from Asgard. He understood the fact that some were for his eyes only, but now he just wanted to summon fires and burn them all.

With a heavy sigh he sat down behind the desk and started to sort them into a pile that could wait for an infinite amount of time and ones that he needed to read now. At some he just rolled his eyes before crumbling them into balls and hurling into the fireplace where they could be used in a more efficient and useful manner. Marriage contracts were amusing, but he was not going to waste his time on reading them and fueling the fire was a better use of the parchment and paper. His gaze was drawn by a thin scroll bound by a red ribbon and sealed with a seal that showed a pair of swords crossed under a crown.

"Message from Hermóðr," Harry said as he held the scroll and tried feel it. "What can it be?"

He broke the seal and opened the scroll, his eyes running over the lines of runes.

 _Changes in draft from the year 3659 of His Majesty King Odin Børson reign._

 _As a part of the reforms of the military and administration launched by His Majesty system of draft has major changes that will affect all of those eligible for it in the next few years._

 _Those born between 3644 and 3646 will be drafted by the current law, that is at sixteen years of age for nobles and twenty for everybody else. Those born after 3646 and before 3650 will be drafted at seventeen years of age for nobles and nineteen for everybody else, from year 3650 draft age will be eighteen for everybody, no matter if they are nobles or commoners._

Harry skipped reading the rest and instead threw it onto a pile that he would need to focus later when he would have more time, now he simply wanted to reduce the amount of useless documents and letters that just occupied space and didn't serve any purpose.

Next few hours felt for him like pure hell, he was stuck in one place, sorting documents and stoking the fireplace with useless trash he didn't need to read or even look at. As he finally reclined in his chair and let out a pained sigh before reaching for a goblet full of strong wine and emptying it in a single draught. He glanced at the window and let out a sigh of annoyance when he saw that the sun was low on the horizon and light entering the room was orange.

"Damn paperwork," he muttered as he walked out of his study and towards his bedchamber.

o-0-o

Harry's eyes shone with amusement as he stood on the terrace and looked at his siblings and his parents on the terrace below. Both of those terraces were protected by the runic wards of the Citadel that kept the snow and cold away and let them enjoy somewhat pleasant weather, much colder than normally, but still warm. "They look cute," he said as he looked at Atalanta.

"Few months ago you feared that they would push you down in order of succession," she pointed out with a smirk and added after a moment. "Yet now you seem weirdly eager to accept the fact that they are here. Even with my ability to feel your emotions I cannot guess why is it."

"Because I talked with parents and they explained things," Harry said and looked at her. "Also grandfather has the most to say and he decided that we should be betrothed to each other."

"Not that I mind it," she said with a smile and pulled him into a kiss. "Stop worrying so much," she whispered. "You will be fine and forget about Hogwarts and that dreadful atmosphere."

"I try, yet I cannot," he said with a sigh.

"Maybe I can help you?" Atalanta suggested with a flirtatious smile. "Drug is working and I doubt that you don't want to be with me."

Harry could feel his whole body shudder at her words and for a second he felt as if his legs would be unable to support his weight.

"Come, my pet wolf," Atalanta said lightly grasping his hand and leading him towards his chambers. "We have our last night for ourselves and we better use it well."

o-0-o

Frigga smiled as she watched the exchange between her grandson and cousin. "They are growing up fast," she said as she looked at her husband, Odin. "It seems as if days ago they were just children and now they are almost adults."

"Indeed," Odin nodded and she could feel gaze of his sole eye fly towards them. "One day they will make fine rulers for our kingdom and should rule it possibly even longer than I reign and will reign. Also Harald's lovers seem to be better than what Thor chose and know when to support him and know how not to cause conflicts between him and Atalanta."

On Frigga's face flickered a hint of displeasure. "Indeed," she said softly. "They know it and perhaps that's why I don't have issues with him having so many lovers. They are what supports him and sometimes is able to reach where we or his friends are unable."

"True," Odin nodded and winced. "Lovers and spouses can be convincing, very convincing."

"Your words are true," Frigga said. "They will have a profound effect on him and his decisions and they are not as strictly bound by the customs and protocol when it comes to formulating and expressing their opinions on his ideas and plans."

"Asgard is entering another golden age," Odin said and she looked at him. "The future is unclear, but I can see that the power of Asgard will shine brighter than ever and that enemies will fear us even more than they fear us now."

"We will increase in power or other major players will wane," Frigga said quietly and Odin grimly nodded.

"With him coming, that's possible, he has dozens of servants and they can easily wreak havoc, enough to weaken other players and make us emerge as the last remaining power," Odin said. "Even with all of my power and wisdom I cannot see future as clearly as They can do and I won't ask them for help as their answers tend to cause more bad than good."

"There are also my niece and nephew, Freyra and Freyr. They are the most powerful Seers amongst Vanir and they should have better Sight than you have."

Odin's head flew towards her and in his sole eye could be visible a storm forming. "No, I won't ask them for help," he said. "I'm the God of Wisdom and one that made the runes, they are younglings and lack experience."

"As you wish," Frigga said before walking away. Her voice was icy and with a very, very dangerous undertone to it that was almost impossible to miss.

o-0-o

 **A/N:**

 **Winter, it will be long, nasty and generally harsh. I did it for two reasons, eternal spring or summer is nice and all, but also boring, this will make it more interesting and winter is kinda needed in the environment as in almost every climate zone we have change of seasons and winter here is just that, a change.**

 **Betrothal and Odin not even bothering to mention it to interested parties before, he doesn't need to do it, he is a) their liege b) head of the family c) a king and as such he should ask them, but he doesn't need to. If it was with someone they don't know, he would use that right, but here? Here he doesn't need to as he knows that they will be just pissed off that he interfered in their lives.**

 **For those who don't know, Wardens are extremely careful with possessions, so when Dresden will call the Council they will send Senior Council members and few cadres of Wardens. Wardens that are the oldest, the most experienced and know how to handle ghosts and possessions.**

 **Lukas, he is a reference to someone and I'm curious if someone will guess from where did he come.**

 **Rings and enchants on them, let's just say that you don't want to duel Harry or At, it is purely defensive, but even then they are nasty and can hurt a lot of people. Also since they are betrothal rings they come with a whole lot of enchantments to help them keep people that don't understand no, *cough* Ginny *cough* as nobody wants bastards. Before someone ask, this particular bit of magic is connected to their conscious decision with an exception of sexual predators so when a White Court vamp tries to have a snack at best they will end burned.**

 **Reviews:**

 **WhiteElfElder – He could have answered, but also a good leader won't bother with answering slights from bumbling idiots that forget their place in pecking order. Also Ron wants just that and even if Harry is rash, he got beaten over his head with tactics and strategy until he was able to think in some limited way before reacting.**

 **randomplotbunny – he isn't that big of a mountain of muscles, at least not now as out of Harry's friends this title lands on Hrolf who is bigger, taller and heavier than Ulf, but also five years older and military pushed him through hell when it comes to training.**

 **twylght – yes and no, Ginny is scared shitless when Atalanta is around, remove her out of the picture and Harry might expect the flirting to come back, tho with the ring he got doing that without his consent might end with a hospital stay for one doing it.**


	56. Author's Note!

**A/N – The story is getting rewritten and will be published as a new story, this one will remain here until the new version catches up with it. I apologize for the inconvenience, but this way is easier and simpler for me than thinking how to do it on this story.**


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